Alpine Air Express is an American

airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in wh ...

based in Provo,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It operates scheduled air cargo services on over 100 routes throughout

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who comprise a large porti ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

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, and

. Its main base is the

Provo Municipal Airport Provo Municipal Airport is a public-use airport west of Provo, in Utah County, Utah. It is a small regional airport with domestic flights mainly to destinations in the western United States. Overview The airport has rarely had scheduled airl ...

. At one point also, Alpine Air Express was a passenger airline.

History

The airline was established in 1971. It originally operated scheduled passenger and cargo services, aircraft maintenance and a flight school, but now concentrates on cargo services. The airline tried to establish Alpine Air Chile, in an attempt to enter

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

's air freight market. The project was not successful and was discontinued in 2005, with three Beechcraft 1900C being re-integrated into the US fleet. While Alpine Air was performing scheduled passenger operations in the 1980s and 1990s, it served the following cities in Utah, Colorado, and Nevada: * Blanding, UT * Cedar City, UT * Delta, UT * Duchesne, UT * Ely, NV * Grand Junction, CO * Green River, UT * Manti, UT * Moab, UT * Monroe, UT * Monticello, UT * Mt. Pleasant, UT * Nephi, UT * Price, UT * Provo, UT * Richfield, UT * Roosevelt, UT * Salina, UT * Salt Lake City, UT * St. George, UT * Vernal, UT Some cities were served by Scenic Aviation and Castle Valley Aviation, on-demand charter services operating on behalf of Alpine Air.

Fleet

The Alpine Air Express fleet includes the following aircraft. * Raytheon Beech 1900C * Raytheon Beech 1900D * Beechcraft Model 99 *

Beechcraft Super King Air The Beechcraft Super King Air family is part of a line of twin-turboprop aircraft produced by Beechcraft. The Model 200 and Model 300 series were originally marketed as the "Super King Air" family; the "Super" designation was dropped in 1996 ...

In April 2020 Alpine Air Express acquired the assets of the defunct

Great Lakes Airlines Great Lakes Airlines was an American regional airline operating domestic scheduled and charter services. Corporate headquarters were in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with a hub at Denver International Airport. As of November 2013, Great Lakes Airlines ...

, including 25 Beechcraft 1900 and two

Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia The Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia is a twin-turboprop 30-passenger commuter airliner designed and manufactured by the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The EMB 120 began development during 1974. While initially conceived as a modular series of ...

which are to be converted to cargo planes.

Incidents

In October 1992, an Alpine Air PA-42 deviated off course and crashed into a mesa in Grand Junction, Colorado, while operating as an airtaxi flight. There were three fatalities: the pilot and two passengers. August 2004 – While operating a

Billings Billings is the largest city in the U.S. state of Montana, with a population of 117,116 as of the 2020 census. Located in the south-central portion of the state, it is the seat of Yellowstone County and the principal city of the Billings Met ...

to Kalispell, Montana, flight for the US Postal Service, the Beech 99 crashed into Big Baldy mountain, located near Great Falls. Two crewmembers died. January 2008—An Alpine Air Raytheon Beech 1900 crashed into the Pacific Ocean on a cargo flight between Honolulu International Airport and Lihue Intl in Hawaii. This crash claimed one life: the pilot of the aircraft. May 2008—Upon departure from Billings, ATC instructed the Beech 1900C to turn left. The Part 135 cargo plane slowly turned right and crashed into a warehouse nearby. Witnesses say the plane was inverted prior to the crash which claimed the life of the single pilot on board. In February 2010, a cargo door came unlatched on an airborne Alpine Air Express

Beech 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 Be ...

carrying mail from

, to

Kalispell, Montana Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region ...

, at about 1:30 a.m. The plane was about north of

Lewistown, Montana Lewistown is a city in and the county seat of Fergus County, Montana, United States. The population was 5,952 at the 2020 census. Lewistown is located in the geographic center of the state, southeast of Great Falls and northwest of Billings. Fi ...

, when the pilot noted a light on the instrument panel had come on, indicating the door was unlatched. Because there was about of mail cargo in between the pilot and the door, he couldn’t close it. Because the door is located below the plane’s airstream, even when open it wouldn’t compromise the ability to fly and land the plane.

References

External links

* {{Provo, Utah Cargo airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1972 Companies based in Provo, Utah 1972 establishments in Utah Airlines based in Utah