DECEMBER, 1967
THE PIED MONITOR
PAGE THREE
Disregarding The Jet Age
Prop Shop Business is Increasing
GOVERNOR OVERHAUL involves a lot of prop shop man hours. Shown
here are John Harris and Ronald Elliot, checking out a governor.
|:> v
OVERALL VIEW of the shop shows the variety of propellers.
Very soon 1967 will be last
year. And Piedmont will look
back on it as having been a busy
one. Most all departments have
had more work to do and have
done more than in preceding
years.
The prop shop in Winston-
Salem is a good example of how
busy all of Piedmont has been
during 1967. Charlie Wiesener
and Vestal Widener direct the
operations of the 12 man shop
crew that overhauls everything
from Hartzell and Hamilton
Standard two and three blade
props to the Rotol four blade
props.
Eight Props Per Week
The men turn out about eight
props per working week which
is actually quite a production
considering that it takes roughly
120 man hours to completely
overhaul a Rotol prop. The Hart
zell props are those for small
air planes, i.e. Beechecraft and
Piper, Standard Hydromatic
props are found on DC-3’s and
Martin 404’s and the Rotol props
are used on F-27’s, FH-227’s and
Gulfstreams, ..
Half Airline *
•Just over 50 per cent of the
prop show work is for the Air
line. The remainder involves the
planes sold and serviced by the
General Aviation Division and a
large number of Piedmont’s cor
porate aircraft customers.
Piedmont’s prop shop is one
of the largest on the east coast.
The only other shop in the area
for Hartzell props is in Lan
caster, Pa., while the closest
firms equipped to handle Rotol
props are in Miami and New
York. A look at the customer
roster shows the planes that
come into INT for work vary
from NASA’s four Gulfstreams
to an Apache brought in by
Golden Isles Aviation in St.
Simon’s, Georgia, and include
most every shape and size prop
in between.
m
I
HARTZELL PROP is checked out by Sherman Pugh.
SAYING GOOD-BYE seems to be far from a sad occasion as President
Davis, Mr. Saunders and Mr. Brown send off N2703R.
,«L ^
The Return
of the
Last F-27
During 1966 the prop shop
overhauled 181 large props.
They also turned out 70 small
props.
Through mid-November of this
year they had done 189 large
props and 144 small props.
The jet age is coming to Pied
mont, but simultaneously the
new Rotol propped YS-ll’s will
be arriving. Piedmont has yet to
even ponder over being prop-
less. And will probably be more
propped up next year than ever
before.
A Final Departure
It was almost cold on the morning of December 4, 1967,
when N2703R left Winston-Salem for Hagerstown, Maryland.
That day marked the end of the era of Piedmont’s F-27’s.
They wore the PAI colors for nine years, one month and
29 days.
By departure time of the last plane, the F-27 fleet had
flown a total of 170,519:24 hours air time. They had 341,038:48
engine hours, 1,066 inspections performed and 261 engines
changed.
When they first came to Piedmont back in 1958 the F-27’s
introduced their fair share of trials and tribulations. But most
any new equipment has its own “new” problems. Piedmont’s
perseverance and hard work kept ’em flying.
The first of the eight Piedmont F-27’s to go back to Fair
child Hiller was N2704R. That was May 5th of this year.
Now they are all gone.
The good-bye to the F-27’s was sentimental, but not sad.
Piedmont is growing quicker and going faster now.
PUTTING CHICAGO ON
THE MAP is Piedmont's
newest ambition. The ap
plication was filed with
the Civil Aeronautics
Board on December 1. For
full details see story on
Page one.
THE CREW of Captain Mike Holton and First Officer G. L. McRanie
took N2703A for its last flight in Piedmont colors, the return trip to
Hagerstown, Maryland.
PIEOMOIMT
AIRLINES