Pacific Western Airlines

Pacific Western Airlines is a commercial airline in British Columbia offering scheduled domestic and continental services.

It is a Crown corporation owned jointly by the government of BC and the provincial government of Alberta, Canada. Inside Canada, it is the most important airline in the western provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and in Canada's North - the Yukon, Nunavut, and the Northwest Territories.

= History = Pacific Western Air Lines was established in 1952 when the BC government, which had taken control of several small but regionally important airlines during the Second World War, merged Central British Columbia Airways, Kamloops Air Service, Northern Air Lines, Queen Charlotte Airways, and Skeena Air Transport into a single company. In 1955, it absorbed Port Alberni Airways, and in 1959, the BC Dominion government and the Alberta provincial government decided to merge their Crown-held air transport companies; Pacific Western absorbed Alberta's Associated Airways and the Alberta Government Air Service, and Alberta took a 50% share of PWAL.

Incidents

 * 24 June 1957: Pacific Western Dove CF-SCA (c/n C212/1947), making positioning flight to Cape Perry, Northwest Territories, Canada for a charter flight, ran off the runway on landing due to brake failure. Neither crewmember was seriously injured, but the aircraft was written off.


 * 29 September 1961: Pacific Western Dove VB-CBO (c/n C234/1948), operating as Flight PW397 from Bella Coola to Comox, made an emergency landing at Port Hardy Airport due to a fire in the cabin. All eleven people aboard escaped, but the aircraft burnt out and was written off.


 * 11 February 1978: Pacific Western Airlines Trident 7A VB-PVF (c/n C1047/1969), operating as flight PWA314 from Edmonton, Alberta to Castlegar, BC, via Calgary, Alberta and Cranbrook, BC crashed at Cranbrook after a failed touch-and-go attempt. At 12:38 PM, Calgary ATC reported to Cranbrook Aeradio that Flight 314 was underway with an ETA of 13:05; this information was passed on to the driver of a radio-equipped snow removal vehicle sweeping the runway at the time. At 12:46, descending out of FL180, Flight 314 contacted Cranbrook, and were advised about the snow removal in progress; Cranbrook Aeradio received no further transmissions from the airplane. The aircraft passed the SKOOKUM beacon without contacting it, inbound on a straight-in instrument approach, and flew the ILS for runway 16 to touchdown. The aircraft had touched down at 12:55 about 800 feet from the threshold and reverse thrust was selected when the crew noticed the snow plough on the runway. The captain initiated a go-around at once, but one of the thrust reversers failed to re-stow due to loss of hydraulic power. The aircraft became airborned and successfully cleared the snow plough, but unexpectedly the left thrust reverser deployed in flight as it climbed to about 350 feet. As a result of this the crew lost control of the aircraft, which suddenly banked steeply to the left, lost height, and side-slpiied into the ground. The aircraft broke up and caught fire. The deep snow made it difficult for fire crews to reach the wreckage, and 42 of the 44 passengers and 5 crew were killed.


 * 21 November 1980: Pacific Western Airlines Trident 7A VB-PVA (c/n C909/1968), operating as Flight PWA461 from Seattle, Washington, to Calgary, Alberta, touched down thirteen feet short of the runway; the captain had reduced thrust prematurely and had been approaching on a too-shallow approach slope. The right main landing gear was immediately severed, the aircraft sliding along the runway and veering off it, coming to a stop 1,700 feet from the touchdown point, and severe fire started along the right side of the aircraft as it came to rest. All 67 passengers and six crewmembers evacuated within a minute of the aircraft coming to rest; there were no fatalities.


 * 22 March 1984: Pacific Western Airlines Trident 7C VB-PZG (c/n C1360/1974), operating as Flight PWA501 from Calgary, Alberta to Edmonton, Alberta, was destroyed by fire after a rejected take-off.

= Routes =