Northern Thunderbird Air
Encyclopedia
NT Air or Northern Thunderbird Air Inc. is a Canadian
charter airline with a head office at Prince George, British Columbia
and bases in Vancouver
and Smithers
.
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 Cessna
s, de Havilland Beavers
, Beechcraft Model 18
s, 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 the year 2000.
Thunderbird started in the early sixties 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 seventies, 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 35 years since its inception NT Air has ebbed and flowed with the times. The early eighties saw the company with 18 aircraft, 3 bases, 21 scheduled points and numerous employees while the late nineties saw the company with 1 aircraft, 1 base, 2 scheduled points and 5 employees. In the ever changing world of aviation, Northern Thunderbird Air has proven its ability to adapt to new challenges whether they are economical, technical or a customer's unique requirement.
NT Air has grown to 10 aircraft, 3 bases, 7 scheduled points and 50 employees. NT Air is strategically positioned throughout British Columbia and offers a wide variety of aircraft services.
The Northern Thunderbird website also lists the Beechcraft 1900D as part of the company's fleet, but the company has no 1900D's registered with Transport Canada, and these planes are likely registered with sister company Central Mountain Air.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/North+identified+pilot+killed+crash+pilot+badly+burned/5624937/story.html#ixzz1cGmWn2Ma
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
charter airline with a head office at Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, British Columbia
Prince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...
and bases in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
and Smithers
Smithers, British Columbia
Smithers is a town located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, approximately halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Smithers is located in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako....
.
History
NT Air was formed in 1971 with the amalgamation of two of northern British Columbia's Airlines - Northern Mountain and Thunderbird.Northern Mountain began operations at Fort St. James
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof...
in 1959 and by 1971 was one of the larger Airlines in British Columbia. With a mixed fleet of Cessna
Cessna
The Cessna Aircraft Company is an airplane manufacturing corporation headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Their main products are general aviation aircraft. Although they are the most well known for their small, piston-powered aircraft, they also produce business jets. The company is a subsidiary...
s, de Havilland Beavers
De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
The de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver is a single-engined, high-wing, propeller-driven, STOL aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, primarily known as a bush plane. It is used for cargo and passenger hauling, aerial application , and has been widely adopted by armed forces as a utility aircraft...
, Beechcraft Model 18
Beechcraft Model 18
The Beechcraft Model 18, or "Twin Beech", as it is better known, is a 6-11 seat, twin-engine, low-wing, conventional-gear aircraft that was manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas...
s, Grumman Goose
Grumman Goose
The Grumman G-21 Goose amphibious aircraft was designed as an eight-seat "commuter" plane for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman’s first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and its first aircraft to enter commercial airline service...
, and helicopters; Northern Mountain had spread its wings over most of the North including Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
and Northwest Territories
Northwest Territories
The Northwest Territories is a federal territory of Canada.Located in northern Canada, the territory borders Canada's two other territories, Yukon to the west and Nunavut to the east, and three provinces: British Columbia to the southwest, and Alberta and Saskatchewan to the south...
. 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 the year 2000.
Thunderbird started in the early sixties when it acquired the Bush Operations of Pacific Western Airlines
Pacific Western Airlines
Pacific Western Airlines was an airline that operated scheduled flights throughout western Canada and charter services around the world from the 1950s through the 1980s...
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
Williston Lake
Williston Lake is a reservoir created by the W. A. C. Bennett Dam and is located in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada.-Geography:...
. In the early seventies, 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
Kelowna
Kelowna is a city on Okanagan Lake in the Okanagan Valley, in the southern interior of British Columbia, Canada. Its name derives from a Okanagan language term for "grizzly bear"...
. 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 35 years since its inception NT Air has ebbed and flowed with the times. The early eighties saw the company with 18 aircraft, 3 bases, 21 scheduled points and numerous employees while the late nineties saw the company with 1 aircraft, 1 base, 2 scheduled points and 5 employees. In the ever changing world of aviation, Northern Thunderbird Air has proven its ability to adapt to new challenges whether they are economical, technical or a customer's unique requirement.
NT Air has grown to 10 aircraft, 3 bases, 7 scheduled points and 50 employees. NT Air is strategically positioned throughout British Columbia and offers a wide variety of aircraft services.
Services
- British Columbia
- Prince GeorgePrince George, British ColumbiaPrince George, with a population of 71,030 , is the largest city in northern British Columbia, Canada, and is known as "BC's Northern Capital"...
- MackenzieMackenzie, British ColumbiaMackenzie is a District Municipality within the Fraser-Fort George Regional District in central British Columbia, Canada. The settlement is located at the south end of Williston Lake. The townsite, established by Alexandra Forest Industries, was named for Sir Alexander MacKenzie . Mackenzie's two...
- OspikaOspika AirportOspika Airport, , is located adjacent to Ospika, on Williston Lake, in British Columbia, Canada....
- Tsay KehTsay Keh AirportTsay Keh Airport , is located on the banks of the Finlay River in British Columbia, Canada....
- Fort WareFort Ware, British ColumbiaFort Ware, is the former name of the community of Kwadacha. Referred to by locals simply as Ware it is an aboriginal community in northern British Columbia, Canada, located in the Rocky Mountain Trench at the confluence of the Finlay and Warneford Rivers, in the Rocky Mountain Trench upstream from...
- SmithersSmithers, British ColumbiaSmithers is a town located in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, approximately halfway between Prince George and Prince Rupert. Smithers is located in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako....
- Dease LakeDease Lake, British ColumbiaDease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located only a few hours south of the Yukon border, it is located on Highway 37 at the south end of the lake of the same name. Dease Lake is the last major centre before the Alaska...
- VancouverVancouverVancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
- Prince George
- Alberta
- CalgaryCalgaryCalgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
- EdmontonEdmontonEdmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
- Calgary
Fleet
The Northern Thunderbird Air fleet includes the following aircraft (as of November 2010):| Aircraft | Count | Variants | Notes | Serial Numbers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beechcraft 1900 Beechcraft 1900 The Beechcraft 1900 is a 19-passenger, pressurized twin-engine turboprop airplane manufactured by the Beechcraft Division of the Raytheon Company . It was designed, and is primarily used, as a regional airliner... |
3 | 1900C | 19 passengers | UC-61, UC94, UC120 |
| Beechcraft Super King Air Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation . The King Air line comprises a number of model series that fall into two families: the Model 90 series, Model 100 series , Model 200 series and Model 300 series... |
1 | 350 | Air Ambulance | FL-502 |
| Beechcraft King Air Beechcraft King Air The Beechcraft King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation... |
2 | 100 | 9 passengers | B 36, B-210 |
| Cessna Grand Caravan Cessna 208 The Cessna 208 Caravan is a single turboprop engine, fixed-gear short-haul regional airliner and utility aircraft built in the United States by Cessna. The airplane typically seats nine passengers, with a single person crew, although with a FAR Part 23 waiver, it can seat up to fourteen passengers... |
1 | 208B | 9 passengers | 208B0541 |
The Northern Thunderbird website also lists the Beechcraft 1900D as part of the company's fleet, but the company has no 1900D's registered with Transport Canada, and these planes are likely registered with sister company Central Mountain Air.
Incidents and accidents
- On October 27, 2011, a Beechcraft King AirBeechcraft King AirThe Beechcraft King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by the Beech Aircraft Corporation...
, serial number B36, registered C-GXRX, crashed on Russ Baker Way next to Vancouver International AirportVancouver International AirportVancouver International Airport is located on Sea Island in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, about from Downtown Vancouver. In 2010 it was the second busiest airport in Canada by aircraft movements and passengers , behind Toronto Pearson International Airport, with non-stop flights daily to...
in Richmond, British ColumbiaRichmond, British ColumbiaRichmond is a coastal city, incorporated in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Part of Metro Vancouver, its neighbouring communities are Vancouver and Burnaby to the north, New Westminster to the east, and Delta to the south, while the Strait of Georgia forms its western border...
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. On November 16, 2011, the co-pilot of the fight died as well. - Two pilots died in 2005 when a twin-engined Northern Thunderbird King Air 200 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.
Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/North+identified+pilot+killed+crash+pilot+badly+burned/5624937/story.html#ixzz1cGmWn2Ma