My name is Chrissie Brodigan, I am the daughter of retired United flight attendant, Celeste Brodigan and retired United pilot Pat Brodigan. My parents, Pat and Celeste, were both active in their unions and held leadership positions throughout their more than 30 year careers in the sky. Growing up as a child of globetrotting parents, I received an interesting education on the dynamics of labor and unions. While some of my friends visited their parents' offices for "take your child to work day," I hit the streets with a sign, where I was often times the youngest girl walking the picket line during several major strikes.

It is my hope that I can accurately present the personal stories of my parents, their flying partners and other members of the aviation family here on this site, as well as present interesting and engaging historical concepts.

Over the next several years, this site will continue to grow, as I get closer to writing, and completing a dissertation on the subject. I hope too that ideas presented here can inspire others to continue research on the dynamics of the airline industry.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you might have, or for more information on sources that are presented here.

Thanks are due to many, including the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University for hosting this site, and to Dr. Roy Rosenzweig who helped me to begin this work in a research seminar and then on the web, to Dr. Mills Kelly who's instruction has helped me to learn how to create history with new media for education, to Dr. Paula Petrik for her many terrific suggestions over the past year-and-a-half and for providing motivation and humor along the way, and to Larry Levine, my advisor and friend.

Special thanks are due to Krista Grigg for her motivational support and artistic advice and insight, to Stephen Lee for his willingness to work with me on elements of design, and to Laura Jones and Jared Kindestin, who have helped me begin to learn how to edit and produce short films, and to Bob Boughton, Faithe Smith and Laura Romstedt at the Fairfax Network for their support and understanding of my pursuits.

Extra special thanks are due to my parents Pat and Celeste for their inspiration and to all the women and men of United Airlines and the AFA who have given me terrific material to work with and ideas that excite me.

Most importantly, I must mention that none of this would have been possible without Mark Jones, who always challenges me to do better and more with unparalled excitement, support, friendship and love.