September/October, 1978
page three
Captain "Hutch" Hutcheson relinquished the ^8 spot
on the pilot seniority list when he retired in July. One
of Piedmont's original twelve pilots. Hutch flew all of
the Piedmont planes from the DC-3 to the Boeing 737
during his 30-year career.
Long lines
Since Piedmont’s long lines were one of, if not the
most successful of our modes of communication, we
thought a column by the same name might be a good
way of mentioning some of the small, but newsy things
of interest that go on around the system. Any contri
butions you might have will be more than welcome.
Address them to the Editor, Piedmonitor, INT-A213
The Greater Cincinnati Airport welcomed
its 50-millionth passenger the latter part of
August. See picture at top, right. CVG opened
its doors to commercial travelers on January
10, 1947. The facility accommodated 302,707
passengers during its first year of operation.
Piedmont joined the CVG family of airlines the
next year when our inaugural flight terminated
there on February 20, 1948. During 1977, the
airlines serving Cincinnati enplaned more than
2.7 million passengers, more than 75,000 of
those flew Piedmont. Piedmont was delighted
to have Ms. Petro as CVG’s 50 millionth. She
flew with us to Huntington.
Plan to party
Christmas is getting closer and the CRO
won’t let us forget it. If we were as organized
as the res party planners, the rapidly approach
ing hecticness of holidays might not be so
fi'ightening. But forget how much you have to
do and plan now to be at their annual gala event.
Their theme for the 8th annual party is “We’ve
Come a Long Way.” It is set for December 9,
from 8:00 p.m. ’till 1:00 a.m., at the Benton
Convention Center in Winston-Salem. All Pied
mont employees are invited and all full-time
employee ticket holders will be eligible for the
enormous assortment of exotic door prizes.
Tickets will be available starting November 1
from the Credit Union ofl^ice or from Betty
Butner, INT-CRO, KIOO. The tickets are priced
at $15 per couple, $8 single admission or $3
to put your name in the door prize hat. The
Younger Brothers band will help usher in the
1978 holiday season. Order your tickets early!
Report looks better
Piedmont’s position in the CAB’s consumer
complaint report showed lots of improvement in
June and July. In June, the Company moved up
one step in the industry rankings, to seventh
place. Among the regional carriers. Piedmont
moved up to third from the fifth position we had
in May. And the July rankings were better still.
We came out second, to Delta’s first place, in
the industry standings and we were back in our
more familiar and certainly more comfortable
top spot among the regionals. Letters to the
Board are categorized according to complaints
involving delays, reservations, baggage, fares,
refunds, cargo, customer treatment and char
ters and are tabulated on reports per 100,000
passengers enplaned.
Familiar faces seen in new places
A number of personnel changes have been
announced recently. In case you see a familiar
face in an unlikely place, here is a partial list:
Wayne Tucker has moved from station manager
at Memphis to the same position in Charlotte;
Agent Marriann McVeigh and Station Manager Wally
Kerr showed off an oatmeal cookie baked by Host Inter
national during a party given by the Maryland State
Aviation Association to welcome Piedmont, North Central
and Carribean to Baltimore/Washington International
Airport.
Ms. Betty Petro was Cincinnati's official 50-milllonth
passenger. She boarded Piedmont's Flight #924 on
August 28, 1978. Station Manager Paul Gustafson and
Sales Manager Fred Sheets, center and left, presented
her with a commemorative plaque and roses from the
Kenton County Airport Board.
former CLT Manager J. C. Newell has been ap
pointed special representative to work with W.
A. Crowe, CLT district sales manager; Sky
Day moved from Charlotte to be station man
ager at Columbia; Sy Pierce moved from
station manager at CAE to the same job at
Knoxville.
In Winston-Salem, Captain W. C. Kyle has
returned to line flying and Captain Gene Sharpe
is now director of flight operations. Captain J.
C. Sifl'ord has replaced Captain L. W. McNames
as director of flight standards. Captain Mc
Names retired in mid-September.
New appointments in airline maintenance
management include H. R. Sage being named
superintendent of shop maintenance; W. R.
Lam was appointed to the newly created posi
tion of superintendent of line maintenance-
outside stations; W. B. Sparks was named
superintendent of quality assurance; L. E. Hart
man has been appointed to the newly-estab
lished position of foreman of quality assurance;
and J. L. Mustin has replaced F. L. Sfreddo as
supervisor of non-destructive testing. Sfreddo
retired recently.
John L. Powell has been named director-
Piedmont Aerospace Institute, replacing H. F.
Murray who has retired. Prior to his appoint
ment, Powell was supervisor of instructional
programs for the Institute. He has been with
the Company since 1976.
Agent gets by-line
Fayetteville agent Bob Nunnery recently
saw his name in print in the Personal Experi
ences column of Travel Scene magazine. His
humorous happening, entitled “Bodily Bag
gage,” recounted the story of two healthy ladies
who walked up to the ticket counter to check
several bags for their flight. After greeting
them, the agent said to the first one, “I’m sorry
ma’am, you’re overweight and I’ll have to
charge you for some excess.” Then the other
lady righteously spoke up, punching her com
panion in the side with her elbow, “See, I told
you that you ought to lose some weight.”
TOPS award goes to two
The TOPS (Total Outstanding Passenger
Service) Award Committee reported that pick
ing the latest winner was tougher than usual.
The final decision revealed two winners. Roa
noke flight attendants Nancy Burdette and
Audrey Williams were selected for the July-
August period.
Burdette and Williams were on a flight out
of O’Hare that was delayed for several hours,
nearly seven, before the ordeal ended. Accord
ing to several passenger letters and all the ORD
stafl' on duty that night, these two “kept their
cool and did an outstanding job above and be
yond the call of duty.”
Each will receive five shares of Piedmont
stock and the TOPS plaque. Burdette has been
flying for Piedmont since 1971 and Williams
since 1972.
The selection committee also noted honor
able mentions for Gypsy Gilliam of Raleigh/
Durham, Karen Dufl" of Charleston, West Vir
ginia and Barbara Lund of Washington for their
recent above-and-beyond efl'orts in assisting
our passengers.
Augusf
flight
ottendont
graduates
Muriel L. Mitchell Nita M. Julian Sandra L. Marion Cindy J. Cenek
Jdk- Ml ik I--* ^ ^
Denise L. Hodges Youlonda H. McCoy Joanne M. Diana
Lea A. Rutledge