Blackhawk International Airways

Blackhawk International Airways was an aircraft charter rental and leasing company based at New Providence in the Bahamas.[1] 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, was at one time based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport.

Blackhawk appears to be no longer in operation. 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

Blackhawk had been fined by the FAA four times before, including once for violating safety standards and once for failing to comply with maintenance standards. The 1999 charge took the company to task for failing to test its employees for illegal drug use.[2]

Death of Aaliyah
Main article: Death of Aaliyah

Nine people were killed in a Cessna 402B (N8097W) crash on August 25, 2001 around 6:50pm local time at Marsh Harbour, Abaco Islands, The Bahamas.[3] The nine killed included; American R&B singer Aaliyah, 22, bodyguard Scott Gallin, 41, makeup artist Christopher Maldonado, 32, hairstylists Eric Forman, 29, & Anthony Dodd, 34, Virgin Records label video production director Douglas Kratz, 28, and Blackground Records label executives Gina Smith, 29, & 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 and alcohol in his system.[4] Aaliyah's family later filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Blackhawk International Airways, which was settled out of court. The Cessna 402B exploded on impact just 200 feet beyond the end of a runway at Marsh Harbour Airport on Abaco Island at 6:45 p.m. The aircraft, which was bound for Opa-locka Airport, just northwest of Miami, was extremely overloaded at the time of takeoff.[5] Blackhawk was listed in Customs documents as the official operator while Skystream was the plane's owner.[4]

References
  1. "Blackhawk International Airways". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  2. "Bad News On Blackhawk International Airways". The Angling Report. December 2001. Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2011-02-24.
  3. NTSB (2001-08-25). "NTSB Identification: MIA01RA225". Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  4. Schumacher-Rasmussen, Eric (August 29, 2001). "Pilot Of Aaliyah's Plane Had Been Caught With Cocaine, Was Not Authorized To Fly". MTV.
  5. NTSB (2001-08-25). "NTSB Identification: MIA01RA225". Retrieved 2018-10-26.
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