Air Serv International

Air Serv International is a nonprofit humanitarian organization that uses aircraft to fly relief workers and supplies to help victims of disasters in some of the most remote and challenging areas in the world. It flies where other air carriers cannot, or will not, fly. It is headquartered in Warrenton, Virginia, United States.^[1]

Organization

Air Serv was founded in 1984 in the state of Florida as a humanitarian 501 (c) 3 Charitable Organisation.^[2] In 1997 it set up a subsidiary for-profit company in Uganda, Air Serv Limited.^[3] In 2007 it also maintains offices in Afghanistan, Canada, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, France, Jordan and Mozambique.^[1] Air Serv is affiliated with various charity umbrella organisations, including Independent Charities of America, InterAction and Do Unto Others.^[4]

Air Serv was active in Banda Aceh in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami and late in 2005 was involved in relief work following the Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan.^[5]

Equipment

Air Serv uses a variety of turboprop and piston engined aircraft as well as some leased or chartered helicopters and larger aircraft when required. As of November 2007 the fleet numbers 19^[2] and includes:

• 1 Beechcraft 200 Super King Air^[6]
• 1 Beechcraft 1900C^[2]
• 6 Cessna 208B Grand Caravan^[6]
• 2 De Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter^[6]

Accidents and incidents

Accident 31 August 2007. A Twin Otter being ferried back from Punia (PUN) (Democratic Republic of Congo) to Goma (GOM) in VMC. It was involved in an accident some 8-10 minutes after departure. The airplane crash-landed in the Oku River between Punia and Tchamaka. The airplane came to rest inverted in the water and was badly damaged. The aircraft was leased from Solenta Aviation and operated by Air Serv International

An Air Serv leased nineteen passenger Beechcraft 1900C crashed on 1 September 2008 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 15 km northwest of Bukavu^[7][8] carrying two crew and fifteen passengers.^{[9][10][11][12]} The aircraft, registration ZS-OLD, was wet leased and flown by crew from South Africa's CEM Air.^[13] Based at Lanseria Airport, Johannesburg South Africa, it was arriving at Bukavu following technical service at N'Dolo Airport, Kinshasa.^[14] The aircraft was under the command of 24-year-old Rudi Knoetze of Johannesburg when it crashed into a mountainous ridge.^[15] Passengers included twelve Congolese, one French, one Indian, and one Canadian.^[16]

Accident 4 March 2009.An Air Serv Cessna Caravan registration 5X-ASI had to perform a forced landing shortly after take off from Maridi, Sudan, when it suffered engine failure. The airplane landed back on the runway before eventually coming to a stop off the end of the landing strip. The wing struck a tree during the forced landing. The wing reportedly came off as a result. [(Aviation Safety Network)]

References

External links

• Official site