April 18, 2025

Dear Porter Pilots, 

 

My name is Sean Creed, and I’m ALPA’s International vice president–administration /secretary, and a Captain at Spirit Airlines. Prior to this position, I served in various MEC positions and as ALPA’s International resource coordinator, a position at the International level focused on ensuring all our pilot groups have the resources they need and ensuring broad coordination amongst our pilot groups and volunteer structures.

One of the benefits of joining ALPA is our cooperative team approach to solving problems. Chances are, no matter what situation you run into, one of the other ALPA pilot groups will have insight and experience with a similar problem to share with your pilot leadership team. That cooperative approach is of great benefit when it comes to marshalling resources for our pilot groups and members. Rather than 42 pilot groups individually solving the same or similar problems, we can quickly connect those with relevant experience with those in need in a timely manner.

When you file your cards and join ALPA you will have access to all these resources including pilot volunteers and staff talent. I know you are aware of many of our foundational resources, such as the ALPA app, the Worldwide Accident/Serious Incident Hotline (staffed by Aviation Engineers who will put pilots in contact with ALPA’s Canadian lawyers – who solely represent pilots not management or insurance companies – and have access to worldwide IFALPA resources), Flight Finder, and more. But I’d like to introduce you to another, the Data Action Report program, or DART.

DART is a communications platform available solely to ALPA pilots, developed in-house with constant and ongoing input from line pilot users.

DART is extremely flexible and completely customizable, so it can be set up to best fill the individual needs and desires of your pilot group. Once Porter pilots join ALPA, your leadership team will work with ALPA staff to set up the system the way they want--the way it is most useful for Porter pilots.

 
After set up, a Porter pilot will simply go to DART (either online or in the ALPA app) and submit a question or comment via an easy form that is routed to the right people for response. That's it--no need to know who to ask, just "throw us a DART" and the subject-matter experts on the applicable committee will receive a notification email immediately.

This system is a huge help to your pilot group leaders and volunteers in that all questions are in one location--no more having to look for a text or an email or a voicemail. That also prevents duplication of effort, as everyone can see when a DART has been answered. Finally, the system stores every single DART in a database, creating a warehouse of information they can use for training, negotiations preparation, problem-solving (including filing grievances), and more.

DART is just one of the many benefits of belonging to an international union focused solely on pilots. You can read more about the Advantages of an International Union at poe.alpa.org.

If you haven’t already done so, I invite you to turn in your card now and help bring the Porter pilots into ALPA as one unified group.