Cascade Airways
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Cascade Airways was an
airline An airline is a company that provides civil aviation, air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or Airline alliance, alliances with other airlines for ...
in the
northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
United States 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 territorie ...
which flew primarily regional air routes out of
Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...
. Founded in 1969, it operated for 17 years and shut down in 1986. Its IATA code (CZ) was later assigned to China Southern Airlines which was formed two years after Cascade's shutdown.


Operations

Headquartered in Spokane, Washington, Cascade Airways served the
northwest The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...
U.S., primarily Seattle, Spokane,
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
, Portland, Pasco, Pullman, Boise, and  Yakima. Other points served included Wenatchee, WA, Moses Lake, WA, Walla Walla, WA (which was the location of Cascade's main maintenance base), Lewiston, ID, Idaho Falls, ID, Pocatello, ID, Kalispell, Missoula, Helena, and Butte in Montana, and Calgary, Alberta in Canada. Also served were Eugene, OR, Medford, OR; Reno, NV; Twin Falls, ID; Olympia, WA; and Richland, WA (via Pasco). When Horizon Air began operating in 1981, Cascade was then competing against a better financed airline with Horizon Air eventually acquiring Air Oregon and Transwestern Airlines. Cascade then sought help from Horizon in 1985, but Horizon subsequently backed out of the deal and Cascade was forced to cease operations in March 1986. Cascade introduced
British Aircraft Corporation The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) was a British aircraft manufacturer formed from the government-pressured merger of English Electric Aviation Ltd., Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft), the Bristol Aeroplane Company and Hunting Aircraft in 1 ...
BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...
twinjet aircraft into its fleet in the fall of 1984. The BAC One-Eleven was the only jetliner type it ever operated. Cascade was also operating
Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption into Hawker Siddel ...
, Beechcraft 1900C, and Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro III) turboprop aircraft at this time.


Destinations in 1984 and 1985

According to its system timetables dated October 15, 1984 and April 4, 1985, Cascade was serving the following destinations. Those destinations appearing in bold typeface received
BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...
jet service. Most of the destinations that received jet service were also served with turboprop aircraft by the airline. Other destinations were served with turboprop aircraft only: * Boise, ID (BOI) – ''Focus city'' * Butte, MT (BTM) * Calgary, AB Canada (YYC) – ''only international destination served by Cascade'' * Eugene, OR (EUG) * Helena, MT (HLN) * Idaho Falls, ID (IDA) * Kalispell, MT (FCA) * Lewiston, ID/Clarkston, WA (LWS) * Medford, OR (MFR) * Moses Lake, WA (MWH) * Olympia, WA (OLM) * Pasco, WA (PSC) * Pocatello, ID (PIH) * Portland, OR (PDX) – ''Focus city'' * Pullman, WA/Moscow, ID (PUW) * Reno, NV (RNO) * Seattle, WA (SEA) – ''Hub'' * Spokane, WA (GEG) – ''Focus city and headquarters'' * Walla Walla, WA (ALW) – ''location of the airline's jet and turboprop maintenance bas''e * Wenatchee, WA (EAT) * Yakima, WA (YKM) Prior to the above referenced time frame, Cascade previously served the following destinations with turboprop aircraft: Astoria, OR (AST), Missoula, MT (MSO), Salt Lake City, UT (SLC) and Twin Falls, ID (TWF).http://www.departedflights.com, July 15, 1982 Cascade Airways route map


Fleet

Cascade Airways operated the following aircraft types over the years: *
BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...
series 200 jet *
BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...
series 400 jet * Beechcraft 1900C turboprop * Beechcraft C99 turboprop * Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante turboprop * Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner (Metro III model) turboprop *
Hawker Siddeley HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption into Hawker Siddel ...
turboprop – the 48-passenger HS 748 was the largest turboprop aircraft ever operated by Cascade.


Accidents and incidents

On January 20, 1981, Cascade Airways Flight 201, Beech 99 N390CA, operating Seattle-Yakima-Moses Lake-Spokane, crashed at 11:27 am PST in fog during its approach to Spokane International Airport. Of the nine aboard, seven were killed: five passengers and the cockpit crew, Captain David Weinberger and First Officer Paul Davis. Two passengers, Steven Tarnoff and James Eagle. survived the crash, explosion, and fire. It clipped Riddle Hill and crashed into the wooded hillside southwest of the airport; the NTSB investigation resulted in a determination of pilot error due to the crew using an incorrect frequency for a navigational aid and subsequently descending below the Minimum Descent Height for that approach to the airport.NTSB Accident Report NTSB-AAR-81-11, July 21, 1981
/ref> At the time of the crash, Cascade operated twelve Beech 99s and three Embraer Bandeirantes to eighteen cities in the Pacific Northwest. Cascade had previously acquired Richland-based Columbia Pacific Airlines in November 1978, following a fatal crash of a Columbia Pacific Beech 99. Flight 23 over-rotated and stalled on take-off from the Richland Airport on February 10, 1978, killing both pilots and all 15 passengers.NTSB Accident Report NTSB-AAR-78-15, December 21, 1978
/ref> On February 18, 1972, Cascade Airways Flight 325, a Beech 99 operating Seattle-Walla Walla-Pullman-Spokane, crashed in fog at 9:42 pm PST during its instrument approach to Spokane International Airport, and came to rest in a muddy field less than southwest of the runway. Two passengers and two crew were aboard, and all survived with minor injuries. The pilot, Lee M. Leslie of Spokane, walked from the crash site to a nearby service station to report it. The crash site was about from the
Medical Lake Medical Lake is a small city in Spokane County, eastern Washington, United States. At the 2010 census, the population was 5,060. The city is the site of a psychiatric hospital, Eastern State Hospital, and of Fairchild Air Force Base, two major e ...
exit (#272) of
Interstate 90 Interstate 90 (I-90) is an east–west transcontinental freeway and the longest Interstate Highway in the United States at . It begins in Seattle, Washington, and travels through the Pacific Northwest, Mountain West, Great Plains, Midwest, and ...
and the landing gear of the plane was extended. Due to fog, the flight had stopped in Pasco rather than Walla Walla. On June 20, 1969, less than two weeks after commencing flights, Cascade Airways Beech 99 N2550A, operating on a cargo flight with no passengers lost power on takeoff and crashed at
Pasco Airport Tri-Cities Airport (originally Pasco Airport) is a public airport in the northwest United States in Franklin County, Washington. Located northwest of Pasco, it serves the Tri-Cities metropolitan area in southeast Washington, and is the third ...
, killing both crew members. The pilot was company vice president Vaughn Gundlach, age 35, and the co-pilot was Doug Thomson, age 24.


See also

*
List of defunct airlines of the United States A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby union ...


References


External links


Cascade Airways
– nostalgia site {{Authority control Defunct airlines of the United States Defunct regional airlines of the United States Airlines established in 1969 Airlines disestablished in 1986 Defunct companies based in Spokane, Washington Airlines based in Washington (state)