Release #05.ATA5
July 22, 2005

ATA Unit of ALPA Elects New MEC Officers

CHICAGO -- Leaders of the ATA Airlines pilot group, as represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), have elected a new slate of officers to serve two-year terms. The ATA Master Executive Council (MEC) elected Captain Jim "J.D." Anderson as Chairman, Captain Eric Jacobson as Vice-Chairman, First Officer Don Wurster as Secretary and First Officer Doug Peart as Treasurer. The new officers take office on Aug. 11 and will serve two-year terms through August 2007.

Captain J.D. Anderson, 45, is a Chicago-based Boeing 737 pilot. He joined ATA in 1992 after working four years for Eastern Airlines. Captain Anderson has worked extensively with ATA pilots as a simulator instructor, check airman and as ATA’s Boeing 737 fleet manager. This is his first union position. Captain Anderson lives in Greenwood, IN with his wife Elizabeth and three children.

Captain Eric Jacobson, 49, was elected to a second term as Vice-Chairman, having first been elected to the office in 2003. He is a Boeing 757 captain transitioning to the Boeing 737 who flies out of ATA’s pilot base at Chicago’s Midway Airport. He is a former vice-chairman of ATA Local Council 96, representing ATA flight crews at Midway. Jacobson is a former commuter airline pilot who flew for ATA subsidiary Chicago Express Airlines as well as United Feeder Service before joining ATA in 1997. He lives in Downers Grove, IL with his wife Janet and three children.

First Officer Don Wurster, 47, is also beginning a second two-year term as MEC Secretary. F/O Wurster is an Indianapolis-based Boeing 737 pilot who has flown for ATA for more than 20 years. A United States Air Force veteran, F/O Wurster flew corporate jets before joining ATA in 1985. His union service includes two terms representing the first officers of ATA Local Council 97, and he also served two terms as MEC vice-chairman. He lives in Brownsburg, IN with his wife Shirley.

First Officer Doug Peart, 36, is a Chicago-based Boeing 737 pilot. He joined ATA in 1999 after working for Great Lakes Airlines and Execujet Aviation. His previous ALPA experience includes serving as Secretary-Treasurer of ATA Local Council 96. He also is chairman of the MEC’s Aeromedical Committee and serves on the Professional Standards Committee. First Officer Peart lives in Avon, IN with his wife Rene, a pilot for Chautauqua Airlines.

The ATA Airlines ALPA Master Executive Council is composed of eight representatives and four officers, who are elected from approximately 900 ATA Airlines pilots. The MEC has three local councils: LEC 96, representing pilots at Chicago Midway Airport; LEC 97, representing pilots and flight engineers at Indianapolis International Airport; and LEC 98, representing pilots and flight engineers at Los Angeles and San Francisco International airports.

The Air Line Pilots Association, International, is the world’s largest pilots union, representing 64,000 pilots at 41 airline carriers in the United States and Canada. Visit the ALPA website at www.alpa.org.

# # #

ALPA CONTACT: Rusty Ayers, 773-284-4910 or 847-323-9519 (cell)