My first flight was 1957 (58?) and a birthday gift from my older sister and parents. Visiting family in Evansville Indiana our route home passed the E'ville airport. This time they pulled into the airport and parked. What is happening? I said. They revealed the surprise. They put me on as an unaccompanied child and my teen sister met me in Indianapolis, our home. It was a DC-3 with small tail wheel and boarding at the tail. The attendant set a three step boarding device and on entry all passengers pulled themselves up the steep slope of the aisle using seat backs as hand holds. Single seat on my side as I recall. Unpressurized so flew low. February so early darkness and not long after departure I could see the cars with lights on below moving then turning then turning again as they traveled. After some period I saw a light outside then seconds later a THUNK as we landed. The wing lights illuminated grass so a grass landing strip. In a short time there was the sound of the plane door opening, something thumping into the plane. I asked the attendant and she said it was Terre Haute, a mail stop and no passenger actions. In a few minutes we were off to complete the flight. Lake Central Airlines.
My first flight in the mid-60s was on a Piedment YF-11 turboprop (the successor to the DC-3 for them) from Fayetteville to Atlanta. Nonstop! They made a big deal of giving out full 6.5 oz bottles (!) of Coke, which was a hallmark of Piedmont for its entire history. Tom Davis is one of my aeronautical heroes, and I love it when I see the American A320 (I think) in the Piedmont retro-livery here in CLT. Good times!
OK Stuart I ,just saw this from you ! I am a new Substack subscriber and not that familiar with how to use it !
I wasn’t trying to be snarky by correcting you , but , as a former PIEDMONT “stewardess” ( + USAIRWAYS & AMERICAN ) who flew from 1971 until 2020 I had first hand knowledge of the chronology ❣️
Flew to INT on a Martin -404 for my interview ~ Worked on every A/C from the Fairchild Hiller FH- 227 s , YS-11 s , Fokker F -28 and F100 s , 737-200-300-400 s , 727-100- & -200s
Boeing 757 & 767 s , AirBus 319-300-400 s , AB 321 s and the A 330 s!
I live in the Parkersburg, West Virginia area and we have a small (heavily subsidized) airline that has flights to Charlotte. On the way (after like 20 minutes of flight time) it stops in Beckley, West Virginia, and the stop is usually very brief to allow a handful of people going to Charlotte from Beckley to join. I had always thought it'd be funny to act like I'm in a big hurry to get to Beckley and rush off the plane to see the looks on the face of the flight crew. Little did I know, the distance (145 miles) dwarfs what the flight crews on Piedmont saw.
When I was a kid we used to call Piedmont, Pterodactyl Airlines, because the planes were so old and the wings shook so much prior to takeoff off that you’d have thought they were going to start flapping down the runway.
My husband recalls an equally short flight on Piedmont Airlines. He and his father took Piedmont to visit his uncle who lived in Roanoke, Virginia. They left from Kinston and stopped in Goldsboro, Raleigh, and Danville, Va., before landing in Roanoke.
My first flight was 1957 (58?) and a birthday gift from my older sister and parents. Visiting family in Evansville Indiana our route home passed the E'ville airport. This time they pulled into the airport and parked. What is happening? I said. They revealed the surprise. They put me on as an unaccompanied child and my teen sister met me in Indianapolis, our home. It was a DC-3 with small tail wheel and boarding at the tail. The attendant set a three step boarding device and on entry all passengers pulled themselves up the steep slope of the aisle using seat backs as hand holds. Single seat on my side as I recall. Unpressurized so flew low. February so early darkness and not long after departure I could see the cars with lights on below moving then turning then turning again as they traveled. After some period I saw a light outside then seconds later a THUNK as we landed. The wing lights illuminated grass so a grass landing strip. In a short time there was the sound of the plane door opening, something thumping into the plane. I asked the attendant and she said it was Terre Haute, a mail stop and no passenger actions. In a few minutes we were off to complete the flight. Lake Central Airlines.
The Concorde landing at the Asheville airport showed up in my YouTube feed and I thought of you.
My first flight in the mid-60s was on a Piedment YF-11 turboprop (the successor to the DC-3 for them) from Fayetteville to Atlanta. Nonstop! They made a big deal of giving out full 6.5 oz bottles (!) of Coke, which was a hallmark of Piedmont for its entire history. Tom Davis is one of my aeronautical heroes, and I love it when I see the American A320 (I think) in the Piedmont retro-livery here in CLT. Good times!
Hi Stuart ! I think I accidentally deleted your reply to me because I was editing my reply to you as you were typing . I’m sorry .
Will you try that again ?
Stuart W.
Actually , the MARTIN-404 aircraft were put into service from 1961-1970 as the DC-3 s were being phased out.
BEFORE the YS-11s ( not YF) !
Piedmont did not acquire the YS - 11s until 1968 as the aging Martins were out of service by 1970.
The last YS -11 flight was in 1982.
I stand corrected on all counts! I do remember it being the YS-11, so I guess it was a bit later in the 60s.
I really should Google before relying on rusty memory chips in my head...
LOL!
OK Stuart I ,just saw this from you ! I am a new Substack subscriber and not that familiar with how to use it !
I wasn’t trying to be snarky by correcting you , but , as a former PIEDMONT “stewardess” ( + USAIRWAYS & AMERICAN ) who flew from 1971 until 2020 I had first hand knowledge of the chronology ❣️
Flew to INT on a Martin -404 for my interview ~ Worked on every A/C from the Fairchild Hiller FH- 227 s , YS-11 s , Fokker F -28 and F100 s , 737-200-300-400 s , 727-100- & -200s
Boeing 757 & 767 s , AirBus 319-300-400 s , AB 321 s and the A 330 s!
Loved every minute in the sky .
I live in the Parkersburg, West Virginia area and we have a small (heavily subsidized) airline that has flights to Charlotte. On the way (after like 20 minutes of flight time) it stops in Beckley, West Virginia, and the stop is usually very brief to allow a handful of people going to Charlotte from Beckley to join. I had always thought it'd be funny to act like I'm in a big hurry to get to Beckley and rush off the plane to see the looks on the face of the flight crew. Little did I know, the distance (145 miles) dwarfs what the flight crews on Piedmont saw.
When I was a kid we used to call Piedmont, Pterodactyl Airlines, because the planes were so old and the wings shook so much prior to takeoff off that you’d have thought they were going to start flapping down the runway.
Good memories though.
Ok, not trying to be a wiseguy. But it’s “Greyhound”.
https://www.greyhound.com/
Great article though! 😄
Ahhhhh dangit
Hi Stuart ! I think I accidentally deletedyour reply to me because I was editing my reply to you as you were typing . I’m sorry .
Will you try that again ?
My husband recalls an equally short flight on Piedmont Airlines. He and his father took Piedmont to visit his uncle who lived in Roanoke, Virginia. They left from Kinston and stopped in Goldsboro, Raleigh, and Danville, Va., before landing in Roanoke.
Really enjoying the energy here. I run Unmuted Sky — where aviation gets human & honest. You’re invited aboard ✨✈️