Eleven line pilot safety representatives from seven pilot groups participated this week in ALPA’s first-ever Risk Management Course, designed to give ALPA safety reps a thorough grounding in the philosophy and practice of risk assessment, safety management systems, ASAP, and FOQA.

An important component of the course was the time devoted to small-group exercises. In one, the pilots conducted a risk assessment and developed recommendations for mitigating safety issues at two actual airports. In another, they played the roles of ALPA rep, FAA rep, or airline management rep on an ASAP ERC as they dealt with an actual, but de-identified, ASAP report. A third exercise involved making decisions as an ALPA FOQA gatekeeper.

Particularly popular with the attendees was a panel of ASAP Event Review Committee (ERC) experts, made up of Capt. Dick Holloway (DAL), his pilot group’s principal ASAP ERC representative; Patricia DeMasi, Delta Air Lines ASAP manager; and Dr. Doug Farrow, acting manager of the FAA’s Volunteer Safety Programs Branch. The emphasis of the panelists was on ways to reach consensus on an ERC.

Meeting at the Association’s Herndon, Va., offices, the pilots spent two-and-a-half days immersed in a wealth of material provided by instructors Capt. Dale Peterson (ALA), ALPA SMS team leader; Capt. Rich Sampson (PDT), ALPA Safety Information Analysis Programs team leader; F/O Jeff Mee (CAL), ALPA Training Programs coordinator; and F/O Stephen Demko (UAL), his pilot group’s FOQA gatekeeper.

Look for more coverage in a future issue of Air Line Pilot.