Release #: Vol. 85, No. 1
January 01, 2016

Celebrating 85 Years: Saluting “a Man Who Spoke for Pilots When They Needed a Voice”

By John Perkinson, Staff Writer

Editor’s note: As ALPA prepares to celebrate its 85th anniversary this July, “Celebrating 85 Years,” in a series of articles, takes a look at the issues, events, and people who helped shape today’s airline industry and the piloting profession.

In the early days of air travel, one pilot recognized that his profession lacked basic operational safety protections and that his compensation didn’t reflect the service he was providing his airline. He had the foresight to bring others together, fully understanding that to be successful in righting these wrongs he couldn’t go it alone. That pilot was Capt. Dave Behncke, ALPA’s first president and a legend in the airline industry.

A special May 1953 issue of The Air Line Pilot dedicated to this industry pioneer observed, “David L. Behncke lived the kind of life that is given to few of us. He spent most of it in service to others, pursuing a noble cause unselfishly and devotedly.”

In the late 1920s, cockpit instrumentation was rudimentary at best. Pilots earned as little as $150 a month with no hope of a raise, and there were no hourly flying limitations or any regular vacation time. Pilot pushing was the norm, and aviators could be fired on a whim. Not surprisingly, accidents were commonplace.

It’s easy to understand what led 24 of these professionals (known as the Key Men) to a private meeting Behncke called at the Morrison Hotel in Chicago on July 27, 1931, to establish the Association. Many of these pilots would later die in aircraft accidents, prompting the Association—as part of its reason for existence—to press for safer operating standards. Behncke himself suffered injuries in 1934 when his engines failed over Western Springs, Ill., during a blinding snow storm.

Behncke had a remarkable career as ALPA’s first president, but it was his vision for the Association that represents his true legacy. He understood that the nation’s airlines were powerful and that pilot contracts could be only marginally effective without legislative and regulatory backing. With influential friends like U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and Mayor of New York Fiorello La Guardia by his side, Behncke set his sights on national airline policy.

In addition to lobbying for the establishment of laws to set minimum rates of pay and maximum hours of flying (in the early days, the National Labor Board’s Decision 83), Behncke also advocated for an independent air safety board. He made the case that no single agency should serve as judge, jury, prosecutor, and defendant all at the same time when investigating accidents and other irregularities.

As George Hopkins noted in Flying the Line, which recounts ALPA’s history, “Congress had come to regard the professional airline pilot as the indispensable cog without which the system could not function. Behncke had succeeded in portraying the professional airline pilot as an individual whose personal welfare was in the nation’s interest.”

Behncke moved quickly to affiliate with the American Federation of Labor to align ALPA with other unions. He was also responsible for helping maneuver the Association under the Railway Labor Act. He understood that adding a pilot amendment to this important legislation would provide ALPA members with the effective means to settle disputes while limiting management’s ability to sidestep the union and hire replacement workers.

Before his days at ALPA’s helm, the Wisconsin native served as a World War I army test pilot and later operated an aerial barnstorming show. He flew the U.S. mail between Chicago, Ill., and Minneapolis–St. Paul, Minn., for Northwest Airlines and, following a brief return to military service, went to work for Boeing Air Transport, which later became part of United Airlines. During his time with ALPA, he also served as the first president of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations.

Following Behncke’s death on April 14, 1953, ABC Radio Networks broadcaster Paul Harvey had this to say about the aviation pioneer’s extraordinary contributions: “Today airline pilots and flyboys everywhere will come to attention for a brief moment…in a salute to a man who spoke for pilots when they needed a voice…and helped, if sometimes with a firm, hairy hand, to dignify the pilot’s place in a great new industry.”

This article is from the January-February 2016 issue of Air Line Pilot magazine, the Official Journal of the Air Line Pilots Association, International—a monthly publication for all ALPA members.

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