Chalk's International Airlines

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Chalks International Airlines
IATA
OP		 ICAO
CHK		 Callsign
CHALKS
Founded 1917
Hubs Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport
Fleet size
Destinations
Parent company Flying Boat Inc.
Headquarters Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Key people
Website: http://www.flychalks.com

Chalk's International Airlines, formerly Chalk's Ocean Airways, was an airline based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. It operated scheduled seaplane services to the Bahamas. Its main base was Miami Seaplane Base (MPB) until 2001, with a hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport[1]. On September 30, 2007 the United States Department of Transportation revoked the flying charter for the airline.[2]

Contents

[edit] History

The airline was founded by Arthur "Pappy" Chalk, and started ad-hoc charter operations as the Red Arrow Flying Service in 1917. After "Pappy" Chalk served in the Army Air Service in World War I, he returned to Miami and commenced scheduled service between Miami and Bimini in the Bahamas in February 1919 as Chalk's Flying Service. During prohibition, Chalk's was a major source of smuggling alcohol from the Bahamas to the United States.[3][4][5]

Chalk's first base was a beach umbrella on the Miami shore of Biscayne Bay. In 1926 a landfill island, 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. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the company had to relocate operations due to concerns about port security. Chalk 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.[6][7]

In the 1980s Resorts International purchased Chalk's Airlines, which became the primary air carrier to Paradise Island, near the Bahamian capital Nassau, where Resorts International owned and operated hotels and other resort facilities. Resorts International sold Chalk's in 1991 to United Capital Corporation of Illinois.

United Capital expanded Chalk's service to Key West, Florida. In 1996, United sold Chalk's to a group of investors, who operated the airline under the name Pan Am Air Bridge. In early 1998, Texas-based aircraft lease company Air Alaska purchased 70% of Pan Am Air Bridge, but following the collapse of Air Alaska, Pan Am Air Bridge filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February 1999. Later the same month the company re-emerged as Chalk's International Airlines. Chalk's emerged from Chapter 11 under new ownership on August 2, 1999. On December 17, 1999, the airline was relaunched as Chalk's Ocean Airways. It is wholly owned by Jim Confalone. In 2006 the company reverted to the earlier name of Chalk's International Airlines.

Chalk's operations base was at Watson Island, adjacent to the Port of Miami near downtown Miami, for 75 years, but it moved its base to Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after September 11, 2001, because of security concerns around the port and increased helicopter traffic around Watson Island.[8]

The airline suspended operations after the crash of Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 on December 19, 2005. The airline had planned to resume flights between Fort Lauderdale and the Bahamas on November 9, 2006,[9] but its airworthiness certificate issued by the Bahamas had expired.[10] As of mid-November 2006, it is flying from Fort Lauderdale to Key West and to St. Petersburg, Florida, using aircraft "wet leased" from and operated by Big Sky Airlines.[11] 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 in August, 2007. Chalk's ceased flying from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport after September 3, 2007. The US Department of Transportation revoked Chalk's flying license on September 30, 2007 because the company had failed to obtain recertification for its Mallards, or obtain other planes of its own.[12]

Chalk's has 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 continuously operating airline is usually officially given to KLM of the Netherlands.

[edit] Destinations

None served at this time

[edit] Fleet

During 2006 the airline leased conventional Beechcraft 1900D land planes from Big Sky Airlines which were later replaced by Saab 340A and other wet leased aircraft while working with the Federal Aviation Administration to rebuild its fleet of Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallards.[9][13]

As of March 2007 the Chalk's International Airlines fleet comprised[1] :

[edit] Incidents and accidents

Main article: Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101

On December 19, 2005, Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 from Fort Lauderdale to Bimini made an unscheduled stop at Watson Island.[8] As the flight was taking off from Watson Island, it crashed off Miami Beach, Florida.[14][15] Witnesses said they saw smoke billowing from the plane before it exploded, with the right wing separating as the aircraft plunged into the ocean.[16] Twenty people — 18 passengers and two pilots — were on board. The Coast Guard and Miami Beach Ocean Rescue recovered 19 bodies initially, then two Miami-Dade firefighters fishing on their day off found the 20th victim on December 23.

Investigators later identified cracks in the main support beam connecting the wing to the fuselage.[17][18] The plane was a Grumman G-73T Turbine Mallard, registration N2969, manufactured in 1947. It was the first fatal passenger accident for Chalk's Ocean Airways.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b "Directory: World Airlines", Flight International, 2007-04-03, p. 63. 
  2. ^ Stieghorst, Tom. "Chalk's Airlines loses flight license". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. South Palm Beach County Edition. Friday, October 19, 2007. P. 1A
  3. ^ Stieghorst, Tom. "Chalk's Airlines loses flight license". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. South Palm Beach County Edition. Friday, October 19, 2007. P. 6A
  4. ^ The World's Oldest International Airline Retrieved May 27, 2007
  5. ^ 12 Said Killed in Plane Crash Off Miami Retrieved May 27, 2007
  6. ^ Stieghorst, Tom. "Chalk's Airlines loses flight license". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. South Palm Beach County Edition. Friday, October 19, 2007. P. 6A
  7. ^ Crash of an Icon Retrieved May 27, 2007
  8. ^ a b Lush, Tamara. 2007. "Crash of an Icon". Miami New Times. March 22, 2007. P. 2. Found at [1] Retrieved July 4, 2007
  9. ^ a b Associated Press, October 29, 2006, "Chalk's airline to resume flights 1 year after crash that killed 20". South Florida Sun-Sentinel, p.9B.
  10. ^ Chalk's Anxious to Fly, The Bahama Journal, November 11, 2006
  11. ^ Chalk's home page
  12. ^ Stieghorst, Tom. "Chalk's Airlines loses flight license". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. South Palm Beach County Edition. Friday, October 19, 2007. P. 1A, 6A
  13. ^ Chalk's International Airlines - Aircraft
  14. ^ Families Grieve Seaplane Crash Together, cbs4.com, December 23, 2005.
  15. ^ All 20 Killed as Seaplane Crashes Off Miami Beach, The New York Times, December 20, 2005.
  16. ^ Preliminary accident report, National Transportation Safety Board.
  17. ^ NTSB releases photos of fatigue cracks from Monday's Chalk's Ocaean Airways crash in Miami, National Transportation Safety Board, December 22, 2005.
  18. ^ Maintenance issues found at tiny airline, USA Today, June 22, 2006.
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