The DG Committee promotes the safe transportation of dangerous goods by air. Articles and substances capable of posing a risk to health, safety, property, or the environment are regulated as dangerous goods, and may be carried safely only when properly declared, packaged, labelled, and when the Pilot in Command is notified. IFALPA seeks to maintain the highest regulatory standards for the transport of declared dangerous goods, as well as preventing undeclared dangerous goods from being carried on aircraft.
Capt. Lempiäinen flies A330s for Finnair, based in Helsinki. He chairs the Safety and Security Committee of the Finnish Pilots Association. He currently represents IFALPA on IATA’s Dangerous Goods Board (DGB), on the Postal Security Group (PSG) of the Universal Postal Union, and on the Transport Safety Standards Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Capt. Schlichting flies B777s for FedEx, based in Memphis. He started his flying career in the US Marine Corps, flying the AV-8B Harrier, and subsequently joined FedEx, flying MD-11s out of Anchorage, and B757s/767s out of Indianapolis. In 2024, he was appointed as IFALPA’s Member of the ICAO Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP). He also represents the Federation at the ICAO DGP WG on Annex 18, the ICAO DGP WG on RPAS, ICAO's multi-panel Electronic Documents and Certificates and IATA's Dangerous Goods Board (DGB), and has been leading a stakeholder WG on the electronic NOTOC. Within his home Association, he chairs the DG Committee for FedEx ALPA and is the DG Program Manager for ALPA, International.
Captain de Jong joined Martinair in 1994 as Performance Engineer, and went on flying as Flight Engineer for 7 years on the B747 Classic. He then continued his career as pilot on the A320 and subsequently on the B744 which he's been flying for almost 20 years, now holding the positions of Type Rating Instructor and post-maintenance check flight pilot. In parallel, since 2023, he's been working on the introduction of the A350-1000F in Martinair/KLM cargo's fleet. As Dangerous Goods / Performance specialist of his home Pilots Association VNV, he joined IFALPA's DG Committee in 2017 and was elected Vice-Chair in 2024. He's also a member of the VNV's Accident Investigation Group, and an IFALPA-Accredited Accident Investigator.