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| Commenced operations | 1947 |
|---|---|
| Ceased operations | 1971 |
| Hubs | Westchester, Los Angeles |
| Destinations | Disneyland Newporter Resort Los Angeles area airports |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles, California |
| Key people | Clarence Belinn (president) Boyd Kesselring (operations) |
Los Angeles Airways (LAA) was a helicopter airline founded in October 1947 and based in Westchester, California, which offered service to area airports throughout Southern California. [1]
Los Angeles Airways commenced airmail service on October 1, 1947 followed by scheduled passenger service in November 1954, making it the world's first scheduled helicopter airline. The main hub was Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) where passengers were flown to and from local area heliports, including Disneyland Resort in Anaheim and the Newporter Resort in Newport Beach, service was expanded to Ontario and San Bernardino. [2] [3] [4] LAA's fleet grew with the acquisition of four Sikorsky S-61's in March 1962, becoming the first civil operator of the type at a purchased price of $650,000 each. [5] On October 25, 1965, the Civil Aeronautics Board granted LAA a permanent certificate, to continue scheduled passenger airline operations over the greater Los Angeles area, this in conjunction with their authority from the Federal Aviation Administration to conduct flights under instrument flight rules (IFR), gave the company more flexibility to operate at night and in poor weather. The company had considered obtaining the Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, with detachable passenger sections, but failed to secure financing for the acquisition. [6] In the following years the company had suffered two fatal accidents, and with the failure to consummate a contract with Golden West Airlines in which it would have been purchased, Los Angeles Airways ceased operations in 1971. [7]
Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was the first large discount airline in the United States. PSA called itself "The World's Friendliest Airline" and painted a smile on the nose of its airplanes, the PSA Grinningbirds. Opinion L.A. of the Los Angeles Times called PSA "practically the unofficial flag carrier airline of California for almost forty years."
Trump Shuttle, Inc., was an airline owned by businessman Donald Trump from 1989 to 1992. The landing rights and some of the physical assets necessary to operate the shuttle flights were originally part of Eastern Air Lines and known as the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle. It operated hourly flights on Boeing 727 aircraft from LaGuardia Airport in New York City to Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., then known as Washington National Airport, as well as charter service to other destinations. Its IATA designator code was TB.
Helijet International is a helicopter airline and charter service based in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada. Its scheduled passenger helicopter airline services operates flights from heliports at Vancouver International Airport (YVR), downtown Vancouver, downtown Nanaimo and downtown Victoria. It also operates a charter division serving the film, television, aerial tour, industrial and general charter markets, as well as helicopter and jet air ambulance services. Its head office and main hangar is Vancouver International Airport (YVR).
New York Airways was a helicopter airline in the New York City area, founded in 1949 as a mail and cargo carrier. On 9 July 1953 it may have been the first scheduled helicopter airline to carry passengers in the United States, with headquarters at LaGuardia Airport. Although primarily a helicopter airline operator with scheduled passenger operations, New York Airways also flew fixed wing aircraft, such as the de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 19-passenger STOL twin turboprop aircraft.
British International Helicopter Services (BIH), owned by Rigby Group, is a British-owned helicopter operator. It operates a fleet of ten helicopters covering search and rescue, offshore, defence, charter and flying training activities from its bases at Newquay Airport, Coventry Airport and RAF Mount Pleasant in the Falkland Islands.
US Helicopter was an independent air shuttle service that operated regularly scheduled helicopter flights from Manhattan to Newark and JFK airports. Flights left from Downtown and Midtown Manhattan Heliports to Delta Air Lines Terminal 3 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). There were also flights to and from Bridgeport, Connecticut (BDR). It was headquartered at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport, Pier 6 E River in Lower Manhattan, New York City.
Norton Air Force Base (1942–1994) was a United States Air Force facility 2 miles (3.2 km) east of downtown San Bernardino, California, in San Bernardino County.
The Sikorsky S-61L and S-61N are civil variants of the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King military helicopter. They are two of the most widely used airliner and oil rig support helicopters built.
Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 was a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter that crashed on August 14, 1968 in the city of Compton, California. All eighteen passengers and three crew members were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire. According to the National Transportation Safety Board the probable cause of the accident was fatigue failure. The accident happened when the yellow blade, one of five main rotor blades, separated at the spindle which attached the blade to the rotor head. Following failure, the helicopter was uncontrollable and it fell to the ground. The fatigue crack originated in an area of substandard hardness and inadequate shot peening.
Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 was a Sikorsky S-61L helicopter that crashed at 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday May 22nd 1968 in the city of Paramount, California. All twenty passengers and three crewmembers were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire. The probable cause of the accident was a mechanical failure in the blade rotor system, which then allowed one blade to strike the side of the fuselage. The other four blades were then thrown out of balance and all five rotor blades broke and then the rear fuselage and tail separated from the rest of the airframe. The cause of the mechanical failure is undetermined. At the time, it was the worst helicopter-related accident in U.S. aviation history, not to be surpassed until the 1986 Grand Canyon mid-air collision which killed 25.
British Airways Helicopters was a British helicopter airline from 1964 to 1986.
The Grand Canyon mid-air collision occurred when Grand Canyon Airlines Flight 6, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter that collided with a Bell 206 helicopter, Helitech Flight 2 over Grand Canyon National Park on June 18, 1986. All 25 passengers and crew on board the two aircraft were killed. It remains the deadliest accident involving a helicopter on United States soil, surpassing the crash of Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 in 1968, which killed 23 people.
Pakistan International Airlines Flight 17 was a scheduled domestic flight from Dacca to Faridpur in East Pakistan operated by a Sikorsky S-61 twin-engined helicopter of Pakistan International Airlines. On 2 February 1966 the helicopter operating the flight crashed near Fardipur after an oil leak developed and the main gearbox failed. Twenty passengers and all three crew were killed; one passenger survived.
Chicago and Southern Air Lines Flight 4 was a regularly scheduled flight from New Orleans, Louisiana to Chicago, Illinois, via Jackson, Mississippi, Memphis, Tennessee, and St. Louis, Missouri, operated with a Lockheed Model 10 Electra. On August 5, 1936, after departing from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, the flight crashed in a farm field near the Missouri River. All 6 passengers and 2 crew members were killed in the crash.
San Francisco and Oakland Helicopter Airlines was a helicopter airline service offering scheduled passenger flights between San Francisco, Oakland, and other Bay Area cities. It was founded in 1961 but disappeared from the Official Airline Guide 15 years later before finally going out of business in 1986.
The 1934 United Airlines Boeing 247 crash was an accident involving a Boeing Air Transport-operated United Airlines scheduled flight of a Boeing 247, which crashed in bad weather shortly after departing Salt Lake City, Utah on February 23, 1934, killing all eight on board. The cause was not immediately determined, but poor weather was considered a factor.
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