14. Licking my Wounds

What we must decide is how we are valuable,
rather than how valuable we are.
—Edgar Z. Friedenberg

I had only eleven years left of a high-paying captain’s job before retiring from United Airlines, yet my career tragically ended at age 54. All at once I was lost, bored, angry, sad, and confused about what to do with the rest of my life. I lost an estimated $4 million of retirement income. My pension was seriously reduced as a result of the United Airlines bankruptcy. I was also forced to sell my stock back to United Airlines at a very significant loss.

I personally know five other pilots whose careers were terminated with similar immoral tactics that were used on me.

I brooded for several months as I contemplated what to do next.

With the loss of my aeromedical certificate, I would never be allowed to fly an airplane again. I had no desire to sit at a desk all day. Becoming a common laborer like before my flying days was not an option. My age was now a hurdle for many positions in the job market.

I always enjoyed studying psychology. After much deliberation, I finally decided to go back to college to study becoming a psychologist.

In the spring of 2004, I enrolled at the Georgia State University in Atlanta. I majored in Psychology with a minor in World Religions. Since my courses were in the day, I soon found myself among students young enough to be my children.

Studying for my courses turned out to be a breeze, since I was used to memorizing large numbers of facts. This skill first became evident to me when I was studying as a mathematics major at Southern Illinois University many years ago. Piloting airplanes for 35 years had required ingesting massive amounts of training and operational material and being able to put it into practice as needed.

My objective was to obtain a bachelor’s degree in psychology and then qualify for the PhD program in clinical psychology. I felt that this career would be interesting, exciting, fulfilling, and worth the effort and expense.

Once again, I achieved straight “As” in all my courses over the next three semesters. I was confident that I was solidly on track to achieve my new goal.

But alas, this was not to be the case.

My mom had passed away at age 87 in 2000 due to congestive heart failure. My 91-year-old dad was left living alone in an assisted facility 10 minutes from my home. He was also suffering from congestive heart disease. Although easy, studying for my courses took an inordinate amount of home study. This took a lot of time away from being with my dad in his time of need.

I was taking “Abnormal Psychology” in the spring of 2006. It was taught by the woman PhD chairman of the Clinical Psychology Department.

I approached her one day after the class lecture to ask about my chances of qualifying for the PhD program. She informed me that only 5% of the applicants were accepted each year into the PhD program. Because of my age and having no previous work experience in psychology, I would not be competitive.

My heart sank. With a few well-chosen words from a key gatekeeper, my entire plan to work in the field of psychology was foiled!

I completed the semester. I had spent two years studying for this new career. This new dream was shattered and I didn’t have another goal in sight. I dropped out of school after the semester to now spend the remaining days with my dad before he passed.

But during these two years of study, I had not entirely left my piloting days behind. I had kept in touch via email with many active and retired pilots who were distressed over the loss of our retirement benefits, stocks, and other airline matters. UAL flourished while depriving us of substantial financial benefits that we had earned.

https://www.fool.com/investing/value/2007/10/10/uniteds-flights-of-financial-fancy.aspx

Richard Duprey accurately wrote “United's Flights of Financial Fancy” on 10/10/2007 (updated 5/5/2017): “UAL is trying to spin off its Mileage Plus program. … These richly valued hidden assets could mean billions for the airlines. But where were they a few years back, when employees and creditors bore the brunt of the airline’s bankruptcies? In addition to its loyalty program, UAL CEO Glenn Tilton has also said that the company has a bevy of assets it might want to unload. Tilton also floated the possibility that its airline could be subject to a merger. Bear Stearns (NYSE:BSC) has estimated the value of assets not related to the company's core flight operations at around $16 billion. Yet employees lost out on retirement benefits when the airline defaulted on its pension obligations, and creditors and shareholders were also denied a full return on their investment from the bankruptcy. Taxpayers are on the hook for more than $6 billion in pension benefits to United's employees. Meanwhile, United now holds a competitive advantage over other airlines, since it no longer has to worry about paying its retirees. And executives who were festooned with large stock option grants when United emerged from bankruptcy might just enjoy a huge boost in their shares' value from any spinoff or merger.”

I began sending out group emails when any new information about the United bankruptcy became available. I asked everyone to forward the emails to interested family, friends, and neighbors. My contact list started growing exponentially.

I was also certain that there were other pilot whistleblowers whose careers had met the same demise as mine. They could have been terminated for speaking out about various controversial or illegality issues. Some issues might have been related to 9/11, whereas others might not have been. Not all whistleblowers were pilots. I eventually heard from many of these former airline employees.

I decided to create the “Whistleblowing United Pilots Association” grassroots group as my email list grew. I became the public spokesperson for the group. The group continued to expand beyond pilots to include flight attendants, aircraft mechanics, FAA personnel, Federal Air Marshalls, and others. As a result, the group’s name was changed to “Whistleblowing Airline Employees Association” and included members from all over the world.

With this expanded visibility, I started reaching out to network with other individuals and groups to redress a wide variety of grievances and problems affecting the airline industry. Here are some of the people and groups I was coordinating with.

  • Captain Jim Hosking, Director of the Pension Preservation Network
  • Captain Roger Hall, Chairman of the United Retired Pilots Benefit Protection Association
  • Captain Mark Seal, Officer of the United Airlines Pilots Association
  • Association of Flight Attendants
  • International Aerospace and Machinist Workers Union
  • AMFA, Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association
  • Many other individual aircrew members, various legal and political offices, and whistleblowers

For the next four years we all worked together in an attempt to reform the overall airline system. No pun intended, but a plaintiff in an anti-corruption case, Michael Lynch, was to became the “linchpin” of these contacts from my point of view. I believed that he had the required information that would enable our combined associations to succeed in obtaining justice and reform for the safety and security of the airlines.