Air Chaparral

In 1981 Air Chaparral acquired the operating assets of Inland Empire Airlines, a California-based commuter air carrier that operated Swearingen Metro II and Metro III propjets as well as Piper Navajo Chieftain prop aircraft,[5] established as Pomona Valley Aviation in 1968.[6] Inland Empire flew scheduled passenger service to destinations primarily in California but also to Arizona and Nevada as well.[7] Destinations served included Los Angeles (LAX), San Francisco (SFO), Las Vegas (LAS), Ontario (ONT), Palm Springs (PSP) and Grand Canyon National Park Airport (GCN) as well as several other smaller communities. Inland Empire continued to operate under its own name, and when Air Chaparral filed for bankruptcy in 1983, Inland Empire again became a stand-alone company.

On 22 July 1981 the United States Air Force chose not to renew a lease with Air Chaparral, under which AC had been providing three turboprop-powered aircraft to the government. The Air Force issued a solicitation for other providers, but when no bids were submitted in the first round, AC officers formed a wholly owned subsidiary company (Huff Leasing Company), and submitted a bid under that name. There were two bidders under that round of solicitations, and Huff was the low bidder, receiving the Air Force nod to provide the aircraft. However, the other bidder objected, pointing out that Huff was merely a shell for the previously-rejected AC. The Air Force agreed and voided its lease with Huff. Huff appealed, but the appeal was denied by the US Court of Appeals for District of Columbia District in a 2 September 1983 decision.[8] By that time Air Chaparral had ceased operations and had filed for bankruptcy.

The airline company began flying in 1980, with Donald Simon as its president. Nevada cities included in its schedule were:

• Austin, Nevada
• Elko, Nevada
• Ely, Nevada
• Fallon, Nevada
• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Reno, Nevada
• Tonopah, Nevada
• Winnemucca, Nevada

Air Chaparal also provided overnight freight service to GELCO Courier, transporting canceled checks overnight to Federal Reserve Bank locations along the US west coast. Flights operated between:

• Spokane, WA
• Seattle, WA (Boeing Field)
• Portland, OR
• Oakland, CA
• Burbank, CA

• On 2 March 1981, a Cessna T210N, registration N77FB, en route from Fallon to Austin[9] crashed in foul weather. Both the pilot and the single passenger perished in the accident. As a result of this accident the US Civil Aeronautics Board reviewed Air Chaparral's "commuter carrier fitness determination" in a 16 April 1981 board meeting in Washington, D.C..[10]
• On 28 December 1981 an Air Chaparral cargo flight, a Cessna 402C, registration N2749N, traveling from Spokane, Washington to Lewiston, Idaho, attempted to land at the Pullman, Washington airport during a heavy snowstorm. The air traffic controller cleared the pilot for an approach to the airport, not knowing that the runway was closed due to a snowplow clearing snow from the runway. In any event the snowplow did not factor into the incident, because the airplane struck a ridge about one-half-mile (0.8 km) north of the airport, killing the pilot, who was the sole occupant. Investigators determined that visibility conditions at the time of the crash were below landing minimums for that airport. The pilot had 13,000 hours of flight time when he died.[11]

• List of defunct airlines of the United States