JUNE. 1959
TOE PIEDMONITOR
PAGE THRBE
By; John Simmons
In the area surrounding our Station of the
Month this month, there is a wealth of well
known and lesser known material from which
one could compose such an article as this.
There is modern achievement, monumental
and memorial grandeur, historical interest, and
many items which would prove of interest to
certain groups of our readers depending on
their respective interests.
Washington National Airport, DCA. served
by Piedmont since August 1955, is also the
home base of Capital Airlines and the through
station for ten of the nation’s leading carriers
plus many non-scheduled flights of other air
lines and corporation aircraft. It is the place
where the President of the United States be
gins and terminates most of his flights.
As your Pacemaker flight circled before
landing, you see the better known landmarks
that identify Washington; the Washington
Monument and nearby Jefferson Memorial,
and in the distance the imposing dome of our
nation’s Capitol.
Proceeding from the gate to the Main Ter
minal you notice the steady chatter of the PA
system announcing flight departures and ar
rivals almost continuously, and see some of
the many aircraft that arrive and depart
Washington every two minutes nearly twenty-
four hours a day.
Although Washington National Airport is
so named, it stands on Virginia soil and is
bordered to the south by Alexandria, a city
of contrasts. And it is some of the interesting
points of this city we discover on this visit.
Dating back to 1749, Alexandria is rich in
Colonial History. George Washington lived at
nearby Mount Vernon and attended Christ
Church which stands today just off Alexan
dria’s main street in a tree-shaded yard while
prop-jets and other modern day aircraft
circle it at low level as they come into and
out of Washington Airport.
Robert E. I.ee lived here prior to his en
trance to West Point. In the yard of Christ
Church he was presented his commission as
General of the Confederate Forces.
Also within the area encompassed by Na
tional Airport’s traffic patterns is Gadby’s
Tavern, stopping place of Lafayette and John
Paul Jones. From its front steps George
M'ashington took his final salute as Comman
der of the Revolutionary Forces.
Before we leave, we pay a visit to C;arlyle
House, home of John Carlyle, a Scottish ship
merchant. Here were entertained such famous
people as Benjamin Franklin and Benedict
Arnold.
As you journey back to Washington Air
port for the trip home, you see the contrast
of the Colonial history you have been belated
witness to as you travel the broad highway
that leads to the airport and see the defense
plants and electronics manufacturing plants
where components not conceived in the minds
of men who inhabited the historic area a few
blocks back, make up atomic weapons and
satellites for today’s space age.
Back in the bustle of National Airport you
check in at our new ticket counter in the
North Terminal and find your flight home is
departing on time (well, maybe just a couple
minutes late). And as your Pacemaker takes
off and heads “down the river” before turn
ing on course, you see Alexandria and some of
the air traffic overhead and certainly agree,
the old does contrast with the new in Wash
ington. .
ATA ANNUAL REPORT SHOWS
LOCAL SERVICE CARRIERS GROWTH
Local airlines carried ten
times more passengers in 1958
than in 1948. The local service
system has more than tripled
in the past decade.
These are the amazing figures
released recently in the an
nual report of the Air Trans
portation Association of Ame
rica. And they are not just
figures that we can pass over
-lightly...they tell the story of
the progress of the industry
for which we work. And as the
industry grows each of us is
directly affected by increased
opportunities for promotions
and security.
Local Service Growth
The ATA report shows the
route patterns of the 13 local
carriers serving 500 communi
ties, and more impressive, that
more than half of these might
have no service were it not
for the local carriers,
ATA descibes local service
airline growth as “one of the
most dramatic in the history of
the U. S. commercial aviation,”
and gives these figures for the
year 1958:
PASSENGERS: 4.265.000 car
ried in scheduled service. Gain
of eight per cent over 1957.
LOAD FACTOR: Average load
factor for 1958 for all carriers
was 45.73%. Piedmont com
pares well with a 51.9^% aver
age for the year.
MAIL: 1,725,000 ton-miles for
year, 14 per cent incrjase over
1957.
AIR EXPRESS: 1,801,000 ton-
miles, an increase of 10 per
cent over 1957.
AIR FREIGHT: 2,241,000 ton-
miles, up eight per cent over
1957.
MAJOR OBJECTIVES
“Major objectives of the local
service airline industry are fleet
modernization to increase ef
ficiency, improve service and
stimulate traffic and to re
duce subsidy.”
In aiming towards these goals
outlined in the ATA report,
Piedmont was one of two car
riers to introduce prop-jet air
craft in 1958 thus modernizing
our fleet to increase efficiency.
Of course the improvement
of service is the individual re
sponsibility of every Piedmont
employee.
ATA describes local service
reduction by stating: “Subsidy
freedom is a chief goal. The
local service airlines are pur
suing a program of constantly
improved efficiency and econ
omy of operations. They are
IMPROVEMENT
AT LYNCHBURG
Earth was broken last week
beginning the long awaited air
port improvement program at
Lynchburg. Included in the
plans for improvement is the
erection of a new terminal
building and an automobile
parking lot on ramp level.
The location of the new ramp
will eliminate 39 steps that pas
sengers have had to use in ar
riving and leaving.
The ramp area will also be
enlarged and private flying op
erations will be moved to ano
ther section of the field.
Earth removed during the
grading process will be deposi
ted at the end of a runway to
facilitate lengthening of the
runway at a future date.
Flight operations are not ex
pected to be hampered during
the construction period and
should continue in the normal
manner.
Work Injuries Show Big Increase
Flight Advisory Poetica
By:
R. H. Kitchen
In the early morning when all is still
And the white, ghostly mist creeps up the hill.
The air is clear, few clouds in the sky.
But the field is foggy . . . and you breathe a sigh.
Passengers are waiting, ships on the line
You know we won’t make it at least until nine;
But the break comes early, something unforeseen.
Old Sol and a breeze makes everything routine.
Flight One should land EWN and all other stops,
But Flight 30 at CRW is 60 percent ops;
Releases are ready, so let’s get ’em flying,
We can’t win ’em all . ..But at least we are trying.
promoting vigorously for more
business.”
The federal aid to overall
ten years ago, the report states,
and this is certainly proof that
'>:e are moving toward ultimate
'ubsidy freedom.
Since subsidy is of such vital
■r^nortance to the local service
airlines, we should all under
stand how it is awarded and,
Quite sim.ply, how it works.
For this reason we plan to de
vote a feature article to this
in the next issue of the PIED-
MONITOR. We hope to make
the discussion simple and in
teresting and to make “subsidy”
more than just a vague word
we really don’t understand.
The Safety Bulletin issued by
the North Carolina Industrial
Commission shows that the first
four months of 1959 shows a
large increase in work injuries
reported.
The record shows:
1958 1959
January '6,420 6,869
February 5,457 6,535
March 5,79tt 6,870
Api^l 5,859 7,541
This is an increase of 4,285
injuries for the first four
months of 1959.
During the month of April
1959, six fatal injuries were
reported to the N. C. Industri
al Commission and two out of
the six was acredited to the
Airline Industry. Piedmont was
not included in the list, but
our outstanding record does not
mean we can forget safety.
WHAT IS SAFETY? I
Safety is an abstract thought
until you have first hand ex
perience. It becomes a con
crete thought with the addi
tion of pain and suffering.
The benefits of safety, as
portrayed by word or picture,
will never be as convincing as
the absence of safety and the
resulting injury.
Instructions, demonstrations,
reminders — they all appear
trite when we hear them, and
we usually conclude such in
formation is useful for those
who are careless.
We should at all times strive
to be free of danger or injury
and to eliminate hazzards. If
we would but do this, only the
unknown, the unexpected con
ditions ,would cause accidents.
Safety will always remain an
abstract factor, unless and un
til we determine to make it a
means of personal survival.
(“What is Safety?” appeared in
the N. S. C. Newtsletter.)
TURBY TIPS
As we find ourselves right in
the beginning of the big conven
tion season, the response to the
leads we have been sending to
the stations is most gratifying.
We need leads from your city
. . . look for them and then
don’t fail to send them in.
It takes Just half as many
muscles to smile as it does to
frown - so why tire yourself out
by frowning?
My mother used to say, “Son,
it’s no disgrace to wear rags so
long as they are neat and clean.”
Be nice to everyone - chances
are they will be nice too.
One satisfied customer is worth
many dollars in free advertising.
You figure what the disatisfied
customer costs ....
Anticipation is one of the
most important things in this
business. Develope the ability to
anticipate and then use it wisely.