Moving Forward Together: When Tragedy Strikes

In 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243 suffered explosive decompression as it reached altitude, ripping off an approximately 18-foot section of its upper forward fuselage. A flight attendant lost her life, and 65 crewmembers and passengers were injured. In a heroic effort that F/O Mimi Tompkins later credited to training and crew coordination, the crew safely landed the aircraft.

More than a year later, Tompkins experienced delayed-onset post-traumatic stress disorder and, with the help of ALPA’s then aeromedical advisor, recovered. Tompkins first described her experience in public at the Association’s 1991 Air Safety Forum. The pilots of ALPA’s air safety structure wanted to help other pilots facing such trauma and created a project team that included Tompkins to identify how to develop a resource.

Reaching out to experts who had created critical incident response programs to support firefighters and paramedics dealing with trauma, the Association’s safety structure members drafted a proposal for an ALPA Critical Incident Response Program (CIRP). In 1994, ALPA’s Executive Board unanimously approved the creation of the program.

In the nearly 30 years since, CIRP volunteers have not only answered the call to assist members who’ve been involved in aviation incidents or accidents, but they’ve expanded their support to assist pilots affected by other types of disasters. Throughout the recent horrific wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui and large portions of Canada and California and the widespread flooding in Florida and California, ALPA has offered assistance and support to members and their families who’ve been impacted by these catastrophic events. CIRP volunteers began immediately fielding phone calls; other ALPA pilot group leaders and individual pilots lined up to help in the relief efforts; and the union’s relief fund, Pilots for Pilots (P4P), was available to offer financial assistance. As Air Line Pilot went to press, we stand ready to launch these resources for our members in Florida who are currently in the path of another hurricane.

Similar to CIRP’s creation, ALPA created P4P when pilot leaders observed a need to help members and their families facing difficulties in the aftermath of natural disasters and other catastrophic events. The fund was formed in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. P4P can help with expenses not covered by insurance such as temporary housing. For more than 15 years, the P4P program has assisted hundreds of pilots and their families.

Our union’s Pilot Peer Support (PPS) program serves as another example of individual pilots helping other pilots. The program connects pilots in need with a trained pilot peer to talk about personal or professional difficulties 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Many ALPA pilot groups also have individual support lines such as Delta PAN, FedEx Express PATH, JetBlue PAN, and United SOAR that operate independently as a part of ALPA’s PPS network.

In the same way, ALPA’s Aviation Jumpseat promotes the “Make the Walk” initiative to ensure that every pilot who needs a seat on the aircraft gets one wherever possible, especially during catastrophic events. Through Flight Finder, our union’s jumpseat search tool located on the ALPA app, pilots have conducted more than four million searches to locate available jumpseats since our union initiated the tool.

For more than 90 years, ALPA pilots have not only unhesitatingly supported each other in times of need, they’ve taken the next step to create a resource that’s transformed our profession and our industry. Throughout its history, the Air Safety Forum has served as a catalyst for our members to identify and develop new ways to support airline pilots not only individually but across the global airline pilot community.

ALPA’s broad-minded approach has set our union apart in the past, and the caliber of the resources we offer pilots in the United States and Canada is also shaping our union’s future. The Association’s support for its members is unparalleled and is another compelling reason why pilots seek out our tailored brand of unionism. We’ve seen the result in ALPA’s growing ranks—we have more members now than in the past two decades.

While we correctly focus on safety, advancing our agenda on Capitol Hill and Parliament Hill, and negotiating contractual improvements for our members, it’s also important to recognize that solidarity is—and always will be—the hallmark of ALPA’s response to its members in need.

This article was originally published in the September 2023 issue of Air Line Pilot.