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Austin Airways
Founded	1934 as Capreol and Austin Air Services
Ceased operations	June 1987
Fleet size	See Aircraft used below
Destinations	See Destinations below
Headquarters	Timmins, Ontario, Canada

Austin Airways was a passenger airline and freight carrier based in Timmins, Ontario, and one of the oldest in Canada.

History

Established as Capreol and Austin Air Services was one of Canada's oldest airlines, starting operations in 1934. The home base was Timmins and it operated many duties in addition to passenger and freight services. Over the years, scheduled services served over 40 cities, including one destination in the United States. In 1973 it merged with White River Air Services but continued to operate as Austin Airways.

In June 1987 it merged with Air Ontario Ltd (formerly Great Lakes Airlines, formed in 1958) to form Air Ontario Inc. In turn Air Ontario became part of Air Canada Jazz in 2001.^[1]

The April 26, 1987 Air Ontario/Austin Airways joint system timetable listed Air Canada Connector code share flights operated by both airlines on behalf of Air Canada with Austin Airways operating 14-passenger Beechcraft 99, 7-passenger Cessna 402, 19-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, 37-passenger de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 and 40 to 43-passenger Hawker Siddeley HS 748 aircraft at this time.^[2] The HS 748 turboprop was the largest aircraft operated by Austin Airways.

Historical Fleet

Over its long history, Austin Airways operated the following aircraft:

Beech 99 (turboprop)
Cessna Citation (business jet)
Cessna 402
Consolidated PBY Canso (amphibian aircraft)
de Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver
de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter
de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (STOL capable turboprop)
Douglas DC-3 (includes C-47 model)
Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (turboprop)

Destinations

The following destinations were served by Austin Airways during its existence. Most of the destinations served by the airline were isolated and remote airports in northern Ontario and Quebec provinces as well as in the Northwest Territories (NWT) (now Nunavut) in Canada in addition to several larger airports across Ontario. Minneapolis/St. Paul in the U.S. was the only non-Canadian destination served by the airline during its existence.

Ontario Province

Attawapiskat, Ontario
Bear Lake, Ontario
Bearskin Lake, Ontario
Big Trout Lake, Ontario
Cochrane, Ontario
Fort Albany, Ontario
Fort Hope, Ontario
Fort Severn, Ontario - most northerly destination
Geraldton, Ontario
Kapuskasing, Ontario
Kasabonika Lake, Ontario
Kashechewan First Nation, Ontario
Kenora, Ontario
Lansdowne House, Ontario
Manitouwadge, Ontario
Marathon, Ontario
Moosonee, Ontario
Nakina, Ontario
Pickle Lake, Ontario
Pikangikum, Ontario
Red Lake, Ontario
Round Lake, Ontario
Sachigo Lake, Ontario
Sandy Lake, Ontario
Sioux Lookout, Ontario
Sudbury, Ontario
Thunder Bay, Ontario
Timmins, Ontario - location of company headquarters
Toronto, Ontario
Trenton, Ontario
Webequie First Nation, Ontario
Winisk, Ontario
Windsor, Ontario - most southerly destination

Quebec Province

Nunavut

Formerly part of the Northwest Territories

U.S.

Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota - only U.S. destination

Accidents and incidents

On 9 January 1964 ^[3] Douglas C-47 CF-ILQ crashed 50 minutes after take-off on a cargo flight from Moosonee to Nemiscan Settlement, Ontario. Both pilots were seriously injured, but were pulled from the aircraft 4–5 days later by a search and rescue party and ultimately survived. It was determined that the crash was caused by fuel deprivation leading to engine failure of both of the aircraft's engines. To this day, the hulk of the aircraft still sits where it had crashed in 1964, despite being partially salvaged, and burned from a forest fire that swept across the area in the mid-1980s.
On 9 November 1969, Douglas C-47B CF-AAL crashed on approach to Timmins, Ontario killing two of the four people on board. The aircraft was operating a domestic flight from Winisk, Ontario.^[4]
On 19 June 1970, Douglas C-47A CF-AAC was written off in an accident at Val-d'Or, Quebec.^[5]
On 4 September 1976, DHC-3 CF-MIT struck power lines in the Abitibi Canyon near Fraserdale, Ontario in below VFR conditions, with loss of all 10 people on board,^[6] the worst accident in the airline's history.
On 10 December 1976, Douglas C-47A C-FIAX crashed on take-off from Chisasibi, Quebec. All eight people on board survived.^[7]
On 19 January 1986, Douglas C-47A C-GNNA struck a 150 feet (46 m) high Non-directional beacon tower and crashed at Sachigo Lake Airport, Ontario.^[8] After clipping the top of the tower the pilot lost use of ailerons and plane began flipping over. He used the rudder to correct and spotted the runway making a controlled crash landing. The pilot saved all 5 on board with his actions but he himself suffered two crushed vertebrae.^[9]

Notes

^ merged with Air Ontario Ltd. to form Air Ontario Inc.

References

^ Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing
^ http://www.timetableimages.com, April 26, 1987 Air Ontario/Austin Airways system timetable
^ Aviation Safety Network database
^ "CF-AAL Accident Description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
^ "CF-AAC Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
^ Aviation Safety Network database
^ "C-FIAX Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 15 August 2010.
^ "C-GNNA Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
^ First hand account of incident as told by the pilot, currently living in Red Lake, Ontario