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Allied Pilots Association Endorses Safety is Not for Sale Act

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 11, 2019) — The Allied Pilots Association (APA), representing the 15,000 pilots of American Airlines, endorsed the Safety is Not for Sale Act, a bill that would require the Federal Aviation Administration to ensure that commercial aircraft manufacturers do not charge extra fees for safety-enhancing equipment.

Introduced by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the Safety is Not for Sale Act calls for all Part 121 passenger and cargo aircraft to have angle-of-attack indicators, disagree alerts, and backup fire-suppression systems.

“We applaud Senator Markey for introducing this legislation, which could help enhance the margin of safety and extend the outstanding safety record of the U.S. airline industry during the last 10 years,” said Captain Daniel F. Carey, President of the Allied Pilots Association.

Angle-of-attack indicators and disagree alerts were not included on the Boeing 737 MAX aircraft involved in the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. Accident investigators examining those crashes have noted that if the aircraft had been equipped with those items, the pilots might have recognized false readings from the sensors connected to the 737 MAX’s new maneuvering characteristics augmentation system (MCAS).

Founded in 1963, the Allied Pilots Association — the largest independent pilots union in the United States — is headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. APA represents the 15,000 pilots of American Airlines, including several hundred pilots on full-time military leave of absence serving in the armed forces. The union's website is AlliedPilots.org. American Airlines is the world's largest passenger airline.