Chalk's International Airlines

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Not to be confused with Trans Caribbean Airways, owned by the unrelated O. Roy Chalk.
Chalk's International Airlines
IATA
ICAO
Callsign
OP CHK CHALKS
Founded1917; 107 years ago (1917)
Ceased operations2007; 17 years ago (2007)
Hubs
Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Broward County, Florida, U.S.
Key peopleCapt. Rajan Nair, President
Website[1]

Chalk's International Airlines, formerly Chalk's Ocean Airways, was an

Bahamas. Its main base was Miami Seaplane Base (MPB) until 2001, with a hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.[2] On September 30, 2007, the United States Department of Transportation revoked the flying charter for the airline,[3]
and later that year, the airline ceased operations.

History

The airline was founded by Arthur Burns "Pappy" Chalk, and started ad-hoc charter operations as the Red Arrow Flying Service in 1917 flying a

Watson Island
, was created in Biscayne Bay close to Miami. Chalk's built an air terminal there, and operated from the island for the next 75 years.

During Prohibition, Chalk's was a major source of alcohol smuggled from the Bahamas to the United States.[3][5][6]

Pappy Chalk sold the airline to a friend in 1966,[7] but continued to be involved in the daily operations of the airline until he retired in 1975. He died in 1977 at the age of 88.[3][8]

Chalk's Turbo Mallard taking-off from Miami Harbor in 1989

In the early 1970s,

Grumman Mallards had been converted, with five ex-military piston engined Grumman Albatross
aircraft making up the balance of the fleet.

In 1974,

de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7 turboprop aircraft operated by subsidiary Paradise Island Airlines, it sold Chalk's in 1991 to United Capital Corporation, an Illinois-based investment firm (which was not affiliated with United Airlines).[10]

The television show Miami Vice, a symbol of both Miami and the 1980s, featured a Chalk's seaplane in its opening credits. N2969, which had a fatal accident in 2005, as Flight 101 is featured in an extended scene at the end of the third-season episode Baseballs of Death, when the antagonist attempts to leave the US. The music video for George Michael's "Careless Whisper" and Miami Vice second-season episode One Way Ticket featured a Chalk's seaplane, N2974. In one of the final scenes of the motion picture Silence of the Lambs, Dr Frederick Chilton is seen disembarking a Chalk's aircraft in Bimini, where Hannibal Lecter is waiting to "have him for dinner". A Chalks plane also makes an appearance at the end of the movie 'After The Sunset' with Pierce Brosnan and Salma Hayek's characters embracing as they stand next to it. Chalk's fleet was as high-maintenance as it was glamorous. It was a unique carrier, its Watson Island base being the smallest port of entry in the United States. Chalk's revenues were about $7.5 million in 1986, when it carried 130,000 passengers. Most were staying at Resorts International properties, although island residents used the airline for shopping trips to Miami.[11]

United Capital expanded Chalk's service to

Eastern Airlines pilot, purchased Chalk's out of bankruptcy for $925,000 on August 2, 1999; it had been reduced to two aircraft and only 35 staff. Confalone bought five additional Grumman Mallard seaplanes and arranged a contract to buy 14 larger Grumman G-111 seaplanes to expand the operation.[7]
On December 17, 1999, the airline was relaunched as Chalk's Ocean Airways.

Chalk's Turbo Mallard at Bimini seaplane base, Bahamas, in November 1989. This is the accident aircraft of Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101

In late 2001 following the

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
, where Chalk's already had its maintenance base.

The airline suspended operations after the crash of

wet leased" from and operated by Big Sky Airlines to operate flights from Fort Lauderdale to Key West and to St. Petersburg, Florida.[14] Chalk's added flights between Palm Beach International Airport (PBIA) and destinations in the Bahamas in late May 2007, but carried only 14 passengers through PBIA that August.[3]

Chalk's ceased flying from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after September 3, 2007. After the final report from the Flight 101 crash investigation was released, the United States Department of Transportation revoked the airline's flying authority for scheduled service on September 30, 2007, effectively shutting down the airline. Chalk's continued to hold its FAR 121 operating with a part 298 authority in good standing, and sought to add 60-passenger regional jets to its FAR 121 operating licence, but these efforts never came to fruition.

Chalk's had claimed to be the oldest continuously operating airline in the world, having begun operations in 1917 and scheduled flights in February 1919, and having only ceased operations for three years due to World War II, two days due to 1992's Hurricane Andrew, and eleven months due to an "at altitude tragedy" on December 19, 2005. The title of oldest operating airline is now given to KLM of the Netherlands, founded later in 1919.

Fleet

Grumman G-73T Turbo Mallard N130FB of Chalk's International Airlines taxies out of the water at Abaco, The Bahamas, November 1999.

During 2006 the airline leased conventional

Mallards.[12][15]

Chalk's Grumman Albatross arriving in Miami Harbor from Nassau, Bahamas, in March 1987

As of March 2007 the Chalk's International Airlines fleet comprised:[2]

  • 4
    Mallards
    (5 originally delivered but one crashed)
  • 2
    Saab 340A The Saabs were chartered by Chalks from Bimini Island Air
    .

Incidents and accidents

  • In 1994, Captain John Alberto and co-pilot Alan Turner drowned after their aircraft sank due to the failure of the airplane's
    A Pirate Looks At Fifty
    .
  • On December 19, 2005,
    NTSB
    released its report on the crash, the airline shut down.

See also

References

  1. ^ Administration, Chalk's International Airlines, archived from the original on December 23, 2005, retrieved May 12, 2010
  2. ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, p. 63, 2007-04-03
  3. ^ a b c d Stieghorst, Tom (October 19, 2007), "Chalk's Airlines loses flight license", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, South Palm Beach County Edition, pp. 1A, 6A, archived from the original on 2013-12-17, retrieved 2012-06-26
  4. ^ "Chalks Ocean Airways". Air & Space. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
  5. ^ The World's Oldest International Airline, Visit Florida, archived from the original on September 28, 2007, retrieved May 27, 2007
  6. ^ Goodnough, Abby; Wald, Matthew L. (December 22, 2005). "Airline Grounds Fleet After Seaplane Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  7. ^ a b c Scott, Katherine Hutt (August 12, 1999), At Chalk's, Love Is in the Air, archived from the original on March 3, 2016, retrieved June 26, 2012
  8. ^ a b c Lush, Tamara (March 22, 2007), "Crash of an Icon", Miami New Times, p. 2, archived from the original on July 28, 2012, retrieved July 4, 2007
  9. ^ Smith, Dale (July 1, 2003), "Chalk's Ocean Airways", Aviation Today, archived from the original on July 26, 2014, retrieved June 26, 2012
  10. ^ a b Stieghorst, Tom (December 23, 1995), "Developer Buying Chalk's Airline", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, archived from the original on December 17, 2013, retrieved June 26, 2012
  11. ^ "History of Flying Boat, Inc. (Chalk's Ocean Airways) – FundingUniverse". Archived from the original on 2013-12-17. Retrieved 2013-02-06.
  12. ^ a b "Chalk's airline to resume flights one year after crash that killed 20", South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Associated Press, p. 9B, October 29, 2006
  13. ^ "Chalk's Anxious to Fly", The Bahama Journal, November 11, 2006, archived from the original on August 5, 2017, retrieved November 14, 2006
  14. ^ "Chalk's home page". Archived from the original on March 31, 2004.
  15. ^ "Aircraft", Chalk's International Airlines[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ Families Grieve Seaplane Crash Together Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine, cbs4.com, December 23, 2005.
  17. ^ All 20 Killed as Seaplane Crashes Off Miami Beach Archived 2013-07-21 at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 20, 2005.
  18. ^ Preliminary accident report Archived 2021-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, National Transportation Safety Board.
  19. ^ NTSB releases photos of fatigue cracks from Monday's Chalk's Ocaean Airways crash in Miami Archived 2021-10-22 at the Wayback Machine, National Transportation Safety Board, December 22, 2005.
  20. ^ Maintenance issues found at tiny airline Archived 2008-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, USA Today, June 22, 2006.

External links

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