PSA Flight 5342: Aviation Safety is Our Guiding Principle On Jan. 29, 2025, PSA Airlines Flight 5342 (CRJ700) collided in midair with a U.S. Army Aviation PAT 25 (Sikorsky UH-60L) while on approach to Runway 33 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. All 67 passengers and crew on board the two aircraft lost their lives in the collision, including Captain Jonathan J. Campos and Honorary Captain Sam Lilley, who were operating PSA Flight 5342. During a hearing this week, National Transportation Safety Board Chair Jennifer Homendy said “deep, underlying systemic failures — system flaws — aligned to create the conditions that led to the devastating tragedy.” The NTSB previously disclosed that there had been 15,200 air separation incidents near DCA between commercial aircraft and helicopters since 2023, including 85 “close call” events. Chair Homendy also had this to say about the midair collision: “This was 100 percent preventable.” U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy announced last week that the Federal Aviation Administration is formalizing permanent restrictions for helicopters and powered-lift from operating near DCA. The restrictions were put in place immediately following last January's accident. APA extends its deepest sympathies to all concerned and affirms its commitment to preserving and enhancing aviation safety as our union's guiding principle.

The Standard Our Profession Demands — Whatever the Conditions During the past five days, American Airlines pilots have repeatedly been asked to operate through significant operational dysfunction. You have done so with professionalism, discipline, and an unwavering commitment to safety, often without the support and responsiveness the situation required. That professionalism has been evident throughout the system. You have reported prepared, exercised sound judgment, and supported one another and our passengers while the airline’s staffing, systems, and authority failed to support the operation. We have heard from you, and the frustration and anger expressed by pilots across the system is real, widespread, and justified. Pilots were left without answers, without meaningful support, and without access to anyone empowered to resolve problems that directly affected their ability to operate safely and comply with the contract. That is not an acceptable operating model. It is not a weather problem. It is a management failure. As the company works to restore the operation, we want to remind everyone to remain vigilant in following the FARs and the contract. Shortcuts or so-called creative solutions that may appear expedient in the moment must always pass the test of legality and contractual compliance. We have also heard from many of you about delays of hours or even days to have sequences repaired, often after you have already returned to domicile. These failed continuities are preventing pilots from trading future sequences or picking up flying that would otherwise help stabilize the operation. Please document any instance in which you would have been awarded a sequence but were bypassed due to an unrepaired schedule. The storm this weekend was not unexpected. Unfortunately, neither was the resulting chaos in our operation. Severe winter weather is a known operational challenge, and preparation and staffing are management responsibilities. Yet pilots experienced multi-hour hold times with Crew Scheduling and Crew Tracking, only to be told issues would be addressed when resources became available. Two-hour waits to reach an IOC duty pilot who lacked the authority to resolve the problem at hand; six-hour delays between requesting a hotel and having someone even assigned to review the request through ECS — these failures occurred while pilots were actively trying to comply with procedures and do the right thing, often without timely information or meaningful support. We want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of our APA committee volunteers and staff. Throughout this disruption, they worked tirelessly to assist pilots in navigating delays, displacements, and uncertainty. Since Friday, a group of volunteers and staff has fielded questions around the clock, responding to thousands of phone calls, emails, text messages, and member inquiries. Many of these requests came from pilots who were lost in the system, unable to reach Crew Scheduling or Crew Tracking, or routed to duty pilots without the authority to assist. These volunteers and staff stepped in where the system did not, and their efforts mattered. This is not solely about one weekend. It reflects an operation built to lag our peers even in ideal conditions — one that continues to prioritize short-term cost savings versus the investment required to function effectively when pressure is applied. The burden of these management shortcomings is repeatedly placed on pilots, who are expected to compensate for systemic shortcomings through professionalism alone. Our pilots did — and continue to do — exactly what was expected under difficult circumstances. The same cannot be said of the systems and support designed to back them up. APA will pursue accountability where it belongs and press for meaningful improvements, while our pilots continue meeting the standard this profession demands. In Unity, FO Nick Silva President CA Chris Torres Vice President FO Philip Johnson Secretary-Treasurer

One of These Things is Not Like the Other Today, many of you are reading this message from an airport, layover hotel, crew room, or while deadheading around the system. The last four days have been difficult on you, your fellow crew members, and all American “team members” — not to mention our passengers. This operational disruption was not sudden or unanticipated, yet management’s response has been woefully lacking. But then, why should Winter Storm Fern be any different? Failing to exit the global pandemic with an aggressive strategy to compete, a misguided and costly new distribution scheme, a myopic focus on domestic markets like Knoxville and El Paso, and failing to capitalize on the premium travel boom are just some of the ways American has missed the mark during the last five years. While this weekend’s disruption has had a profound impact on our pilots and passengers, the sickness runs deeper than this most recent symptom. For most pilots, relative to their peers at Delta or United, it has represented a six-figure difference in compensation during the past three years alone. That is a significant disparity in our take-home pay, and a significant cost savings for the company. Just this year, Delta will pay more than $500 million in profit sharing to their pilots alone, which is more than American’s full-year earnings for the entire company. Yet management just paid the same lip service on this morning’s earnings call for the reasons behind American’s continued industry-trailing financial and operational performance. Along with optimism over more premium seats, we heard whining about weather-related disruptions and having to pay “richer” contracts than their peers, all while conveniently omitting American’s $1 billion-plus cost advantage in profit-sharing alone. Lest we forget, we heard those very same excuses last year.  And in the meantime, management changed their bonus structure to protect their own compensation. Yes, you read that correctly. For 2025, management’s bonuses were no longer tied to pre-tax margin or income. Management bonuses are now based on relative EBITDAR margin improvement, which is business school-speak for “we don’t have a plan to catch our competitors, but we still want the stock options.” But the disparity does not end with the financial performance or your profit-sharing check. Management’s recent decision not to implement the agreed-to Line Check Pilot provisions — a long-established program at Delta and United — is one more indication of how the company will step over a dollar to pick up a dime. Later today, I will file five different grievances: two for the absolute degradation in our hotels in direct contravention of our negotiated language from the 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement, and two others protesting the subjective implementation of check pilot schedules. The final is the expedited grievance over Line Check Pilot implementation. Your APA leadership will continue holding management accountable and defending the contract our pilots ratified, and our pilots will continue operating safely, professionally, and with pride in what we do. But no one should confuse our professionalism for acceptance of American’s continued underperformance.

Modern Skies Coalition Urges Passage of the FY 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations Bill WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2026 — Today, a broad coalition of aviation stakeholders released the statement below: “As members of the Modern Skies Coalition, we urge the House and Senate to pass the FY 2026 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) appropriations bill. We appreciate and support the bicameral Appropriations Committees’ bipartisan leadership in ensuring increased investment in the Federal Aviation Administration’s critical safety and modernization mission and support a return to regular order that prevents another shutdown of the FAA, both now and in the future.” Aeronautical Repair Station Association Aerospace Industries Association Affordable Skies Airbus Airline Passenger Experience Association Air Line Pilots Association, International Air Medical Operators Association Air Traffic Control Association Aircraft Electronics Association Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Airlines for America Airports Council International – North America Allied Pilots Association Alpha Eta Rho American Association of Airport Executives American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics American Society of Travel Advisors Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Association of Professional Flight Attendants Association of Value Airlines Aviation Technical Education Council Cargo Airline Association Experimental Aircraft Association GE Aerospace General Aviation Manufacturers Association Global Business Travel Association International Aircraft Dealers Association International Air Transport Association International Association of Machinists International Flight Services Association National Air Carrier Association National Air Traffic Controllers Association National Air Transportation Association National Association of State Aviation Officials National Business Aviation Association NetJets Association of Shared Aircraft Pilots Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association Recreational Aviation Foundation Regional Airline Association Southwest Airlines Pilots Association The Boeing Company Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO Transport Workers Union of America, AFL-CIO Travelers United United States Parachute Association United States Tour Operators Association U.S. Chamber of Commerce U.S. Contract Tower Association U.S. Helicopter Safety Team U.S. Travel Association Vertical Aviation International Vertical Flight Society