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VOLUME III, NO. 9
APACE WITH THE PACEMAKERS
SEPTEMBER, 1960
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TWO MEN AND A LADY are pictured above. The lady is the
handsome new Beechcraft Queen Air, delivery of which was accepted by
Piedmont's General Aviation Division August 9th. The two men giving
her the once-over are Wayne Parrish, president and publisher of Ameri
can Aviation Publications, Inc.,-who recently visited the Winston-Salem
facilities, and Piedmont Vice President R. S. Northington.
It's Beech's Big One
Queen Air Debut
“A sensational all-new aircraft
for a new era of business fly
ing” is a description given to the
brand . new Beechcraft twin-en-
gine Queen Air, one of which
the General Aviation Division
now has in its stock for demon
stration and sale.
The Winston-Salem ship is the
32nd Queen Air to come off
Beech’s assembly line. It is
termed a 7-place airplane, with
accommodations for five pas
sengers plus pilot and co-pilot.
The basic price of a Queen Air
is $120,000. Anti-icing equipment,
exterior paint, about $25,000 in
electronic equipment, and other
features peg the retail price of
the model received by the Gen
eral Aviation Division at
$154,000.
Although a variety of interior
colors and configurations are
available, the Winston-Salem
based Queen Air is finished in
shades of brown, tan and beige.
Another Queen Air feature is an
airliner type air-stain door thus
making it easy to enter or leave
the cabin. Individual reclining
chairs move fore and aft on
tracts for added leg room.
Flying range of the Queen Air
is excellent, with the ability to
carry six passengers and their
baggage at a speed of 205 miles-
per-hour a distance of more than
1,000 miles non-stop and still
have 30 minutes of reserve fuel
remaining. Weather avoidance
radar is optional.
Piedmont Get^ Recpmmendgtion
James Keith
Of CAB
For Norfolk - Knoxville Route
Piedmont Airlines should be
allowed to operate a route from
Norfolk to Knoxville presently
served by Capital Airlines, ac
cording to a recent decision by
Civil Aeronautics Board Exami
ner James S. Keith. Keith recom
mended that Capital’s certificate
should be changed to drop it
from points on its Route 51 west
of Norfolk and Piedmont should
be substituted. The segment
covered is one which Capital in
cluded in its letter to the Board
asking that it be allowed to with
draw from markets which are
primarily of a local service char
acter.
In making the recommenda
tion for Piedmont, Keith stated
that “It is clear that the route
lends itself more favorably to
operation by a local service car
rier.”
If K e i t h’s recommendation
were followed by the Board,
Piedmont would inherit these
points now listed on Capital’s
route, most of them already
served by us: Norfolk, Elizabeth
City, Rocky Mount, Raleigh-Dur-
ham, and two routes beyond
that city, one by way of Greens-
boro-High Point, Winston-Salem
and Chai lottc, and the other by
way of Southern Pines-Pine-
hurst-Aberdeen, Charlotte, Hick
ory and Asheville, terminating
in Knoxville.
Examiner Keith also recom
mended against amendment of
Eastern Air Lines’ certificate to
permit that carrier to provide
service to points south of Nor
folk, to cities in North Carolina,
or north to Washington, D. C.
The Examiner also recom
mended against permitting Al
legheny Airlines to operate be
tween Norfolk and Washington.
Exceptions to the Examiner’s
decision have been filed by Al
legheny Airlines, Eastern. Air
Lines, the South Carolina Aero
nautics Commission, the Greens-
boro-High Point Airport Author
ity, the city and chamber of com
merce of Charlotte, and the Ral-
eigh-Durham Airport Authority.
Greensboro-High Point would
want it mandatory that Pied
mont put in non-stop service to
Norfolk as well as local service.
The Charlotte and Raleigh-Dur-
ham exceptions are basically the
same. Oral argument has been
set for September 21.
The recommendation of the
Examiner would add two addi
tional stations to Piedmont’s sys
tem, Elizabeth City and Rocky
Mount, and would substantially
supplement service at nine exist
ing Piedmont points.
Called A Success
Sales Meet Offers Many Ideas
A Piedmont sales meeting fea
turing informal talks by assis
tant managers, chief agents, and
lead agents, held July 26 and 27,
was termed an outstanding suc
cess by company officials. Dur
ing the sessions, which included
luncheon speeches by Colonel
Charles P. Westpheling, Trans
portation Officer at Fort Bragg
and Colonel John W. D r e g g e.
Chief of the Routes Division,
Bureau of Air Operations, Civil
Aeronautics Board, an oppor
tunity was given for a general
discussion of methods of improv
ing Piedmont’s system-wide serv
ice. ^
Many excellent suggestions
were made by the agents and
the assistant managers. Some of
the ideas offered were; pre
printed on-line tickets; more on-
the-job training; free flu vaccina
tions for the employees; an eval
uation team of executives to visit
stations periodically; a more
complete testing system for em
ployees; a fuller retirement pro
gram; a paint sprayer for station
use to be placed with each divi
sion station supervisor; commu
ter fares; home office and hangar
tours for station personnel; more
announcements over aircraft
public address system by cap
tains during flights; and an even
more intensive on-time departure
program.
Piedmont president T. H.
Davis, in welcoming the group,
stated that this period offers
“the greatest' opportunity this
company has ever had.” He
added that it is up to all of us
to “get our organization in con
dition” for the expected expan
sion in the months and years
ahead, and he expressed thanks
to each employee for efforts dur
ing the past few months in rais
ing our efficiency standards.
Colonel Dregge paid high trib
ute to Piedmont since its incep
tion as an airline 12 years ago,
stating that “Piedmont has truly
kept the pace.” He traced the
history of the local service air
lines program since the 1944
CAB policy decision authorizing
locals. He emphasized that there
has been a continuing effort to
Piedmont President T. H.
Davis reflected the sentiments
of the company when he said
that “we are delighted and grati
fied” that the examiner has so
recommended Piedmont, and he
expressed appreciation for “the
support we have received from
the cities involved.”
“We are ready to begin opera
tion over the route as soon as
the final CAB decision is issued.”
Three round trips per day, in
cluding both morning and eve
ning service, are proposed along
the route, thus tripling the pres
ent Capital service.
It is hoped that the final Board
decision will be soon forthcom
ing, perhaps within the next
sixty days.
New Revisions In Schedules
Operating Effective August 9ih
1 i b e r a 1 i z e the restrictions on
locals.
Colonel Dregge listed increased
efficiency, increased traffic, re
duced operating costs, and
liberalized authority as the four
ways subsidy can be reduced.
After pointing out that the trunk
carriers are going more and more
to long haul traffic between
major cities, he predicted that
the local service airlines will
continue to fill the gap and he
forecast that the locals will also
develop more long haul traffic as
the years pass, with helicopters
and vertical take off equipment
filling some of the short haul
gaps left by locals.
Colonel Dregge complimented
the open-forum type sales meet
ing, stating that it is a tool for
further developing the character
that Piedmont already has.
Colonel Westpheling reviewed
the history of Fort Bragg and
described some of the activities
of the Strategic Army Corps and
the 82nd and 101st Airborne Di
visions. He stated that govern
ment regulations forbid the mili-
Piedmont President T. H.
Davis said the early date for the
new schedules was made possible
by special permission from the
Civil Aeronautics Board and the
Post Office Department, these
government agencies ordinarily
requiring more advanced notice.
The new flights, designed pri
marily to strengthen the Tri-
Cities—Knoxville segment, offer
travelers, shippers, and air mail
users a great selection of services
to and from Knoxville and im
proved connecting services to
and from Chattanooga, Nash
ville, Memphis, and other cities
Fare, Morton Attend
Board Conference
A three-day conference of Pied
mont Airlines officials and rep
resentatives of the Rates Divi
sion, Bureau of Air Operations,
Civil Aeronautics Board, was
held in Washington August 15,
16, and 17. The conference was
for the purpose of agreeing on
the amount of mail pay due Pied
mont during the temporary
period from January 22, 1959,
through June 30, 1-960, and was
also for the purpose of reaching
agreement on a permanent mail
rate to be effective July 1, 1960.
Representing Piedmont at the
meeting were M. F. Fare, secre
tary and assistant treasurer,
T. W. Morton, assistant control
ler. and Cecil Beasley, Pied
mont’s Washington attorney.
The Mail Rate Staff of the CAB
has stated that it expects to is
sue a show-cause order within 2
or 3 weeks which will be in
effect a decision, according to
Mr. Morton,
tary from interceding with the
CAB in behalf of individual car
riers. However, he added that
military agencies can and do
recommend routes and service to
the Mihtary Traffic Manage
ment Agency.
Approximately 60 employees,
including home office personnel,
attended the meeting. General
Traffic Manager R. E. Turbiville,
presided.
to the west.
New Flight 320 operates from
Knoxville to Tri-Cities to Win
ston-Salem daily except Satur
day and Flight 321 operates
westbound along the same route
with the addition of Hickory as
a stop. .
Another change provides for
Roanoke as a terminating point
for Flights 346 and 349, hereto
fore operating as commuter trips
between Charlottesville and
Washington.
Station personnel are asked to
inform verbally the traveling
public of these additions to the
schedule, since they will not ap
pear in company timetables or
in industry schedule guides until
September 7th, effective date of
the new timetable.
In commenting on the addi
tional Tri-Cities-Knoxville serv
ice, President Davis said that
“we will do the best we can un
der the present operating au
thority ... to provide service
between Tri-Cities and Knox
ville so that passengers from the
Tri-Cities area will have con
necting services to the other
major cities in Tennessee.”
Southeast Airlines, headquar
tered in Kingsport, discontinued
operations July 31.
Eighteen Subscribe
To Saving Program
Eighteen employees have
signed up for U. S. Savings
Bonds under the payroll savings
plan within the last thirty days,
according to the accounting de
partment. A letter from Mr.
Davis was issued to each em
ployee recently, with an invita
tion to subscribe to the payroll
savings plan, under which de
ductions are automatically made
from wages and salaries for the
purchase of bonds.
Average individual savings
among the 18 subscribing to the
plan is an amount sufficient to
purchase a $25 bond a month,
the cost of which is $18.75.
The plan is of course still
available and all employees are
invited to participate.