Blackhawk International Airways was an aircraft charter rental and leasing company based at

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. Blackhawk was owned by Gilbert Chacón and his son Erik who founded the company in 1991. The small charter and tour business, which eventually moved to a small office next to the

Lantana Airport Palm Beach County Park Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located six nautical miles (7 mi, 11 km) south of the central business district of West Palm Beach, Florida. ...

, was at one time based at

Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport is a general aviation airport located within the city limits of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Fort Lauderdale, in Broward County, Florida, Broward County, Florida, United States, north of downtown Fort Lauderdale. ...

. Blackhawk surrendered its operating certificate to the Federal Aviation Administration(FAA) and has not been operating ever since. The Florida Public Records Office reports "Blackhawk International Airways Corp. was incorporated on Tuesday, March 05, 1991 in the State of FL and is currently not active."

FAA issues

Between 1998 and 2001, Blackhawk was fined by the

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

four times, including once for violating safety standards and once for failing to comply with maintenance standards. A third charge in 1999 particularly took the company to task for failing to test its employees for illegal drug use.

Death of Aaliyah

Nine people were killed in a

Cessna 402 The Cessna 401 and 402 are a series of 6 to 10 seat, light twin-piston engine aircraft. This line was manufactured by Cessna from 1966 to 1985 under the name Utiliner and Businessliner.Montgomery, MR & Gerald Foster: ''A Field Guide to Airplane ...

B (N8097W) crash on August 25, 2001 around 6:50 pm local time at

Marsh Harbour Marsh Harbour is a town in Abaco Islands, Bahamas, with a population of 6,283 as of 2012. The settlement lies on a peninsula just off the Great Abaco Highway, which runs south through Great Abaco to Cherokee Point and Little Harbour. North of to ...

Abaco Islands Abaco is a variant Italian form of the Biblical name "Habakkuk" (but normally Abacùc or Abacucco). Abaco may refer to: People *Evaristo Felice Dall'Abaco (1675–1742), Italian composer and violinist *Joseph Abaco (1710–1805), Belgian compose ...

The Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. The nine killed included American R&B singer

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton (; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer and actress. She has been credited for helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop and hip hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and " ...

, 22, bodyguard Scott Gallin, 41, makeup artist Christopher Maldonado, 32, hairstylists Eric Forman, 29, and Anthony Dodd, 34,

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

label video production director Douglas Kratz, 28, and

Blackground Records Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground Enterprises, the label switched its name t ...

label executives Gina Smith, 29, and Keith Wallace, 49, along with the pilot Luis Morales III, 30. Investigators discovered that the pilot, Luis Morales III, was unlicensed at the time of the crash and had traces of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

and alcohol in his system. Bound for

Opa-locka Airport Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport (formerly Opa-locka Airport and Opa-locka Executive Airport until 2014) is a joint civil-military airport located in Miami-Dade County, Florida north of downtown Miami. Part of the airport is in the city limit ...

, just northwest of

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

, the aircraft was extremely overloaded at the time of takeoff and exploded on impact just 200 feet beyond the end of the airport runway. Aaliyah's family later filed a

wrongful death Wrongful death claim is a claim against a person who can be held liable for a death. The claim is brought in a civil action, usually by close relatives, as enumerated by statute. In wrongful death cases, survivors are compensated for the harm, l ...

lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was

settled out of court In law, a settlement is a resolution between disputing parties about a legal case, reached either before or after court action begins. A collective settlement is a settlement of multiple similar legal cases. The term also has other meanings in t ...

. Blackhawk was listed in Customs documents as the official operator while Skystream was the plane's owner. Blackhawk was shut down by the FAA as a result.

References

External links

Blackhawk Airways official page

{{Airlines of the Bahamas Defunct airlines of the Bahamas Airlines established in 1991