December, 1974
PIEDMONITOR
page seven
Colorful, profitable contributions from GAD
The General Aviation Division is a plane-
selling, award-winning, profit-making part of
Piedmont. This, the Beechcraft area of the
Company’s operation, is another of the not-so-
familiar businesses that make up Piedmont
Aviation, Inc.
Even though Piedmont has been in the gen
eral aviation business since 1941 it wasn’t until
1955 that the Company became a Beechcraft
distributor.
But a little of that early history is enlighten
ing.
Senior Vice President R. S. Northington, who
is head of the General Aviation Division, had
received his flight training at Piedmont dur
ing World War II. He came back to the Com
pany as sales manager after the war and didn’t
wait long to start making headlines.
In 1947 the Winston-Salem paper featured
a story that started “The time has passed when
everybody talks about the weather and no one
does anything about it — at least in Forsyth
County.”
It seems that Piedmont’s Northington had
taken up rain making! Under his direction,
pilots Charlie Vestal and John Wilkes had taken
off in a 5 place Cessna (ante-Beech) loaded
with 100 pounds of dry ice. They seeded the
clouds and made rain so successfully that the
plane flew through showers as it was coming
back in to land. And there was nothing parched
about the praise for Piedmont and Northington
that appeared in papers all over the Southeast.
The General Aviation Division may not have
continued along as colorful a path but its suc
cess has been no less spectacular.
There were some dry, lean years to follow
and during many of them the General Avia
tion Division was Piedmont’s better half. Long
before the airline saw black ink on the books
profit was a way of life for Northington and
his men.
In building one of the largest and most effi
cient fixed base operations in the Southeast
Northington has had good people working with
him. C. W. Gough, who is Assistant Vice Presi
dent and Johnny Johnson, Parts Manager, have
been with Piedmont over 30 years and the
Beech operation will be onlv 20 years old next
May. Service Manager Eddie Culler and Air
craft Sales Manager Joe Culler have also been
vital members of Northington’s team. It is
also interesting to note that the average length
of service of the shop men is something over
15 years.
With headquarters in Winston-Salem and
branch operations in Norfolk, Roanoke and
Alexandria Piedmont’s General Aviation Divi
sion is widely recognized and repeatedly
awarded as an outstanding FBO. The Aircraft
Power Reporter recently said, “this company
has the most modern and most completely
equipped engine, propeller, aircraft and elec
tronics overhaul and repair station that can
be found”.
The GAD has two full time parts salesmen
on the road, or in the air, all the time. They call
on every airport with an FBO over a five state
area. The GAD holds distributorships for parts
and accessories of more than 50 nationally
known manufacturers.
The 12,000 square foot parts department
keeps four men on the phones filling parts
orders day in and day out. According to John
son something over 90 percent of these orders
taken are immediately shippable from stock and
go out of Winston-Salem the same day.
Besides selling a lot of parts, accessories and
airplanes the GAD does a thriving business in
charters.
Not only does the General Aviation Division
do a volume business they also have a fantastic
record of customer loyalty. This is true in their
maintenance area and in the aircraft sales sec
tion.
Experienced manpower has paid off. The
GAD’s reputation has brought jobs from as
far away as Africa and Australia. And they
have been well rewarded for their efforts.
Among the most recent recognitions for the
General Aviation Division was the Beechcraft
Award of Excellence for 1974 presented to
Northington by Mrs. Beech for retail sales in
excess of $6.7 million. Another award from
Beech was given to Norfolk salesman Tom
Grubaugh for having sold the most light air
craft of any Beech center in the United States.
Northington was honored recently when he
was elected to the Board of Directors of the
A - IN ?SCOGMTION CP
OUTSTANDING ACHlSVeMENTS.
CtCiCATiON AND PROFESSlONAliSV,
l!CH =?£Fl.£CT the HiGHEST TPAD!T;OSS
A-y[>PR!\CiPLeS OF THE AVlAT'OS
AINTENANCE INDUSTRY THROUGHOJT
THE WORLD
C. W. Gough, right, accepted the 1973 Aviation Main
tenance Facility Award from Jim Kost of Aviation Me
chanics Journal. The prestigious award is the highest
level of achievement an aviation maintenance facility
can obtain.
In November Senior Vice President Bob Northington
received the 1974 Beechcraft Award of Excellence
from Mrs. O. A. Beech.
National Business Aircraft Association, Inc.
He will serve a two year term as an associate
member advisor on the NBAA Board.
As 1974 comes to an end it looks like the
General Aviation Division will have had an
other record-breaking year, in terms of planes
sold, awards won and profits made.
Piedmont Fabricators, which is the manu
facturing area of the Company’s operation, will
be the fourth feature in this Piedmonitor series
about the not-so-familiar businesses that make
up Piedmont Aviation, Inc.
I 1
I I
I Holiday Schedule |
I The following is the official holiday I
schedule for all ground personnel; •
I New Year’s Day— |
January 1
I Easter Monday— |
I March 31 (Winston-Salem i
I only) I
I Memorial Day— I
May 26 (everywhere except
I Winston-Salem) |
I Independence Day— ■
I July 4 I
I Labor Day— I
September 1 •
I Thanksgiving— |
November 27
I Day following Thanksgiving— I
I November 28 i
Christmas Day—
I December 25 |
I Your employment anniversary date— .
I Your birthday •
I One day consecutive with your birth- I
day.
I I
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