PSA Airlines

PSA Pilots United in Tragedy, Focused on Safety and Progress

The PSA Airlines pilot group is engaged on multiple fronts, balancing critical safety advocacy and significant contractual improvements with a unified drive for professional standards, a focus recently underscored by tragedy.

On the evening of January 29, 2025, the PSA pilot community suffered a devastating loss when a military helicopter had a mid-air collision with PSA Flight 5342 over the Potomac River on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. The accident claimed the lives of all 67 aboard both aircraft, including two ALPA members, Capt. Jonathan Campos and honorary captain F/O Sam Lilley.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, pilots across ALPA came together to mourn the loss and support the PSA pilot community, proving that solidarity will always be pilots’ enduring strength. In the months that followed, the PSA Master Executive Council (MEC) leaders, pilot volunteers (including members of the PSA Central Air Safety Committee and the Accident Investigation Subcommittee), and ALPA staff collaborated to support the NTSB’s investigation of the accident and participate in investigative hearings. The ongoing investigation is expected to be concluded this year.

This tragedy reinforced the MEC’s focus on all key areas affecting the pilot group: challenging policies that impact safety and professionalism, enhancing pilot quality of life, and securing permanent contract gains. This work is critical, especially given the consistent flow of pilots to American Airlines, underscoring the need for PSA to remain competitive to attract and retain experienced aviators.

A priority of the MEC is addressing the company’s pilot-reliability program, which compromises safety and penalizes pilots for using legitimate sick time. Introduced in October 2024, MEC leaders voiced serious concerns to PSA senior management, highlighting the undue pressure this policy places on aviators.

The program implements a punitive approach that’s fundamentally incompatible with the responsibilities expected of professional pilots. Recognizing the severity of these issues, the MEC is actively pursuing all available avenues to challenge this program.

In 2024, PSA was the first wholly owned American Eagle subsidiary to transition from a manual-schedule-generation process to a preferential bidding system (PBS). The MEC spent several months negotiating the parameters of the process, working toward a letter of agreement covering the full implementation of the PBS. Once completed, the agreement will go to the pilot group for ratification.

In addition to safety advocacy and scheduling improvements, MEC leaders have worked diligently to secure economic gains for their members. The pilots ratified a contract extension in June 2022, along with seven letters of agreement, extending the contract to April 1, 2028, and demonstrating the pilot group’s commitment to continuous contractual improvement.