Foil: 14 Panel: Retired United Pilots Association Column: 1 Line: 13

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
F. C. Dubinsky

Captain Frederick C. “Rick” Dubinsky, who retired from United Airlines in November 2002, was a professional pilot at the airline for more than 37 years, having begun his career in October 1965. Rick’s formal educational background included engineering studies at the University of Oklahoma and at Washington University in St. Louis in the early 1960s. However, decades later, after his focus shifted toward labor interests, in 1991 Rick earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the George Meany Center for Labor Studies of Antioch University, becoming the first airline pilot to do so.
During the course of his long airline career Rick flew most of United’s fleet types – from historic Douglas DC-6 and Vickers Viscount propeller aircraft to nearly every model of Boeing jetliner United operated during those years. He was domiciled in Newark, New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Washington, D.C. At the time of his retirement Rick was one of United’s very most senior captains and was assigned to the Boeing 747-400, flying long-haul international routes out of Chicago’s O’Hare field to major capital cities in Asia.
Rick served an unprecedented seven years as chairman of the United Airlines Pilot’s Master Executive Council (UAL-MEC) of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), having been elected to that office on four separate occasions during the years 1986 through 2001. In that position he managed the day-to-day activities of pilot union representation and collective bargaining for United’s more than 10,000 professional pilots.
Rick’s background in ALPA activities was unusually broad and spanned nearly his entire airline-flying career. At the national level he served as a member of ALPA’s Board of Directors and Executive Board, as chairman of one its primary subcommittees and as the chairman or member of a number of other ALPA national committees. At the United Airlines level, besides his leadership role as chairman of the UAL-MEC, he also served as that governing body’s secretary treasurer in the mid-1970s, and as the chairman, vice-chairman or functioning member of several major committees, including a term as vice-chairman of the Negotiating Committee. Rick is most notably remembered for his successful role as the chairman of the United Pilots’ Strike Committee in 1985, for which United’s outdone management dubbed him “Maddog.” At the domicile level he repeatedly served as a local council representative or member of a number of local council committees.
During the years 2000 and 2001 Rick served as a member of the Board of Directors of UAL Corporation, the parent company of United Airlines. Additionally, in the late 1980s he served as the executive vice-president, secretary and member of the Board of Directors of the United Employee Acquisition Corporation, and as the president and member of the Board of Directors of Airline Acquisition Corporation. In that capacity he led the initial attempts of United’s employees to acquire majority ownership of UAL through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP).
Over the course of his professional life Rick held a number of advisory board member or elected officer positions in numerous organizations, both within and without the airline industry. He was frequently called upon to lecture at college seminars or speak to professional trade groups about his unique experiences and perspectives. After his retirement Rick was a founding member and director of the United Retired Pilots Benefit Protection Association.
Taken together, Captain Rick Dubinsky’s many years of tireless service to his fellow pilots, the Air Line Pilots Association, his airline and to his profession was exceptional and distinguished him from among his peers.