Wings West Airlines

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Wings West
100px
IATA ICAO Callsign
RM WWM Wings West
Founded 1979
Ceased operations 1998 (merged with Simmons Airlines)
Hubs Los Angeles International Airport
Headquarters McChesney Field
San Luis Obispo County, California

Wings West Airlines, often referred to simply as Wings West, was an American regional airline headquartered at McChesney Field (SBP), unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, California.[1]

History

Wings West Swearingen Metro operating in American Eagle colours at John Wayne Airport California in 1986

Wings West was founded by Mark Morro and William Hirsch and began service in 1979 flying a twin Cessna to destinations in Southern California. Their first flight was from Santa Monica, California to Mammoth Lakes, California on 11 November 1979. During the 1980s, they expanded their route network intrastate as well into Arizona with the addition of Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner and Beechcraft Model 99 turboprops to their fleet and became a publicly traded company (1983). In 1986 Wings West began flying under the American Eagle brand name, feeding passengers to American Airlines and a year later was purchased by AMR Corp. During 1991 Wings West began taking delivery of Saab 340 turboprop aircraft. During 1996 Mary B. Jordan became president of the airline. In 1998 the airline was merged with Simmons Airlines and Flagship Airlines into AMR Eagle Holdings Corporation, which is commonly referred to as American Eagle Airlines.

Founder Mark Morro was elected as Chairman of The Regional airline industry in 1985.

Destinations


Fleet

Wings West operated the following turboprop aircraft in the livery of American Eagle:

The airline had also ordered the British Aerospace BAe ATP; however, this large turboprop aircraft was not delivered to or operated by Wings West.


Incidents

  • August 24, 1984: Wings West Airlines Flight 628 midair collision. Shortly after departing the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport on a commuter flight to San Francisco International Airport, a Wings West twin-engine Beechcraft Model 99 (N6399U) collided head-on with a private Rockwell Commander 112TC aircraft (N112SM) that was descending for a landing at the same airport, killing all 17 on both aircraft. The NTSB attributed the crash to inadequate visual lookout on the part of both pilots, and their failure to heed the recommended communications and traffic advisory practices for uncontrolled airports.[2]

References

  1. "World Airline Directory." Flight International. March 19–25, 1997. 92.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links