rHE piEDmoniTon
Meet The Real
J. R. Farley
See Page Three
VOL. X, NO. 8-10
1948 — CELEBRATING OUR TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY — 1968
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER, 1988
'WHERE TO PUT IT?" seems to be the President's first question following the move to the new building.
Piedmont Is Absolved of
All Blame In '67 Jet Crash
A Far Cry from the Barracks
gar bays, shops and oflices, there
is a grand total of 305,200 square
feet of building floor area.
Though not terribly accurate, big
is the best description of the new
home office of Piedmont Aviation,
Inc.
The National Transportation
Safety Board has issued its re
port on the cause of a fatal mid
air collision accident involving a
Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727, and
a Cessna 310, owned by Lanseair,
Inc., which occurred at an altir-
tude of 6,132 ft. near Henderson
ville, North Carolina on July 19,
1967. All 79 occupants of the 727,
and all 3 occupants of the Cessna,
perished, and both aircraft were
destroyed.
In its official findings the Safety
Board determined that the prob
able cause of this accident:
“. . . was the deviation of the
Cessna from its IFR clearance
resulting in a flightpath into
airspace allocated to the Pied
mont Boeing 727. The reason
for such deviation cannot be
specifically or positively identi
fied. The minimum control pro
cedures utilized by the FAA in
the handling of the Cessna were
a contributing factor.”
No Mechanical Failure
The Safety Board said its in
vestigation disclosed no evidence
of any failure or malfunction of
the airframe, engines, or com
ponents of either aircraft involved
in the accident.
Jin its report the Board listed a
ries of safety recommendations
uirected to the Administrator of
the Federal Aviation Administra
tion that the Board believes would
help prevent similar accidents in
the future.
The Safety Board reported that
both aircraft were operating on
Instrument Flight Rules (IFR)
flight plans and were in radio con
tact with Asheville Tower, the
facility which was providing air
traffic control service when the
collision occurred.
The Boeing 727 had departed
from Runway 16 at the Asheville
Airport and was cleared to proceed
via the Asheville VOR en route
to Roanoke, Virginia. The Cessna,
inbound to the Asheville Airport,
had been cleared from over the
VOR to the Asheville radio beacon
(RBN) and had reported passing
the VOR at 1158:20. The Asheville
radio beacon is located 17.4 miles
northwest of the VOR on the 298°
radial. The collision occurred at a
position approximately 9 miles
southwest of the VOR on approxi
mately the 243° radial, at approxi
mately high noon in daylight con
ditions. The weather at Asheville
as reported by the Weather Bureau
Just prior to the accident was esti:
mated ceiling 2,500 feet broken
clouds with visibility 4 miles in
haze.
Personnel on duty in the tower
at the time the 727 departed stated
that they observed the aircraft dur
ing takeoff and while it was climb
ing southeast-bound on runway
heading. Their last observation of
the jet was at a position estimated
to be between 4 and 5 miles from
the airport, slightly to the left of
the extended runway centerline,
and in a “shallow” left turn.
Cessna Pulled Up
At the time of the collision, ac
cording to the available evidence,
the 727 was in a climbing left turn
preceding from south to southeast,
with the Cessna proceeding in a
westerly direction. The Cessna ap
peared to be in level flight; how
ever, just before the collision it
was observed to pull up sharply,
with impact occurring between the
nose of the Cessna and the left for
ward fuselage section of the 727.
The jet continued straight ahead
momentarily, then nosed over and
fell rapidly to the ground. The
Cessna was not observed at any
time following the collision.
The Safety Board said the record
is clear that the Cessna failed to
comply with the clearance to pro
ceed from the Asheville VOR to
the Asheville RBN. The location
of the collision site, approximately
9 miles southwest of the VOR on
the 243° radial, is not indicative of
a flightpath which would be in
compliance with any of the four
published instrument approaches
for Asheville.
The Safety Board said it was un
able to identify the specific reason
for the Cessna’s deviation from
its clearance but it does not believe
there is sufficient evidence to con
clude that the Cessna pilot ignored
the clearance. However, it is be
lieved reasonable to assume that
it was either by reason of con
fusion or through misunderstand
ing of the clearance. In either
event, it is concluded to be the
product of two factors: (1) inade
quate knowledge of the Asheville
area by the pilot and poor flight
planning, and (2) the failure of
the Air Traffic Control (ATC) sys
tem to provide timely information
which would have prevented the
deviation or at least alerted the
pilot to recognize his misunder
standings.
Air Traffic Control
Concerning the operation of the
ATC system, the Board recognizes
that it is not infallible. It requires
a cooperative effort on the part
of both pilots and controllers to
achieve the desired results. If
an inadequate clearance is issued
by a controller, or if an adequate
clearance is not followed precisely
by a pilot, the programmed margin
of safety is decreased.
It appears to the Safety Board,
based on the facts in this case and
others reviewed in recent years,
that controllers in their communi
cations often tend to use the same
standards for the professional air
carrier pilots and the nonprofes
sional general aviation pilots. While
the Cessna pilot in this case was
instrument-rated and well quali
fied, the controller had no way of
knowing the qualifications of the
pilot with whom he was communi
cating. The Board believes that
controllers should not equate all
pilots with the upper segment of
the proficiency spectrum. All the
available information with respect
to clearances should be given to
pilots, particularly nonairline
((.’oiitiiiin'd on Six)
Home Off ice Moves To New Headquarters
As Piedmont packed up its 26-odd years of accumulated belongings
in preparation for its second move to new offices, many filed away
memories turned up in the back corners of desk drawers.
The packing process before the
move seemed to take longer than
the getting settled. The decisions
of what to keep and what to throw
away couldn’t be made in a hurry.
Though physically not far from
the sight of Piedmont’s initial bar
rack headquarters, the new home
office and maintenance facility is
a world away from the Company’s
first home.
On moving days, things that
hadn’t been seen in years turned
up in the most unlikely places.
Everything from old airplane
models to nearly forgotten Com
pany party pictures was dusted off
and put in boxes labeled “New
Building.” Tomorrow would be
soon enough to worry about what
to do with all the stuff.
Not too many employees remem
bered the days in the iDarracks, but
little provocation was needed to
get a story from the “old timers.”
It was early in August when the
movers came and the boxes and
desks and chairs and typewriters
and bookcases and assorted para
phernalia of nearly 1,200 Piedmont
people were transported about a
quarter of a mile north down Lib
erty Street. The actual move start
ed on Friday night and by Monday
morning the majority of the offices
were occupied, by boxes, if not
their inhabitants.
Moving the shops and machinery
and equipment took about three
weeks longer.
By the first week in October a
place had been found for most
everything and an “Open House”
was held for all the employees and
their families.
Nearly 3,000 people from all over
the system came for an inspection
tour and a barbeque dinner.
The date for the official dedica
tion of the building has been set
for October 25th.
Probably the most frequent re
mark about the new building re
lates to its size. Including the han-
DIRECTORS DECLARE
CASH DIVIDEND;
PROMOTE MRS. GREGG
The Directors of Piedmont Avia
tion, Inc., declared a cash divi
dend of 10 cents per share on the
company’s common stock at the
Board’s regular quarterly meeting
in October.
President Davis announced the
new dividend, totaling over $185,-
000, will be distributed to approxi
mately 7,300 stockholders in 47
states and 5 countries.
Payable December 2, 1968 to
stockholders of record November
15, 1968, the semiannual dividend
is the ninth consecutive to be de
clared since the initial dividend
was announced in October 1964.
In other action, the Directors pro
moted former Assistant to the
Corporate Secretary R i 11 a M.
(C'oiiliiuicMl on r:ig“ Six)
T
r
RIllA GREGG
John Harrigal Is Appointed
Director—Reservations Systems
John S. Harrigal, a nineteen year
veteran with Allegheny Airlines,
has joined Piedmont as Director—
Reservations Systems.
Harrigal, who is a native of
S w i s s V a 1 e, Pennsylvania, was
formerly regional director of reser
vations for Allegheny at Pitts
burgh. Prior to his work with Al
legheny Harrigal was with Mon
arch Airlines.
He attended Central Technical
Institute in Kansas City and Penn
sylvania State University. His mili
tary service was with the U. S.
Navy.
Harrigal’s primary duties with
Piedmont will involve centralizing
all of the Company’s reservations
activities. It is anticipated that this
program will require a minimum
of two years for completion.
Mrs. Harrigal is the former Do
reen Hill of Swissvale. They have
one son.
The family moved to Winston-Sa
lem early in September from Cora-
polis, Pennsylvania where Harrigal
had belonged to the local Toast
masters Club and the Masons.
JOHN HARRIGAL