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November 12, 1948

Mr. David L. Behneke, President
Air Line Pilots Association
3145 West Sixty-Third Street
Chicago, Illinois

Dear Mr. Behneke:

In reply to your letter of October 20, 1948, in which you ask for my comments on Burke's accident, I have the following report:

I am enclosing my report to the CAB for your study and consideration. If the report meets with your approval, I would appreciate it if you would then forward my statement to Mr. Chrisp of the CAB in Washington, D. C.

In addition, you no doubt will be interested to learn what happened to Captain Burke. For your information on this subject, I am also enclosing a copy of the company's action in his case. I suggested that he should protest any disciplinary action against him taken by the company. I suggested that he follow the grievance section of our contract. His answer to all this a that he was only too glad to have his job back and that he felt guilty of the fact that he caused the company the loss of an airplane, and that he did not want to irritate the company any more. 

Mr. Behneke, I wonder is it sometimes worthwhile to defend these people against the company, the CAB, the CAA, et al, when what they really need is a psychologist to protect them from themselves.

Another case in point is Captain Keith Murray's. You remember the incident -- he refused to fly a DC-4 from Bermuda to New York. Well, after about a month, the company decided to give him three days off without pay, because he delayed some 24 hours in making up his mind. Keith did not raise one little finger in protest.

By their failure to act in their own defense, I believe both men have acknowledged guilt.

I would like to see some stand taken at this Tenth Convention making it mandatory for a man to protest any and all arbitrary disciplinary action taken by a company against a pilot.