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BEAUTY DEPLANES Miss America of 1957 Marian McKnight
steps from a Piedmont plane at Fayetteville where she helped pick a
new Miss World Putt Putt during the National Tournament of Cham
pions. (More pictures on page 3)
Charter Flight Revenue Tops
$37,000 During September
me mo man iron
VOLUME II
OCTOBER, 1959
NO. 9
Shenandoah Seeks
Temporary Waiver
Company Files Brief
In Piedmont Cose
Charter flights during Septem
ber provided Piedmont with
more than $37,000.00 revenue, ac
cording to Mrs. Thelma Taylor
Davis, traffic department assist
ant for charter arrangements.
The September special flights
included 26 round trips and nine
one-way transports for a total of
61 flights.
Mrs. Davis said the heaviest
business came from college
football trips. The teams of the
University of West Virginia,
Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
Clemson College, Wake Forest
College and The Citadel were
flown during September.
Several high school football
teams, as well as miscellaneous
groups, comprised the remain
der of the month’s charter busi
ness.
The September revenue for
last year was around $7,500.00.
This year’s figure for the same
month represents almost a 500
per cent increase.
October charters are expected
to exceed the September num
ber.
Piedmont Airlines filed a 63-
page brief on the Piedmont Lo
cal Service Area Investigation
September 8 in response to the
tentative position as announced
previously by the Bureau of Air
Operations.
The brief was submitted by
Cecil A. Beasley, Jr. and R. J.
Shortlidge, Jr., attorneys for
Piedmont, to CAB Examiner
James Keith.
, It contained evidence and esti
mates on the proposed routes
from Baltimore to Atlanta and
from Charleston to Atlanta; the
substitution of Piedmont for
Capital Airlines on the Norfolk
to Knoxville portion of route
51; and the extensions from
Washington, Richmond and Nor
folk to Columbia, Augusta and
Atlanta via local points in east- j
ern North Carolina and South
Carolina.
The Bureau of Air Operations
has recommended Piedmont re
ceive all new routes applied for
except those in and out of cities
in South Carolina.
The brief contained conclud
ing remarks as follows:
“The Piedmont Local Service
Area Investigation is of vital
concern to the traveling public
Piedmont serves and to Pied
mont.
“This geographic area consti
tutes the very heart of Pied
mont’s system. The company’s
welfare, its progress towards
self-sufficiency and its opportu
nity to better serve the public
are all involved in the case.
“Finally, Piedmont wishes to
direct the examiner’s attention
and through the examiner, the
board’s attention, to the fact
that operation of all routes re
quested in this proceeding (in
addition to Piedmont’s existing
system) will result in greater
enonnmie benefit than the net
sum effect of the separate pro
posals.”
F-27 NEWS
The first jet service of any
kind offered Columbus and
Parkersburg-M a rietta by a
scheduled airline will be in
itiated by Piedmont October
25.
Flights 63 and 66 will serve
the two cities. JPress flights
are being arranged for the
opening-day activities in Co
lumbus.
Piedmont DC-3 Provides Sightseeing
Thousands Throng Mercer Open House
Thousands of Bluefield-Prince-
ton area residents turned out
for Mercer Airport’s open house
and dedication of the new ter
minal wing September 6.
The only formal ceremony
was a ribbon cutting by mem
bers of the Mercer County Court
and three Piedmont officials.
The crowds jammed the ramp
most of the afternoon inspecting
military and commercial planes
and visited inside the terminal,
where the restaurant and all fa
cilities were open.
A Piedmont Airlines D C - 3 ,
especially assigned to the sta
tion for the afternoon activities,
furnished sightseeing rides to
nearly 300 persons. Four F-86A
jets from the Martinsburg Air
National Guard put on a brief
air show over the field.
On display were an Air Na
tional Guard Albatross from
Charleston and a U. S. Army
helicopter from Fort Knox. In
addition to the military planes,
a new Cessna, Piper Apache and
Piper Commanche were exhibit
ed during the day.
SNIP! GO THE SCISSORS Formally opening the new wing of Mercer County Airport at Blue-
field-Princeton are (left to right) Superintendent ot Passenger Service S. S. Brunt; Mercer County Court Com
missioners Clarence Elmore, Fred Thomason and Frank Gibson (cutting the ribbon); Airport Manager C. W.
McGlothlin; General Sales Manager W. G. McGee and Charleston District Sales Representative Orville
Larch.
Piedmont Gives
Support to Bid
For Exemption
The Shenandoah Valley Air
port Commission has petitioned
the Civil Aeronautics Board to
allow Piedmont Airlines to serve
Staunton, Va., on a temporary
exemption.
Piedmont has sent to the CAB
a supporting answer to the peti
tion stating a willingness to pro
vide the requested air service.
Staunton is included in the
Piedmont Local Service Area
Investigation, now pending. At
present, Staunton is not served
by a commercial air carrier.
The temporary exemption
would give the Shenandoah Val
ley Airport area, which includes
Staunton, Waynesboro and Har
risonburg and Rockingham and
Augusta counties, SL':-vi.?e before
the final decision in the route
case.
ITapid Action
Action will be taken on the
petition by the CAB within 60
days. If the petition is granted.
Piedmont will begin service to
Staunton within three months.
Piedmont has asked that
Staunton be served on segment
4 of route 87 as an intermediate
point between Washington and
Roanoke. Permission to overfly
Lynchburg and Charlottesville
is also requested.
Staunton applied for air serv
ice more than four years ago and
was denied such by the CAB on
the basis that the city had no
airport.
Prompted by the denial, Staun
ton and the member govern
ments of the Shenandoah Valley
Airport Commission built an
airport. Since its completion
about a year ago, the airport
has stood virtually idle.
Undue Burden
Piedmont has asked that the
exemption authority be granted
on the basis that the usual re
quirements, set forth in section
416B of the Federal Aviation
Act of 1958, will be an undue
burden on Piedmont and not in
the public interest within the
meaning of the law.
In this case, the requirements
(hearing, examination, etc.)
have been started in the Pied
mont Local Service Area case.
But the final decision is not ex
pected before September, 1960, if
the case follows the usual pat
tern of route cases.
New Look:
This month the PIEDMONI-
TOR features columns by Britt,
Brunt and Folger on a fullscale
editorial page ... PI PIX, a
full page of news pictures . . .
and dates to remember in the
coming month.