Wings West Airlines was an American regional airline headquartered at

McChesney Field San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport , McChesney Field is a civil airport near San Luis Obispo, California, United States. Three passenger airlines serve the airport with nonstop flights to eight cities: Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, Los Angeles ...

(SBP), unincorporated

San Luis Obispo County, California San Luis Obispo County (), officially the County of San Luis Obispo, is a County (United States), county on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 282, ...

. The airline initially began scheduled passenger service as an independent commuter air carrier and then subsequently became an American Eagle affiliate of

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

operating turboprop aircraft on

code sharing In communications and information processing, code is a system of rules to convert information—such as a letter, word, sound, image, or gesture—into another form, sometimes shortened or secret, for communication through a communication ...

flights on behalf of American.

History

Swearingen SA227AC N638AV Am Eagle ORC 16

Wings West was founded by

Mark Morro Wings West Airlines was an American regional airline headquartered at McChesney Field (SBP), unincorporated San Luis Obispo County, California. The airline initially began scheduled passenger service as an independent commuter air carrier and ...

and William Hirsch and began service in 1979 as a commuter air carrier flying Cessna 402 twin prop aircraft to destinations in California. Their first flight was from

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Mammoth Lakes, California Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

on 11 November 1979. In 1981, Wings West was operating service linking Mammoth Lakes and Bishop, California with Oakland, Sacramento and Santa Monica. In 1982, the airline was operating weekend nonstop service between Phoenix and

Aspen, CO Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...

with Swearingen Metro propjets. Wings West became a publicly traded company in 1983. By early 1985, Wings West had significantly expanded its route network in California as an independent commuter airline with the addition of Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro II and Metro III models) and Beechcraft C99 turboprops to their fleet and was serving Eureka/Arcata, Los Angeles (

LAX Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

), Merced, Modesto, Monterey, Oxnard, Redding, Sacramento, San Francisco (

SFO San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle ...

), San Jose, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Visalia. Service was also then expanded to Arizona. Founder Mark Morro was elected as chairman of the

Regional Airline Association The Regional Airline Association (RAA) is a business association founded in 1975 that represents 17 North American regional airlines and 280 associate, non-airline members. This includes manufacturers of products and services supporting the region ...

(RAA) in 1985. In 1986 Wings West began flying under the American Eagle brand name via a

agreement with

, feeding passengers to American and a year later was purchased by AMR Corp. In 1988, the airline was operating American Eagle service with Convair 580 turboprops on behalf of American primarily between Hollywood Burbank Airport (BUR) and the American hub in

San Jose, CA San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

(SJC). During 1991 Wings West began taking delivery of new Saab 340B turboprop aircraft. That same year, the airline was continuing to support the

hub located at

San Jose International Airport Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport , commonly known simply as San Jose International Airport, is a city-owned public airport in San Jose, California, United States. It is named after San Jose native Norman Mineta, former United Sta ...

in northern California with nonstop feeder service between SJC and Chico, Concord, Eureka/Arcata, Fresno, Lake Tahoe, Modesto, Monterey, Palm Springs, Redding, Sacramento, San Francisco (

), San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Rosa and Stockton in California with these flights being operated by Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner and new Saab 340B commuter propjets. Also in 1991, Wings West was operating American Eagle service into

Los Angeles International Airport Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

(LAX) with

British Aerospace British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. Formed in 1977, in 1999 it purchased Marconi ...

BAe Jetstream 31 The British Aerospace Jetstream is a small twin- turboprop airliner, with a pressurised fuselage, developed as the ''Jetstream 31'' from the earlier Handley Page Jetstream. A larger version of the Jetstream was also manufactured, the Britis ...

, Saab 340B and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprops nonstop from Bakersfield, Carlsbad, Fresno, Inyokern, Orange County, Oxnard, Palm Springs, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Santa Maria in California as well as American Eagle service into

San Francisco International Airport San Francisco International Airport is an international airport in an unincorporated area of San Mateo County, south of Downtown San Francisco. It has flights to points throughout North America and is a major gateway to Europe, the Middle E ...

(SFO) with Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner turboprops nonstop from Lake Tahoe, Monterey, Redding, Reno, Sacramento and San Jose. In 1996, Mary B. Jordan was named president of the airline. In 1998, Wings West was merged with two other regional air carriers, Simmons Airlines and

Flagship Airlines Flagship Airlines was a regional airline headquartered on the grounds of Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee. History Flagship Airlines traced its origins to Air Virginia, a commuter and regional feeder air carrier, which lat ...

(with both airlines also operating American Eagle service at this same time), into AMR Eagle Holdings Corporation to form American Eagle Airlines which is currently known as

Envoy Air Envoy Air Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered in Irving, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The airline is a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Airlines Group and it is paid by fellow group member American Airl ...

Destinations

Wings West served the following destinations during its existence as an independent commuter airline and later as an American Eagle air carrier on behalf of

with not all of these destinations being served at the same time: * **

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...

(

Flagstaff Pulliam Airport Flagstaff Pulliam Airport is south of Flagstaff, in Coconino County, Arizona, United States. The airport is serviced by American Eagle and United Express, and is also used for general aviation. Federal Aviation Administration records say the ...

) ** Phoenix ( Sky Harbor International Airport) ** Yuma (

Yuma International Airport Yuma International Airport is a joint use airport with civilian and military flight activity operated in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps via the Marine Corps Air Station Yuma. The airfield is located south of the central business di ...

) * **

Arcata Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...

( Arcata-Eureka Airport) **

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

(

Meadows Field Airport Meadows Field is a public airport in Kern County, California, United States, three miles northwest of Downtown Bakersfield. It is the main airport for the Bakersfield area, and one of two international airports in the San Joaquin Valley. Also kn ...

) **

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

( Eastern Sierra Regional Airport) **

Burbank Burbank may refer to: Places Australia * Burbank, Queensland, a suburb in Brisbane United States * Burbank, California, a city in Los Angeles County * Burbank, Santa Clara County, California, a census-designated place * Burbank, Illinois, ...

( Hollywood Burbank Airport) **

Chico Chico () means ''small'', ''boy'' or ''child'' in the Spanish language. It is also the nickname for Francisco in the Portuguese language (). Chico may refer to: Places *Chico, California, a city *Chico, Montana, an unincorporated community *Chic ...

(

Chico Municipal Airport Chico Regional Airport is north of Chico, in Butte County, California, United States. The airport covers , has two runways and one helipad. Its fixed-base operator, Northgate Aviation provides fuel, maintenance, flight training, and charter f ...

] ** Concord, California, Concord (

Buchanan Field Airport Buchanan Field Airport is a public airport in Contra Costa County, California, United States, a mile west of the center of Concord and east of Pacheco. The airport's street address is 550 Sally Ride Drive, Concord. The National Plan of Integra ...

) ** Fresno ( Fresno Air Terminal) **

Inyokern Inyokern (formerly Siding 16 and Magnolia) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Kern County, California, United States. Its name derives from its location near the border between Inyo and Kern Counties. Inyokern is located west of Ridgecrest, a ...

(

Inyokern Airport Inyokern Airport is a public use airport located northwest of the central business district of Inyokern, in Kern County, California, United States. It is owned by the Indian Wells Valley Airport District and serves the Indian Wells Valley area. ...

) **

Lake Tahoe, California Lake Tahoe (; was, Dáʔaw, meaning "the lake") is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the United States. Lying at , it straddles the state line between California and Nevada, west of Carson City. Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake ...

(

South Lake Tahoe Airport Lake Tahoe Airport is a public airport three miles southwest of South Lake Tahoe, in El Dorado County, California. It covers and has one runway; it is sometimes called Tahoe Valley Airport. History The airport in the Sierra Nevada just south ...

) **

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

(

) – Hub **

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

( Long Beach Airport) **

Hawthorne Hawthorne often refers to the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. Hawthorne may also refer to: Places Australia *Hawthorne, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane Canada * Hawthorne Village, Ontario, a suburb of Milton, Ontario United States * Hawt ...

( Hawthorne Municipal Airport) **

Mammoth Lakes Mammoth Lakes is a town in Mono County, California, and is the county's only incorporated community. It is located immediately to the east of Mammoth Mountain, at an elevation of . As of the 2020 United States Census, the population was 7,191, r ...

(

Mammoth Yosemite Airport Mammoth Yosemite Airport is a town-owned public airport seven miles east of Mammoth Lakes, in Mono County, California, United States. Also known as Mammoth Lakes Airport or Mammoth–June Lake Airport, it is mainly used for general aviation, but ...

) **

Merced Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...

( Merced Municipal Airport) **

Modesto Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton- ...

(

Modesto City-County Airport Modesto () is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,464 at the 2020 census, it is the 19th largest city in the state of California and forms part of the Sacramento-Stockton ...

) ** Monterey (

Monterey Peninsula Airport Monterey Regional Airport is three miles (5 km) southeast of Monterey, in Monterey County, California, United States. It was created in 1936 and was known as the Monterey Peninsula Airport until the board of directors renamed it on Septemb ...

) **

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

(

Oakland International Airport Oakland International Airport is an international airport in Oakland, California, United States, 10 miles (16 km) south of downtown located in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by the Port of Oakland and has domestic passenger f ...

) **

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

(

John Wayne Airport John Wayne Airport is a commercial and general aviation airport that serves Orange County, California, and the Greater Los Angeles area. The airport is located in an unincorporated area of Orange County, and it is owned and operated by the cou ...

) **

Oxnard Oxnard () is a city in Ventura County, California, United States. On California's South Coast, it is the most populous city in Ventura County and the 22nd-most-populous city in California. Incorporated in 1903, Oxnard lies approximately west ...

(

Oxnard Airport Oxnard Airport is a county-owned, public airport a mile west of downtown Oxnard, in Ventura County, California. The airport has not had scheduled passenger service since June 8, 2010, when United Express (operated via a code sharing agreement ...

) ** Palm Springs ( Palm Springs International Airport) ** Redding (

Redding Municipal Airport Redding Regional Airport is 6 miles (10 km) southeast of Redding in Shasta County, California, United States. It is one of two airports in Redding, along with Benton Airpark. In addition to general aviation, the airport has scheduled pass ...

) **

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

( San Diego International Airport) ** San Jose (

) – Hub ** San Luis Obispo (

) – Headquarters **

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

(

) – Hub **

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

(

Sacramento International Airport Sacramento International Airport is located northwest of Downtown Sacramento in Sacramento County, California, United States and covers . It serves the Sacramento Metropolitan Area, and it is run by the Sacramento County Airport System. The a ...

) ** Santa Barbara (

Santa Barbara Municipal Airport Santa Barbara Municipal Airport is west of downtown Santa Barbara, California, United States. SBA covers 948 acres (384 ha) of land and has three runways. It is near the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the city of Goleta. The a ...

) ** Santa Maria ( Santa Maria Public Airport) ** Santa Monica ( Santa Monica Airport) **

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * Sa ...

( Sonoma County Airport ** Stockton (

Stockton Metropolitan Airport Stockton Metropolitan Airport is a joint civil-military airport three miles southeast of downtown Stockton, a city in San Joaquin County, California. It is owned by the County of San Joaquin. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems cat ...

) ** Visalia (

Visalia Municipal Airport Visalia Municipal Airport is five miles west of downtown Visalia, in Tulare County, California, United States. The airport is eligible for the Essential Air Service program, but has no scheduled air service, and is not eligible to request funding ...

) * **

Aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species; some, but not all, are classified by botanists in the section ''Populus'', of the ''Populus'' genus. Species These species are called aspens: *'' Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China ...

(

Aspen-Pitkin County Airport Aspen/Pitkin County Airport , also known as Sardy Field, is a county-owned public-use airport located three nautical miles (6 km) northwest of the central business district of Aspen, in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. Aspen/Pitkin ...

) * **

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

(

McCarran International Airport Harry Reid International Airport is an international airport in Paradise, Nevada, and is the main government airport for public use in the Las Vegas Valley, a metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Nevada, about south of Downtown Las Vegas. ...

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

( Reno-Cannon International Airport) * **

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia *Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States * Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California * Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia ...

(

Four Corners Regional Airport Four Corners Regional Airport is in San Juan County, New Mexico, United States, in the city of Farmington, which owns it. It is a Class D towered general aviation airport with no commercial passenger services, but has chartered flight servic ...

) * ** Klamath Falls (

Klamath Falls Airport Klamath may refer to: Ethnic groups *Klamath people, a Native American people of California and Oregon **Klamath Tribes, a federally recognized group of tribes in Oregon *Klamath language, spoken by the Klamath people Places in the United States * ...

) * ** Amarillo ** Lubbock ** Dallas/Ft. Worth ( DFW)

Fleet

Wings West operated the following turboprop aircraft in the livery of American Eagle: * Beechcraft C99 *

and 32 * Convair 580 * Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro III) * Saab 340B Wings West also operated Cessna 402 twin prop aircraft and Swearingen Metro II turboprop aircraft as an independent air carrier. As an American Eagle carrier, the airline had ordered the

BAe ATP The British Aerospace ATP (Advanced Turbo-Prop) is an airliner designed and produced by British Aerospace. It was an evolution of the Hawker Siddeley HS 748, a fairly successful feederliner of the 1960s. The ATP was developed during the 1980 ...

; however, this large turboprop aircraft was not delivered to or operated by Wings West.

Accidents and incidents

* August 24, 1984: Wings West Airlines Flight 628 midair collision. Shortly after departing the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport on a commuter flight to

, a Wings West twin-engine

Beechcraft Model 99 The Beechcraft Model 99 is a civilian aircraft produced by Beechcraft. It is also known as the Beech 99 Airliner and the Commuter 99. The 99 is a twin-engine, unpressurized, 15 to 17 passenger seat turboprop aircraft, derived from the earlier B ...

(N6399U) collided head-on with a private Rockwell Commander 112TC aircraft (N112SM) that was descending for a landing at the same airport, killing all 17 on both aircraft. The

National Transportation Safety Board The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incid ...

attributed the crash to inadequate visual lookout on the part of both pilots, and their failure to heed the recommended communications and traffic advisory practices for

uncontrolled airport In aviation, a non-towered airport is an airport without a control tower, or air traffic control (ATC) unit. The vast majority of the world's airports are non-towered. In the United States, there are close to 20,000 non-towered airports compared ...

References

External links

AirTimes.com index of Wings West flight schedules from the 1980s' with destinations and some route maps
{{Portal bar, California, Companies, Aviation Defunct airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1979 Northwest Airlines American Airlines Airlines disestablished in 1998 1979 establishments in California 1998 disestablishments in California

History

Destinations

Fleet

Accidents and incidents

See also

References

External links