My ///\
VOLUME III, NO. 7
nc ficomanmm
APACE WITH THE PACEMAKERS
JULY, 1960
Piedmont Officials Take Active
Part In HKY Terminal Dedication
CENTER OF ATTRACTION during the afternoon festivities was tfie modern terminal building Of
contemporary design, the building contains a spacious lobby, manager's office, restaurant, space for coffee
shop and Piedmont station facilities.
are excellent in every respect.
The new terminal building is
located at tlie opposite side of
the field from the old quarters.
F-27 Di.splayed
D u r i n g the afternoon cere
monies Piedmont had an F-27 on
display. Thousands of spectators'
thronged the plane for a closer
look. The Fort Jackson Infan
try Band played during the after
noon and an air show included
flyovers by the N. C. and S. C.
Air National Guards jets, stunt
flying and parachute jumps by
the 82nd Airborne Division’s
“Skydivers” of Fort Bragg.
In attendance from Piedmont
were Mr. Davis, Vice President
C. G. B r o w n, Vice President
H. K. Saunders, Assistant to the
President Don Britt, Director
of Personnel Administration Joe
R. Fowler, " Superintendent of
Passenger Service Stan Brunt,
District Sales Manager Don Ed
mondson and Piedmonitor Edi
tor Dorothy Preslar.
Families of several Piedmont
personnel accompanied them on
the trip and attended the cere
monies. ‘ ;
■
On-Time Operations Statistics
Point Out Gradual
KEY TO TERMINAL which was presented to President T H.
Davis, is inspected by (left to right) Clyde McLean, master of ceremonies
and WBTV personality; Mr. Julian Whitener, mayor of Hickory; and
President Davis. The outsized key was a gift from the city of Hickory
and was presented by attractive Miss Hickory, Miss Tenita Deal, not
shown above.
CAB Issues Tentative
Rate of Return Increase
J. R. REAGAN
Others Promoted
Reagan
Fills Post
In Radio
J. R. Reagan has been named
assistant superintendent of com
munications for Piedmont Air
lines following the resignation
of Walt Rollick from that posi
tion June 15.
Reagan was formerly foreman
of the electronic section of
the communications department.
Rollick has accepted a position
with Collins Radio Company at
Washington, D. C.
Other changes announced for
the department promoted E. L.
Headen from lead technician to
foreman and A. A. Lenderman
from line technician to Lear
overhaul.
Reagan joined Piedmont in
December, 1948, as a radio tech
nician. In October, 1953, he was
promoted to foreman. His new
position was effective June 16.
A native of Richmond, Va.,
Reagan attended Valparaiso
Technical Institute at Valparai
so, Indiana. He was employed as
a radio engineer by radio broad
casting stations at Panama City,
Fla., and Canton, Ohio, before
coming to Piedmont.
During World War II he
served as a radio operator on
B-17’s and was shot down over
France during military action.
Captured by the German ariny,
he spent the remainder of the
(Continued on Page Two)
Statistics furnished by the de
partment of operations show that
Piedmont Airlines has steadily
improved its on-time flight per
formance during the past eight
months.
For originating flights Pied
mont registered an increase from
87.2 per cent to 92.4 per cent in
on-time to 15 minutes late per
formance. For terminating
flights the increase from Oc
tober, 1959, to May, 1960, was
from 54.5 per cent to 70.5 per
cent on-time to 15 minutes late.
With flags waving and an in
fantry band playing the dedica
tion of the new terminal building
at the Hickory, N. C., municipal
airport took place June 12 with
several Piedmont officials in at
tendance.
Mr. T. H. Davis, president, ac
cepted a key to the airport from
Miss Hickory, Tenita Ann Deal,
and told the crowd of some 14,000
spectators that the airport “will
mean more to this area than we
can envision at this time.”
He thanked the people of
Hickory and surrounding cities
for their patronage of Piedmont
and said Piedmont was proud to
serve such fine communities.
He said, “We at Piedmont now
have some transactions working
which will provide more and
better service to this area.”
Jonas Speaks
Featured speaker for the dedi
cation was Charles Raper Jonas
of Lincolnton, U. S. Tenth Dis
trict Congressman. Representa
tive Jonas said the new Hickory
facility was “one of the finest
buildings of its size anywhere
in the United States.”
“I’ve seen bigger, terminal
buildings. But I have yet to see
a better building for the size of
the community which it serves,”
he said and added praise to the
community leaders for their
foresight.
The terminal building is of
modern design, is air-conditioned
throughout and has a spacious
lobby. The Piedmont facilities
Whoops!
A news release concerning the
opening of summer service to
Myrtle Beach brought the fol
lowing reaction from Kays
Gary, staff writer for the Char
lotte Observer, under the cap
tain “The Very End:”
“Piedmont Airlines announces
. . . ‘Myrtle Beach is receiving
five flights each day—three in
bound and two outbound . . ’
“This is all well and good,”
observed the Observer man,
“but at this rate Myrtle Beach
will soon be up to its eyeballs
in airplanes — unless the out
bound schedule is expanded.”
Figures for the past eight
months are as follows;
Origination Termination
Month (On-time to (On-time to
15 min. late) 15 min. late)
Oct., 1959
87.2
54.5
Nov., 1959
88.6
60.9
Dec., 1959
87.8
60.1
Jan. (5-31),
86.2
56.1
1960
Feb., 1960
91.8
68.6
Mar., 1960
90.8
67.5
Apr., 1960
94.6
70.6
May, 1960
92.4
70.5
The. operations department. in
May began breaking down flight
delays into categories on statis
tic sheets. For May total delays
amount to 17,239 minutes or 287
hours and 10 minutes. About
half the total delays were .listed
under “Other”, which includes
such items as awaiting equip
ment, equipment change, turn-
around, connecting Piedmont
flights, airport traffic, etc.
Washington—The Civil Aero
nautics Board announced June
17 a tentative determination to
increase the “rate of return” to
be allowed local service carriers
in CAB subsidy determinations
to 12.75 per cent on investment,
but in no case less than three
cents per plane-mile.
In recent years the Board has
allowed a 9.5 per cent return
with a floor of two cents- per
plane-mile. The B o a r d’s vote
came in the Local Service Car
riers Rate of Return . Investiga
tion. ■
The new rate of return will be
applied only to so-called “future
rates”' that r are effective pros-
pectively. Rates fixed retroac
tively will continue, , as in the
past, to be based on a seven per
cent rate of return.
The floor of three cents per
plane-mile will be used in spe
cial cases where the investment
of a local service carrier is less
than 25 cents per revenue plane-
mile.
The Board determined that the
profit element in subsidy cases
should not be fixed on “operat
ing margin” but on the rate of
return on investment.
The announcement of action
on, this . decision does not, of
course, constitute the . CAB’s
final decision in the proceeding,
which will be formally entered
and issued at a later date. This
announcement does not neces
sarily reflect the views of all
Board members as to all of the
issues in the proceeding.