Jocksonvilley N. C Becomes Piedmont's 83rd Home
THE DIGNITARIES ON HAND for the dedication of the
new Jacksonville, N. C. Airport included, on the steps
from top to bottom, Roy Stevens, Onslow County
Manager; U. S. Congressman David N. Henderson;
Chairman of the Onslow County Commissioners Ormond
Barbee; and Jim Robinson, Chairman of the Airport
Commission. The other familiar gentlemen are, in the
usual order. Senior Vice Presidents R. S. Northington,
H. K. Saunders and President T. H. Davis.
Jacksonville has become, to borrow a phrase,
another of the Eastern North Carolina cities
that Piedmont Airlines calls home.
It was a real hearts and flowers sort of
occasion as the citizens of Onslow County
turned out in record-breaking numbers on
Valentine’s Day to dedicate their new airport.
They named it the Albert J. Ellis Airport
in memory of the man who worked so hard
to obtain commercial air service for his area.
Piedmont’s designation for the new station is
OAJ.
The Jacksonville Daily News said the dedica
tion ceremonies were attended by “easily the
largest congregation of Onslow Countians ever
to have come together in one place for any
purpose.” There were thousands of cars parked
a mile or more away.
Speakers for the dedication included Ormond
Barbee, Chairman of the Onslow County Board
of Commissioners; W. B. Teachey, Mayor of
Jacksonville; Maj. Gen. M. P. Ryan, Command
ing General, 2nd Marine Division; and T. H.
Davis, President of Piedmont. The dedication
address was given by Third District Congress
man David N. Henderson.
The dedication ceremony ended with the
ribbon cutting by Marie Ellis, widow of Senator
Ellis. Mrs. Ellis was accompanied by an honor
guard of the Sen. Albert J. Ellis Assembly of
the Knights of Columbus.
Following the formalities there were five
sight-seeing tours aboard a YS-11, with a 100%
load factor each time. They circled Onslow
County and flew up the coast to Swansboro,
N. C. Darkness came a little early for many of
the visitors who were unable to take one of
piBDmonmm
VOL. XXII, NO. 2
We’ve put regional service on a new plane
FEBRUARY, 1971
New Res Office Is Getting Wired Up
If wiring will make it work. Piedmont’s new
Central Reservations Office (CRO) is a success
before it ever officially opens.
Should you be one who thrives on true trivia,
try committing these figures to memory. Right
now the building is housing 4,500 feet of com
puter cable with five wires in each for a total
Piedmont Losing Money,
But Not Going Bankrupt
As if the airline industry wasn’t having
enough problems, the Department of Trans
portation recently said that the nations nine
local service carriers are so financially strapped
— even with federal subsidies — that everyone
“for one reason or another could be in bank
ruptcy court.”
The statement came in a report to a Senate
aviation subcommittee made by Charles D.
Baker, assistant transportation secretary.
Civil Aeronautics Board Chairman Secor D.
Browne later denied the report saying that the
testimony for the Senate Committee had been
prepared before the issuance of the new subsidy
formula and did not take the new revenues into
account.
Browne also said that “the local service
carriers as a group outperformed any other
segment of the industry in 1970, and with
the issuance of the new subsidy order, _ the
carriers will be in solid position to continue
their strong performance.”
Piedmont’s share of the new subsidy formula
is $6,420,000.
Piedmont President T. H. Davis commented
of the Department of Transportation’s release
saying that “Piedmont is nowhere near bank
ruptcy.”
He went on the say that “thus far we have
been able to keep current with all our financial
obligations and loan commitments. We have
no intention of letting Piedmont get to the
critical condition that apparently confronts
some of the other airlines.”
of 22,500 feet of “computering” wires. The IBM
console units are connected up with 541,566
feet of individual wires. The telephones, when
completed will have 12,373,994 feet of paired
wires or 24,747,888 total feet of “talking”
wires, not to mention the 397,702 connections,
a very few of which are shown in the picture
at right.
To try the trivia a little further, all these
numbers add up to the fact that there are
4,793.9 miles of wire in the CRO and that’s not
even counting the electrical wiring systems! To
put it into perspective, stretched end to end,
the wire would reach from New York to Rio,
or London to Seattle or Boston to Bermuda six
times.
Alphabet Machinery
Last month’s Piedmonitor explained briefly
the types of new equipment, DMC’s, which is
the typewriter-like machine and the CRT’s,
which is the soft copy display unit. The DMC
operates as a computer and as a teletype. It is
designed for operational traffic as well as reser
vations handling. When operating in the tele
type mode the entries are unrestricted just as
with our current teletypes. But when used as a
computer the DMC is tied in with the central
processor in Los Angeles, which prevents
errors. Should a human error be made in book
ing a reservation, the machine will notify the
operator. Thus reservations traffic sent
through the DMC will always be correct.
Besides replacing the teletype, this equip
ment will also eliminate the need for reserva
tions cards.
Training Well Under Way
The instructors have already completed their
initial training for the new equipment and a
total of 28 units have been placed in 22 stations.
They should be hooked up by early March and
field training will begin then.
The Division Station Supervisors will also
be trained on the new equipment early in March
so that they will be available to assist the in
structors as training starts in the field. All
the sets should be installed in the outside
stations by mid-April.
the scenic flights. There were numerous re
quests to have the flights every Sunday after
noon.
The people were encouraged to come back out
for one of the regularly scheduled flights which
started the next day, February 15th. The initial
schedule of service for Jacksonville includes two
southbound flights to Atlanta and two north
bound flights to Washington, D. C. daily.
JACKSONVILLE AGENT Al Foote is shown here checking
the OAJ's first passenger. The Chief Agent is M. A.
Blythe. G. W. Hibbs and D. L. Lewis are the other Pied
mont agents. Ail transferred to OAJ from New Bern.
HEAVEN FORBID that a wire be crossed the wrong way.
It would be taking the trivia a bit far to figure out how
long it would take to uncross one of the nearly five
thousand miles of wire in the new Central Res Office.
This photo shows only part of one aisle of wires in the
telephone room.
PI Employee Stock
Purchase Progress
To help you keep up with the amount you pay
for Piedmont stock every month if you’re buying
it through payroll deduction the Piedmonitor
publishes this periodic report of the number of
shares purchased, average price per share and
total investment in the previous month.
FOR JANUARY, 1971
Amount Invested $5,312.83
Number of Full Shares Purchased 696
Average Price Paid Per Share $ 7.62