Newspapers / Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter / April 1, 1963, edition 1 / Page 3
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APRIL, 1963 THE PIEDMONITOR PAGE THREE Station Spotlight If's A Great Place For 'Go-geffers' Go to the area served by the New River Valley Airport, stand in the center of it, shout “I have a community project,” and in 15 minutes flat you’ll have 100 vol unteers ready to do the good work. If there’s one word which could be used to describe the people of the communities sur rounding the airport, it’s “en thusiasm,” and Piedmont Air lines has witnessed and been af fected by this enthusiasm ever since the company’s association with the area began. Service to the New River Val- Station Manager Milt Ward juggles flights, schedules, and passengers. Air freight and express shipments there even contain a goodly help ing of rats and mice. ley Airport (NRVA) was au thorized as part of the Piedmont Area Case, and began the latter part of June, 1962. The service and the physical facilities of the airport were the result of sus tained work by eight political subdivisions — Giles County, the City of Radford, the Town of Dublin, the Town of Pearisburg, Montgomery County, Pulaski County, the Town of Christians- burg, and the Town of Pulaski —and took years to accomplish. Seven Flights Piedmont now serves NRVA with seven flights a day, and Station Manager Milt Ward re cently reported that passenger boardings from June 25, 1962, through March 10, 1963, totaled 1,890 passengers, a safe margin above the five passengers a day needed to maintain service under the “use-it-or-lose-it” system. Airport officials feel that with Piedmont in operation there, the future holds excellent prospects for the growth of scheduled air transportation. John Goldsmith, attorney for the NRVA Commis sion, feels it can be accomplished mainly by educating people to the presence of air service. Great Potential “I think the airport has a po tential in the near future of at least 30,000 flights a year,” said Mr. Goldsmith. “The biggest problem is going to be,the popu lation of approximately 175,000 people the New River Valley Airport serves. Up to this time our population has been living pretty far from an air terminal which has had regularly sched uled flights. Piedmont has done m A front view of the Pulaski County Courthouse. The archways fronting the building are made from stones which formed the entrance to the Jamestown World's Fair in 1907. Located between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, the area surrounding the New River Valley Air port is covered with green forests and rolling fields and pastures. The above is a view of Draper Valley, seen from the Pulaski Wayside on U. S. Highway 11 near Pulaski. fairly well so far with a surpris ing amount of air freight and ex press out of the airport. “Our problem will be to edu cate the public here to the point that the same percentage of peo ple will use the airport here as people in other areas use their airports.” To be so new, the airport it self has done quite well. When plans were being drawn up for its . construction, building and aviation experts assured the Commission that the facilities would be adequate for at least five years. Now, less than a year later, the terminal’s seams are beginning to bulge a little and an immediate expansion has been planned. New Rooms It will include conversion of the terminal’s present conference room to a small restaurant, the addition of a new conference room, offices, and more space for Piedmont and air express and freight. Besides industrial sites and civ ic vigor, the area offers many in teresting sidelights. For instance, in Radford is Radford College, known as one of the fastest- growing colleges for women in Virginia, and near there is Vir ginia Polytechnic Institute, one of the South’s finest colleges, where some of tomorrow’s busi nessmen, scientists, and engi neers are being trained. Recreation facilities are avail able at Claytor Lake, which fea tures an immaculate white sand beach and 108 miles of shoreline. In addition, brochures say there are “professional baseball under the lights, modern theatres, smooth highways, and growing churches.” Good View For scenery buffs there could be no finer place, for the valley is located between the Blue Ridge and Allegheny Mountains, and everywhere there are . roll ing hills and green pastures to delight the eye. There is good reason for all the pastures, inci dentally, since livestock and dairying contribute about 90 per cent of the gross farm income, and ambulatory beefsteaks and butter dot every slope. Industry has a big say in area economy, and produces such di verse products as ammunition and explosives at the Radford Arsenal, sulfuric acid, furniture. mirrors, and hosiery in Pulaski and Pulaski County, and textiles at the Burlington Mills finishing plant in Dublin. Mucho Rats And speaking of Dublin, let it not be forgotten that the town has one product which can be matched by no other — rats and mice. Used in scientific research, the animals are grown at the Dublin Laboratories, and are shipped out to research centers by Piedmont air freight and ex press at an average of 2,500 a week. A talk with three Pulaski of ficials — Mayor C. V. Jackson, Town Manager Tom Nolen, and Chamber of Commerce Executive Manager George Hillsman •—• dis closed Pulaski’s latest industrial project and one in which the area takes great pride. It concerns, said the officials, “Project Decision,” initiated by the Appalachian Power Com pany. In a recent development bulletin, the power company ex plained the project this way: Project Decision “Appalachian initiated Project Decision in 1961 with a shell building in Abington, Va. In the program, Appalachian conducts surveys of communities in its two-state territory of western Virginia and southern West Vir ginia. From the finds in these surveys, top-ranking communi ties are offered the shell build ings. Appalachian makes the original investment in the build ing, including the site costs, and the community puts in escrow an equal amount, which is repaid to Appalachian after completion (Continued on Page Six) V Jii j Checking in a flight. Agent Glenn Walters waits in the operations corner of Piedmont's PSK facilities. Agent Ron Price keeps teletype messages up-to-the-minute. (Chief Agent Glenn Shanks was on vaca tion and not available for photo graphs.) The Piedmont counter at PSK is small but attractive. Here Agent Dan Love checks in out-bound passenger, Robert T. Kinder.
Piedmont Aviation Employee Newsletter
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April 1, 1963, edition 1
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