Northern Thunderbird Air

Northern Mountain began operations at Fort St. James in 1959 and by 1971 was one of the larger airlines in British Columbia. With a mixed fleet of Cessnas, de Havilland Beavers, Beechcraft Model 18s, Grumman Goose, and helicopters; Northern Mountain had spread its wings over most of the North including Alberta, Yukon and Northwest Territories. By spinning off its airplane division to merge with Thunderbird in 1971, Northern Mountain was able to concentrate its efforts on helicopters only and did so through 2000.

Thunderbird started in the early 1960s when it acquired the bush operations of Pacific Western Airlines in Prince George. From its base at Tabor Lake, Thunderbird operated Cessnas, Beavers and Otters on floats and skis servicing the new town of Mackenzie and the northern villages and logging camps of Williston Lake. In the early 1970s, Thunderbird secured a subcontract from Pacific Western Airlines to service the smaller communities of B.C. to feed that traffic into PWA's jet aircraft at Prince George, Kamloops and Kelowna. The need for a hangar on the Prince George Airport to fulfill this contract was the catalyst for the merger talks that resulted in the formation of Northern Thunderbird Air in 1971.

In the 1980s, the company had 18 aircraft, 3 bases, 21 scheduled points and numerous employees, but by the lare 1990s, the company had shrunk to 1 aircraft, 1 base, 2 scheduled points and 5 employees. NT Air has grown again to 10 aircraft, 3 bases, 7 scheduled points and 50 employees. In 2015, under new General Manager Mike Harris, the airline has lost most of its business and shrunk to only a few charter flights per week. Most of the fleet is up for sale and flight crew have left or got laid off.

Services

British Columbia
- Prince George
- Mackenzie
- Ospika
- Tsay Keh
- Fort Ware
- Smithers
- Dease Lake
- Vancouver
- Sandspit

Alberta
- Calgary
- Edmonton

Fleet

The Northern Thunderbird Air fleet includes the following aircraft (as of September 2014):^[1]^[2]

Aircraft	Count	Variants	Notes	Serial Numbers
Beechcraft 1900	3	1900C	19 passengers	UC-61, UC-94, UC-120
Beechcraft 1900	2	1900D	18 passengers	UE287, UE-76
Beechcraft Super King Air	1	350	Air Ambulance	FL-806
Cessna Grand Caravan	1	208B	9 passengers	208B0541

The Northern Thunderbird Beechcraft 1900D's bear the NTA paint scheme and logo but are dual registered with sister company Central Mountain Air.

Incidents and accidents

On October 27, 2011, a Beechcraft King Air, serial number B-36, registered C-GXRX, crashed on Russ Baker Way next to Vancouver International Airport in Richmond, British Columbia as it was attempting to make a landing, killing the pilot, 44-year-old Luc Fortin. It had departed the airport earlier but turned around due to indications of an aircraft malfunction (the engine oil pressure indicator); it crashed about 900 metres short of the runway. Five of the nine passengers were seriously injured.^[3] On November 16, 2011, the co-pilot of the flight died as well.^[4]
Two pilots died in 2005 when a twin-engined Northern Thunderbird King Air 200 (BB-190, C-FCGL) crashed near Squamish when the plane was transitioning from Vancouver to Prince George. The pilot flew up a valley and was in a steep climb trying to avoid terrain when the plane crashed.
In 2001, a Northern Thunderbird single-engine Cessna 185 crashed north of Prince George while under government charter to do a wildlife survey. The pilot and passenger survived.^[5]

References

↑ Northern Thunderbird Air: Fleet Retrieved on 2 November 2010
↑ Transport Canada: Canadian Civil Aircraft Register Retrieved on 14 November 2012
↑ "Richmond plane crash leaves pilot dead". CBC News. 28 October 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2011.
↑ "Global BC Twitter". Global BC. Retrieved 16 November 2011.
↑ "North Van man identified as pilot killed in crash; co-pilot badly burned". The Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 28 October 2011.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Northern Thunderbird Air.

Current airlines of Canada

Flag carrier	Air Canada

Passenger and regional airlines	Air Canada Air Canada Express Air Creebec Air Georgian Air Inuit Air Labrador Air North Air Saguenay Air Tindi Air Transat Aklak Air Bearskin Airlines Buffalo Airways Calm Air Canada Jetlines Canadian North Central Mountain Air Corilair EVAS Exact Air First Air Harbour Air Seaplanes Hawkair Helijet Innu Mikun Airlines Integra Air Island Express Air Jazz Aviation LP KD Air Kivalliq Air Northern Air Northern Thunderbird Air Northway Aviation Northwestern Air North-Wright Airways Orca Airways Pacific Coastal Airlines Pascan Aviation Perimeter Aviation Porter Airlines Pronto Airways Provincial Airlines Salt Spring Air Seair Seaplanes Sky Regional Airlines Sunwing Airlines Thunder Airlines Tofino Air Transwest Air Vancouver Island Air Wasaya Airways West Coast Air WestJet WestJet Encore West Wind Aviation

Charter	Adlair Aviation Air Canada Air Canada Jetz Air Creebec Air Georgian Air Inuit Air Labrador Air Montmagny Air North Air Nunavut Air Saguenay AirSprint Air Tindi Air Transat Aklak Air Alkan Air Bar XH Air Bearskin Airlines Brock Air Services Buffalo Airways Calm Air Canadian Helicopters Canadian North Central Mountain Air CHC Helicopter Corilair Cougar Helicopters Enerjet EVAS Exact Air First Air Flair Airlines Flightexec Harbour Air Seaplanes Hawkair Helijet Innu Mikun Airlines Integra Air Island Express Air KD Air Keewatin Air Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Kenn Borek Air Keystone Air Service Kivalliq Air Kootenay Direct Airlines Maritime Air Charter Nakina Air Service Nolinor Aviation Nor-Alta Aviation North Cariboo Air Northern Air Northern Thunderbird Air Northwestern Air North-Wright Airways Orca Airways Pacific Coastal Airlines Perimeter Aviation Propair Provincial Airlines R1 Airlines Salt Spring Air Seair Seaplanes Silverline Helicopters SkyLink Aviation Summit Air Sunwest Aviation Sunwing Airlines Superior Airways Thomas Cook Airlines Canada Thunder Airlines Tofino Air Transwest Air Universal Helicopters Vancouver Island Air Voyageur Airways Wasaya Airways West Coast Air WestJet West Wind Aviation

Cargo	Air Canada Air Georgian Air Inuit Air North Buffalo Airways Calm Air Canadian North Cargojet Airways Exact Air First Air Flair Airlines Island Express Air Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Kenn Borek Air Morningstar Air Express Northwestern Air Pronto Airways Provincial Airlines SkyLink Aviation

Helicopters	Canadian Helicopters CHC Helicopter Cougar Helicopters Helijet Transwest Air Universal Helicopters

See also: List of defunct airlines of Canada

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