While waiting for a crew bus on the Dayton ramp during a snow shower, he was run over by an air cargo pallet forklift. He has lost one leg and has a badly mangled arm and numerous skin grafts to build up the muscle in an attempt to save the other leg.

The Emery pilots joined ALPA three years ago. Their first contract was signed about a year ago. A very mediocre one at best but at least a foot in the door.

An attempt is being made to purchase a specially equipped van for Craig. The Emery pilots have given so much that their own well of charity is starting to run dry.

In 36 years of receiving the Airline Pilot magazine, I don’t ever recall reading such an article where our union is asking for help for a fallen brother. Yes, there have been articles about personnel tragedies but none in which contributions were asked for.

Having talked with Tom Rachford, the Emery MEC Chairman several times about Craig, I get the idea that the Emery management is an exact takeoff from E.L. Cord, Ted Baker, Frank and Carl. Not easy to deal with. This management will delay, forget, or sweep this accident under the rug and forget all about Craig Mueller.

In the January 1999 Airline Pilot there was a very gracious letter from Captain Mueller in which the response to helping him was fantastic. (His words, not mine.) The Captain Mueller Fund has received contributions from over 50 active and retired pilots. I was disappointed that out of 56,000 active pilots and thousands of us retirees, less than one out of a thousand helped this man. This was an article about a brother that needs our help so badly that for the first time I can remember our own union said to us, "Help him." And we turned our backs on him…unreal!

A quote from Tom Rachford in a recent letter, "Pilots of all types, for whatever the reason do not understand or quickly forget the need to support each other."

Could 600 pilots, active and retired, join me and each send a check for $100 so that we and the Emery pilots can help one of our own?

The address of the Captain Craig Mueller Fund is:

In 1994 I attended the "National Scheduling Conference" hosted by the American Airlines APA union. I had the privilege of representing the USAir MEC and at that time one of the best contracts in the industry and certainly the envy of those in attendance. All major airlines and freight carriers were represented. It was a very informative three days of comparing and sharing.

As early as 1994 it was also apparent that the American pilots were adamant about changing their pay and working conditions.

Here we are in 1999, and through determination, unity, courage and sacrifice, the American Airline pilots have the best contract on the face of the planet. Period. Examples: In comparison to a US Airways pilots a 12-year American MD-80 Captain makes $17.00 more per hour, B-767 domestic $8.00 more per hour, American’s lump sum retirement is almost twice that of ours, American pilots have trips-missed vacation with no minimum bid days. American has paid their pilots on average eight percent of gross earnings profit sharing in cash for the past eight years, fewer days worked, better overnight accommodations, interpreted abuse of contract language has harsh well-publicized results, stock options at significant values below current market, no MetroJet, and the list goes on and on.

While American pilots have set the high watermark for pilot compensation, US Airways pilots and some ALPA leaders and negotiators have begun a well-orchestrated, practically resistance free, dismemberment of a once industry envied contract. The much-ballyhooed gloom and doom statements by US Airways management during contract negotiations resulted in cowering and absolutely unnecessary acquiescing by out pilot group. Our contract is currently undergoing daily misinterpretation by management resulting in a grievance overload.

Folks, in our new (here-any-day) contract is a clause titled "Parity Review." You will soon see propaganda and statistics generated by the same management that brought you the comparisons of why you were (are) overpaid, necessitating the last concessions. So yes, there could be further attacks on our lifestyles and working conditions.

Ladies and Gentlemen, call your ALPA representatives today. Tell them "enough is enough" and ask what YOU can do to help support them to put a stop to the current trend. The US Airways pilots, as a unified determined group, not your representatives, are what are required to stop the assault on our careers.

While I have been as lax as anyone to write a letter about anything; I am very happy to see Captain Davis take a stand on the pax count issue at this airline. I cannot tell you how tired I am of hearing excuses for the incorrect count by agents. Most of the time the count is incorrect on my flights. On the DC-9 that can be seven or eight times a day. I have made a commitment to write up every flight with an incorrect count at the end of my trip. This is a real pain and can add up to a lot of paperwork.

As pointed out by ALPA, it is a violation of FAR 121.693e to takeoff with an incorrect pax count. The Company has received relief on the W/B for up to +/- 2 from the FAA. The agents (under extreme pressure from top management) take this to mean that the passenger count can be +/- 2. This is incorrect because the passenger manifest must be correct.

I recently had a situation where the agent gave a ticket count of 87 ticketed pax onboard. We closed the door and I asked the lead F/A for a count. The F/A count was 88. I asked the lead F/A to recount; again the F/A count was 88. We called Ops and asked them to have the tickets recounted; again the ticket count was 87. I had the agent bring the jetway back to the airplane. Told the agent the ticket count was incorrect. The agent was very agitated that I was forcing him to be responsible for having the ticket count match the pax onboard. He said that he would have to match each passenger with each ticket in order to do that and asked if that was what I wanted. I responded, "if that’s what it takes to get the count right, yes I do." His response was, "I won’t do that." My response was, "I won’t move the airplane until you do." Within nine minutes he discovered that a non-rev’s ticket had not been pulled. They pulled the ticket and we departed with a correct pax count, ticket count and W/B count.