:Blackhawk International Airways
{{Short description|Aircraft charter rental and leasing company}}
Blackhawk International Airways was an aircraft charter rental and leasing company based out of Florida, United States. Blackhawk was owned and founded by Gilbert Chacón and his son Erik. The small charter and tour business, which eventually moved to a small office next to the Lantana Airport, was at one time based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.
In 2001, Blackhawk surrendered its operating certificate to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and has not operated since.{{Cite web |title=U.S. opens criminal probe into Aaliyah crash |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bahamascrash-story.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324211004/https://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-bahamascrash-story.html |archive-date=2023-03-24 |access-date=2023-03-24 |website=Chicago Tribune}}
FAA issues
Between 1998 and 2001, Blackhawk was fined by the FAA four times, including once for violating safety standards and once for failing to comply with maintenance standards. A third charge in 1999 particularly took the company to task for failing to test its employees for illegal drug use.{{cite web |url=http://www.anglingreport.com/archive_details.cfm?id%3D1350 |title=Bad News On Blackhawk International Airways |accessdate=2011-02-24 |date=December 2001| url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707143243/http://www.anglingreport.com/archive_details.cfm?id=1350 |archive-date=2011-07-07 |publisher=The Angling Report }}
Death of Aaliyah
{{main| 2001 Marsh Harbour Cessna 402 crash}}
Nine people were killed in a Cessna 402B (N8097W) crash on August 25, 2001 around 6:50 pm local time at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, The Bahamas.{{cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20010907X01905&ntsbno=MIA01RA225&akey=1|title=NTSB Identification: MIA01RA225|author=NTSB|date=2001-08-25|accessdate=2018-10-26}} The nine killed included American R&B singer Aaliyah, 22, bodyguard Scott Gallin, 41, makeup artist Christopher Maldonado, 32, hairstylists Eric Forman, 29, and Anthony Dodd, 34, Virgin Records label video production director Douglas Kratz, 28, and Blackground Records label executives Gina Smith, 29, and Keith Wallace, 49, along with the pilot Luis Morales III, 30. Investigators discovered that the pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the crash and had traces of cocaine and alcohol in his system.{{cite web |first=Eric |last=Schumacher-Rasmussen |date=August 29, 2001 |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1448503/pilot-aaliyahs-plane-had-ben-caught-with-cocaine.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629170535/http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1448503/pilot-aaliyahs-plane-had-ben-caught-with-cocaine.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 29, 2011|title=Pilot Of Aaliyah's Plane Had Been Caught With Cocaine, Was Not Authorized To Fly |publisher=MTV }} Bound for Opa-locka Airport, just northwest of Miami, the aircraft was extremely overloaded at the time of takeoff and exploded on impact just 200 feet beyond the end of the airport runway. Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court.{{cite web|url=https://www.ntsb.gov/_layouts/ntsb.aviation/brief2.aspx?ev_id=20010907X01905&ntsbno=MIA01RA225&akey=1|title=NTSB Identification: MIA01RA225|last=NTSB|date=2001-08-25|publisher=|access-date=2018-10-26}} Blackhawk was listed in Customs documents as the official operator while Skystream was the plane's owner. Blackhawk was shut down by the FAA as a result.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20010925150243/http://blackhawkairways.com/ Blackhawk Airways official page]
- [http://avstop.com/news/aaliyah.html article at AvStop.com]
Category:Defunct airlines of the United States
Category:Airlines established in 1991
Category:Airlines disestablished in 2001