Aero-Flight

The Aero-Flight Aircraft Corporation was founded by ex-Curtiss employee James Nagamatsu at Buffalo, New York in 1946 to produce a two-seat light aircraft, the Streak. However, due to the post-war saturation of the light aircraft market, the company was unable to generate any interest in the product and ceased business in 1953

References

Aero Flight

Aero Flight GmbH & Co. Luftverkehrs-KG was an airline based in Oberursel, Germany. It operated international charter passenger service.

History

The airline was established in March 2000 and started operations on 26 March 2004. Aero Flight emerged from the remnants of Oberursel-based charter airline Aero Lloyd which ceased operations in October 2003 after shareholders refused to continue funding the airline. Its assets were subsequently acquired by Aero Lloyd founder, Bogomir Gradisnik. Under the management of Gradisnik's associate, Miso Aksmanovic, the company has been reshaped into a smaller charter operation.

The airline ceased operations 31 October 2005. The airline's assets were subsequently bought by the Iceland-based Avion group in a deal that took effect in early 2006.

Destinations

Aero Flight operated services to the following international scheduled destinations as of January 2005: Adana, Alicante, Ankara, Cairo, Catania, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Fuerteventura, Hurghada, Istanbul, Luxor, Munich, Pristina, Santa Cruz de la Palma, Sarajevo, Saint Petersburg, Stuttgart and Tivat.

Aero Flight 217

Aero Flight 217 (AY217) was a domestic passenger flight from Helsinki to Mariehamn in the autonomous territory of the Åland Islands, operated by the Finnish flag carrier Aero O/Y (since 1968 also officially known as Finnair). On 8 November 1963, the aircraft serving the flight crashed in poor visibility while attempting to land on a non-precision approach at Mariehamn Airport in the municipality of Jomala. Resulting in the death of 22 people out of 25 on board, the crash remains the second most deadly aviation accident in Finland.

Flight chronology

Flight 217, operated with a Douglas DC-3, was scheduled to take off at 14:50 GMT and travel along the Helsinki-Turku-Mariehamn route from Helsinki Airport. The crew consisted of pilot Pekka Marttinen, co-pilot Pekka Yli-Niemi and flight attendant Marianne Kullberg. The flight departed later than scheduled, at 15:09 GMT. Everything proceeded as planned as far as the stopover at Turku Airport. The aircraft departed from Turku with 22 passengers, 789 kilograms of cargo and 1100 litres of fuel. At this time, the weather was foggy and near Aero O/Y's planning minimal limit that would have cancelled the flight. In Mariehamn, horizontal visibility was slightly worse and thus partially under these limits. According to the flight plan, Stockholm Arlanda Airport in Sweden was reserved as a back-up airport for Flight 217.