me pieamomnm VOL. 11 - NO. 4 Published By And For The Employees Of Piedmont Aviation, Inc. APRIL, 1959 Annual Shareholders Meeting The annual meeting of the shareholders of Piedmont Avia tion, Inc., was held April 15, in Winston-Salem. There was rec ord attendance with 75% of the outstanding common stock shares represented at the meet ing either by person or proxy. During the meeting a resolu tion was passed to amend the charter to increase the author ized stock from 1,500,000 to 2,- 000,000 shares. Members also approved a recommendation of the Board of Directors to revise and rewrite the by-laws of the corporation in view of the re vision of the North Carolina corporation laws effective July 1, 1957. During the course of the meeting, Mr. T. H. Davis pre sented a general company re port; Mr. C. G. Brown reviewed traffic outlook and route case progress; and Mr. R. S. North- ington gave a report on the Fixed Base Division of Pied mont Aviation, Inc. The twelve members of the Board of Directors were re elected by the stockholders to serve another year. The officers of the company also remained the same, being re-elected by the Board of Directors. Azalea Queen Debra Paget, and Maid of Honor, “Miss North Carolina”, Betty Lane Evans add beauty to the parade at Wilmington’s Azalea Festival. Feature Story on page 3. ioute Cass Status Great Lakes Local Service Case No new development; still waiting for Examiner’s initial decision. I Southeastern Area Local Service Investigation Oral argument before the ' ■' * •-■■‘ir? Boar'^ last procedural step in this case) was held May 31 through April 2, 1959. This case, involves our route applications in Tennessee. Final decision by tke Board should be handed down in the near future. Piedmont Area Case The first hearing in this case was held in Charlotte April 6 through April 9 before Examiner James Keith. More than one hundred witnesses were heard representing various cities in Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Caro lina. Hearings in this case will resume before the Examiner April 27 in Washington. Cincinnati/Detriot Case Our application proposing ex tension of our routes from Cin cinnati and Columbus to Detriot via Dayton and Toledo has been consolidated in this proceeding. Direct exhibits are to be ex changed May 11, 1959, rebuttal exhibits June 1, hearing schedul ed to begin June 15. This case has been reassigned from Ex aminer Madden to Examiner Paul N. Pfeiffer. Exemption Request We are still awaiting the Board’s decision in connection with our request to operate the portion of Capital’s Route 51 be tween Norfolk and Knoxville. A decision in this matter may be expected within the month. We have also reapplied for ex tension of the exemption author ity which permits us to operate through-plane service between Winston-Salem and Washington. The original exemption authority granted by the Board was for a six-month period, which will expire the middle of May. Shows Success Revenue passenger traffic for the first quarter of 1959 is up 25% above the same period last year. During January the in crease was 14.56%, February |23.26%, March 37%. As most of jjau lio douDL realize, i'ebruary, [1959, was the first month during which we operated F-27 flights without the existence of one or more airline strikes and for this reason, we felt that any F-27 traffic data prior to that month might be distorted. During Feb ruary an analysis of the flights operated shows that the traffic on these trips is up 41V2% over the traffic carried on the same flights with DC-3 equipment dur ing February, 1958. We feel that this is a most gratifying indica tion of the public acceptance and approval of the F-27. Orld Congress Route Hearing In Charlotte Of of the needs of that city and called his first witness to the stand. The witness was sworn in and stated his name and address. Prior to his taking the stand, a written statement of his testimony had been distri- _ The progress and success of B route cases are of vital con- O cern to all of us. There are m XI -j * . many steps involved in the Mr. T. H. Davis, President of , , , ,, actual procedure, but one of the Piedmont, recently attended theUost interesting is the presenta- “World Congress of Flight” inltion and evaluation of evidence jLas Vegas, Nevada. The Worldjby cities and airline carriers atlbuted and, after being sworn in Congress of Flight is a newl^^^ hearings. The first hearing I he was asked to adopt this state- program sponsored by the Air f ^ase was'ment as submitted or to correct held in Charlotte during the,it. After this routine procedure week of April 6. At this hear- takes place, the airline attorneys ing the cities involved in the are free to cross-examine the case presented evidence support- witness on the basis of his sub- ing their need for additional or mitted testimony. If there are new air service. I no objections after the cross- TEACHERS VISIT Piedmont participated recently in a program aimed toward in creasing our teacher’s under standing of America’s economic system. The Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce sponsor ed a “Business-Education Week” for Forsyth County and Winston- Salem City teachers. The week included visits at several com munity business firms represent ing productive, distributive and service agencies. As guests at Piedmont’s home office, the groups were welcomed by Mr. Northington, Vice Presi dent, and were given material and explanations as to Pied mont’s history, place in the local community and nation. After a complete tour of our Winston- Salem facilities, the educators enjoyed a short flight and tea. Force Association and various other leading air organizations, and is an endeavor to have an annual “Showcase” of American air power, both civic and mili tary. Over 5,000 people from all seg ments of aviation attended the program to witness the exhibits and flight demonstrations and to take part in the meetings and forums. The display of aircraft included: North America’s Space ship X-15, different types of missies, the latest transport ships (F-27, Electra, and DC-8), and all types of helicopters Mr. Davis found the program presented by the Flight Safety Foundation to be of particular benefit. Their program was cen tered on the implementation of new jet-powered airplanes in airline fleets. COMING EVENTS May 15: F-27 Service Beach Season. IMay 15: opens Myrtle First “Fun-Pak” vacationers will arrive at Virginia Beach and Asheville. Advance reserva tions indicate that this will be Piedmont’s set package tour year. June 1: Inauguration of Morehead City Service. Since most of us do not have a chance to attend these hear ings, we believe a brief descrip tion of what actually takes place at these hearings will be interest ing. This was the general order of events at Charlotte: The CAB Examiner, Mr. James S. Keith, called the meeting to order and introduced the at torneys for the represented air lines and cities. The attorney for the first city to be heard then made a general statement examination has been completed, the testimony is approved and submitted as evidence in the re cord. There are, of course, the lighter moments in the proceedings. In Charlotte there was one parti cularly interesting witness for the city of Louisville, Ky. She was Miss Susan Smith, Miss Kentucky for 1958! Mr. Cecil Beasley, Piedmont’s attorney was quick to take advantage of the See ROUTE HEARING Page 2 Capt. Nicholson Serves On FAA Committee Piedmont’s chief pilot, Capt. Frank G. Nicholson, was recent ly appointed to serve on the Airline Advisory Group of the Research and Development Di vision of the FAA. Capt. Nicholson, the only local service man named to the group, will serve with six other mem bers in an advisory capacity toj aid the technical units of the FAA in developing and mod ernizing the national system of navigation and traffic control facilities for civil and military aviation. The group members were chosen as airline experts whose varied experience will make them valuable consultants. R. Q. Quesada, Administrator of the FAA, said that the group had been appointed because, “in the course of this effort we are mak ing a serious attempt to include the realities of life by obtain-- ing the active assistance of our' commercial air fleets.” The group See Committee — Page 2