(FORTUNE Magazine) – The pilots of United Airlines are truly united on one front: They want to wrest the airline away from management. After months of searching for the right executive to help them buy United from Allegis, they finally settled on William R. Howard, 65, one of the most popular guys in the airline industry. Says Rick Dubinsky, chairman of the United chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association: ''We would never have considered a Borman or a Lorenzo or some of the ogres out there.'' Since 1978 Howard has been running Piedmont, the U.S.'s fastest-growing airline during the turbulent era of deregulation. Revenues there have soared from $200 million to $2 billion, and Piedmont is one of just a few airlines that have consistently shown a profit. Pilots' salaries are among the highest in the country -- a fact not lost on United's pilots. In August Howard resigned to become chairman and chief executive of Airline Acquisition Corp., the company the pilots established in April to take over United. If they succeed, Howard will become United's chairman. Howard was also a leading contender to replace Frank Olson, the temporary chairman of Allegis. He accepted the pilots' offer, he says, because he thinks their plan is ''doable'' and because he doesn't relish taking charge at Allegis given its ''rather severe labor problems.'' ''If United is to become the dominant airline in the country,'' he says, ''I think this is the better path to accomplish that goal.'' The Allegis board has remained unbending in its refusal to sell the airline. ''We don't need the pilots to provide management,'' says Andrew Brimmer, an Allegis director. ''We can find that ourselves.''