Sierra Pacific Airlines is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 airline

Airline

An airline provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines lease or own their aircraft with which to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for mutual benefit...

 based in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, USA

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It operates passenger charters and sub-charters for other airlines, as well as for the United States Forest Service

United States Forest Service

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 155 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass...

, United States Military and the United States Marshals Service

United States Marshals Service

The United States Marshals Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice . The office of U.S. Marshal is the oldest federal law enforcement office in the United States; it was created by the Judiciary Act of 1789...

.

History

The airline was initially founded as Trans Sierra Airlines in 1970 by Chris Condon

Chris Condon

Chris J. Condon was the inventor of 3D lens used by his company StereoVision, a cinematographer, and founder of Sierra Pacific Airlines.He was born in North Chicago, Illinois...

 and Allan Silliphant with profits from their box office hit soft X and later R rated 3-D film

3-D film

A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...

 The Stewardesses

The Stewardesses

The Stewardesses is a 1969 softcore, later R-rated, theatrical 3-D film produced, directed and written by Allan Silliphant and starring Christina Hart, Monica Gayle, Paula Erickson, and Donna Stanley....

. It was renamed Sierra Pacific Airlines  when the FAA granted permission to operate aircraft over 12,500 lbs. in 1971. The original aircraft were 44 passenger Convairs. In 1973 it was purchased by Mammoth Mountain Ski Area

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area

Mammoth Mountain Ski Area is a large ski resort located in Eastern California, along the east side of the Sierra Nevada mountain range in the Inyo National Forest.- Description :...

. It operated a number of years with turbo-prop CV-580s and smaller twin otters,as a scheduled PUC California airline, while also having interstate CAB exemption to cross state lines. In February 1976 it became Mountainwest Aviation. It is wholly owned by the Sierra Pacific Group.

Fleet

In January 2007, the Sierra Pacific Airlines fleet included:

• 2 Boeing 737-200
  Boeing 737
  The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
  
  

Incidents

• On March 13, 1974 a film crew for Wolper Productions filming a Bell Telephone Special about Ice Age Neanderthal
  Neanderthal
  The Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
  
   cavemen filmed at Mammoth Mountain  ski resort, area, was killed when a Convair 440 plane crashed into the nearby crest of the White Mountains
  White Mountains
  -Mountain ranges:Afghanistan*White Mountains Australia*White Mountains National Park, in QueenslandGreece*White Mountains , on the island of CreteUnited States*White Mountains *White Mountains...
  
   during climb out from Eastern Sierra Regional Airport
  Eastern Sierra Regional Airport
  Eastern Sierra Regional Airport is a public-use airport located two nautical miles east of the central business district of Bishop, in Inyo County, California, United States...
  
   in Bishop, California
  Bishop, California
  Bishop is a city in Inyo County, California, United States. Though Bishop is the only city and the largest populated place in Inyo County, the county seat is Independence. Bishop is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley, at an elevation of 4147 feet . The population was 3,879 at the...
  
   killing all 36 on board including 31 Wolper crew and cast members -- although, David Wolper  was not aboard the aircraft. The filmed segment was recovered in the tail section wreckage and was broadcast as television documentary Primal Man. The NTSB has never been able to determine the cause of the crash, and it remains one of only two uncleared NTSB cases.