PAGE TWO
THE PIEDMONITOR
DECEMBER, 1967
THEPiEDmonim
Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
Smith Reynolds Airport
Winston-Salem, N. C.
Betsy Allen, Editor
Congrats
From the Front Office
With new planes and new routes, new people, prospects
and progress there’s no doubt that Piedmont is growing.
As our growth continues, by the proverbial leaps and
bounds, we are concerned that communications. Company-
wide, be maintained and improved.
It is understandably impossible for President Davis to
meet with all of you on a regular basis. Our service pin
luncheons offer you “old timers” the opportunity to get
together with Company officers for informal conversation
and questions, but only once every five years. New Piedmont
folks have had even less chance to get answers to their
questions.
This is an invitation to you to help “do something” about
this situation. Starting with the next issue of the Piedrnonitor
in a new column “From The Front Office” Mr. Davis will
try to answer any of your cjuestions concerning Piedmont’s
policies, procedures, future plans or anything you would like
to have clarified about Piedmont and you.
Please address your questions to the Editor, Question
To The Front Office, The Piedrnonitor, INT-E. All questions
must be signed, but all signatures will be considered confi
dential and will not be published.
We hope this new exchange will be of service to everyone
and we’re looking forward to hearing from you.
How About You?
Are airline personnel courteous? In general, we believe
they are, but all too often they are complacent and show a
lack of thoughtfulness.
You are ready to get on the plane, you are at the gate
on time, and they tell you there is going to be a fifteen
minute delay. Well, this is okay. We prefer that the aircraft
be in proper operating condition before they take it off the
ground. We have an aversion to having a major malfunction
in the air that may cause the aircraft to crash. So, after
twelve of the fifteen minutes are up, a little man comes
around and says “Well, it is going to be another fifteen
minutes”, and after this has happened four times, you are
mad. You have lost an hour . . . you could have gone to the
nearest bar and had a drink, you could have gone to pick up
a magazine, you could have called a couple of business
associates, tran.sact a little business over the phone, you
could have done many things. The clincher is the one that
bugs this writer the most — you’re in Baltimore, they tell
j'ou your plane is going to be fifteen minutes late and the
plane hasn’t left Boston yet. We see no excuse for this kind
of service. You are in Kansas City and you call the airport
to find out if the flight from Denver is to be on time . . .
“Oh! Certainly” . . . Fifteen minutes later you arrive at the
airport five minutes before the plane arrives. You walk up
to the gate and you are told that the plane is going to be an
hour late. It is still on the ground in Denver.
The great majority of the airline passengers who are
flying for business reasons are highly paid, and the airlines
are making a great imposition upon the businesses and the
people which they serve by wasting hours and hours of
executive time.
Ever been running close on time, you arrive at the air
port thirty minutes before flight time, you need a minor
change in your ticket or you are unticketed, and the line
ahead of you is something else, and you pick the shortest
one and the two fellows ahead of you have problems with an
international flight, and it seems like it takes forever and a
couple of days and you get up to the window and then he
closes it in your face. Sure, the guy is supposed to go off
duty, so you get in another line.
You have boarded the plane at the proper time, the plane
is full, they start the engines and then they stop the engines.
The passenger agent comes trotting on board and tries to
remove one of the passengers. It seems that the passenger got
on when he shouldn’t have, there were two folks that were
ticketed all the way through and they got off the plane and
were late reboarding when it was ready to take off again. The
passenger agent, in a courteous way, asked the passenger to
get off the plane. He does not. He then threatens him with
the police, the passenger is unimpressed. The remaining
passengers on the plane are divided into two groups; those
who are mad because the plane is going to be late and they
are going to miss another connection, and the ones that are
not in any great hurry and are cheering the passenger that
will not get off and telling the passenger agent to get off.
We feel for the passenger agent, there is nothing he can do
right, most likely it was an honest mistake. We all make them.
We believe that complacency on the part of many em
ployees is responsible for this, and has been in every business
in this country.
Editorial Excerpts
from The Airways Traveler
15 TE.ARS
F. 1). Spillman—Sr. Mech., I.\T
H. M. Wooten—Mech. Spec.. INT
C. K. Blackmon—Station Mgr., LYH
V. L. Hastings—Asst. Supt., Stock
Room, INT
E. T. Jordon—Stock Clerk, INT
C. B. Warden—Mech., IXT-FB
L. P. Dennis—Capt., ATI.
10 YEARS
D. C. Johnson—Buyer. INT
Mary Parks—Agent, JlOA
A. S. Williams—Cleaner, INT
J. F. Wood—Director-Engineering, INT
R. W. AVestmorcland—Acct., INT
Janice Kirk—Commiinicationist. ROA
5 YEARS
E. D. Atkina—Jr. Mech., INT
D. F. Baxley—Agent, CAE
J. T. Gibson—Sr. Mech., ROA
K. D. Heflin—Sr. Mech.. ORF
D. E. Martin—Sr. Stock Clerk. ROA
II. E. Earnhardt—Jr. Mech., INT
li. A. Golden—Jr. Spec., INT
II D. Gunter—Mech., INT
E. T. Holt—Sr. Spec., INT
J. M. Ramsey—Jr. Mech.. INT-FB
A. V. Snyder—Sr. Spec., INT
P. R. Gustafson—Chief Agent, CMH
D. R. Webster—Agent, RMT
P. II. Swaini, Jr.—Radio Tech., INT
W. L. Whitman, Jr.—Mech., INT
S. A. Short^Sr. Spec., INT
S. C. Holland—Sr. Radio Tech., ATL
H. W. Gordon—Work Controller, INT
B. G. Linn—Agent, I.YII
R. L. Sutton—Sr. Mech., INT
Around The
System
NEW EMPI.OYEES
H. I. Rhodes—Cleaner, ROA
R. H. Bowyer—Cleaner, ROA
K. R. Blaker—Cleaner, CVG
W. L. Bullard—Agent, FAY
R. D. Davis, Jr.—Agent, GSP
J. E. Hollingsworth—Agent, ORF
D. R. Strickland—Agent, ORF
E. C. Harr—Agent, DCA
B. C. Scott—Agent, CHO
S. T. Willis—Agent, EWN
D. H. Gass—Systems Analyst, INT
C. C. Pecora—Agent. FAY
L. A. Keene—Jr. Stock Clerk. INT
Kathleen F. Conrad—Jr. Steno., INT
Gracie C. Staples—General Clerk, Sr.,
DCA-FB
Joyce McGalliard Atwood—Sec., INT
TRANSFERS
K. C. Killon—from LOZ to EEX
J. C. Watkins—from LOZ to TYS
Nancy L. Kapp—from Purchasing to
Personnel
R. A. AshAvorth—from ATL to ROA
Carole Faye Shaw—from INT to ATL
Robecca Ann Williams—from ORF to
ILM
PROMOTIONS
L. H. Hand—to Supt. of Second Shift,
INT
F. D. Jackson—to Mech., INT
D. L. Kiser—to Sr. Spec., INT
D. C. McLeod—to Mech., ROA
S. D. Martin—to Mech. Spec., INT
H. R. Poindexter—to General Foreman.
INT
B. L. Shelton—to Work Controller, INT
C. D. Thigpen^—to Mech. Spec., INT
E. L. Gabriel—to Lead Agent, AVL
Sandra Sue Schoen—.to Ticket Agent.
CVG
P. D. Bullock. Jr.^—to Mech., ATL
R. W. Davis—SDF to Jr. Mech., INT
A. V. DiGiulio—to Mech., ATL
S. H. Dudley—to Sr. Mech.. ORF
H. L. Gordon—to General Foreman,
INT
R. L. Gordon—to Acting Ld. Mech..
INT
J. R. Giles—to Jr. Mech.. ROA
J. B. Ramey—Sr. Mech. Spec., INT
O. L. Shepherd—to Jr. Spec., INT
t I RKCKON you ftAW MHAT
SCHEOULCP r» PLW CHAtSriAAS . . .
Thanks From INT
"No man is an islajid unto himself”.
Most every man dreams of total independence. In fact we all
start planning early with the thought in mind for retirement. Many
so called independent individuals rely heavily on others, so, in fact,
they still seek independence.
It occured to us recently how much we all must rely on others
in the daily course of activities. Especially in the performance of
our duties. One doesn’t have to look far to realize this. Generally
the individual standing next to you, your co-worker, is relied upon
more for your accomplishments and thanked less than we realize.
Consider for a moment how much we rely upon the station
next to us in our attempts to conduct an ontime, satisfactory trip
operation. Consider also how often we abuse that station. Irregulari
ties bear this out. How often have we taken time to thank the
personnel a those stations for their past cooperation, in order that
we may sufficiently handle our duties? I don’t recall ever saying
thank you to HKY, AVL, CLT, GSO, DAN, ROA, TRI, RDU or
DCA. But I would like to take this opportunity now, on behalf of
everyone here. It’s like not finding time to write home. You never
think about it, until j'ou need something.
The list of those to whom we are indebted is endless, but there
are two groups of individuals on whom we rely frequently and
their promptness and dependability is remarkable. They are the
radio technicians and automotive mechanics.
It seems as though we are constantly calling on them for one
thing and another. And each time, they are Johnnies-on-the-spot to
get us back in operation and moving again. So may we, belatedly,
say thank you for all your help. From the number of times they
ride passes out of INT, I know we aren’t the only ones needing
their assistance.
—R. J. Brandon
Station Manager
VFR
with
Turby
GOV’T. DISCOUNT . . ,
(Continued from Page One)
whose travel is paid with a U. S.
Government Transportation Re
quest (GTR’s). Most U. S. Gov
ernment agencies require that
their personnel travel by the
most economical fare available,
i.e. coach, economy, tourist, etc.,
even to the extent of choosing
a particular departure to take
advantage of the lower fares.
Therefore, the Discount Gov
ernment Travel fares will allow
persons traveling on Govern
ment Transportation Requests
to use the services of Piedmont.
Now you know, and it’s no longer a rumor, we’re getting th^^
YS-11. I talked to Captain Lloyd Lyons the other day. Lloyd hs^^^
been doing quite a bit of flying in the YS-11 lately, and he says
it’s the finest thing since the mini skirts. He fell in love with
the airplane the first time he flew it, says it’s a perfect team mate
for the 737.
We were sorry to learn of the slight delay in delivery of our
first 737, but, better late than never.
GSP went over 1000 for October. Congratulations!!
I’ve always heard that when dog bites man, it’s not news.
But when a washing machine runs into a car, I consider it news
worthy. It seems that it happened this way! Lionel Anders, District
Sales Manager — ROA, had an old Maytag washing machine with
rollers on it in the back of his garage. In backing his car out of
the garage recently, the washing machine became hooked to his
front bumper. It gained such momentum that when Lionel stopped
before entering the street, he looked forward in time to see the
Maytag just before the impact. ConcliLsion — extensive damage
to right front fender and headlight, door casing on garage door
torn off, and not a scratch on the washer. Insurance would not
pay the claim. Wonder why??