Colgan Air
Founded 1991
Ceased operations September 5, 2012
Hubs
As United Express:
Washington Dulles International Airport
Newark Liberty International Airport
Fleet size 19
Destinations 22
Parent company Pinnacle Airlines Corp.
Headquarters Memphis, Tennessee, U.S.A.
Key people John Spanjers (senior vice-president)
Charles Colgan (founder / former CEO)
Website http://www.colganair.com
Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air were located in Memphis, Tennessee.
Colgan Air's major hubs were in Newark and Washington (Dulles). It was operating for United Express when it became defunct. Pinnacle Airlines Corporation phased out the Colgan Air name on September 5, 2012 and transferred operations to other subsidiaries.
Colgan Air building in Manassas, Virginia, USA
Charles J. Colgan founded fixed base operator Colgan Airways Corporation at Manassas Airport in 1965. It began scheduled service under contract with IBM in 1970 between Manassas, Virginia near Washington, D.C., and Dutchess County Airport near Poughkeepsie, New York. It expanded over the next decade and a half and was sold in 1986 to Presidential Airways.
After Presidential went defunct in 1989, Colgan and his son, Michael J., restarted service under the name National Capital on a Washington-Dulles to Binghamton, NY route on December 1, 1991. Service was provided with Beechcraft 1900C equipment. This route was later dropped and the name Colgan Air adopted. On July 1, 1997 Colgan became a feeder for Continental Airlines, operating under the name Continental Connection.
Saab 340B in Colgan Air livery
On December 11, 1999, Colgan left the Continental system and became exclusively a US Airways Express carrier, focusing its routes around major US Airways stations such as LaGuardia, Pittsburgh, and Boston. However, in 2005 Colgan acquired additional Saab 340 aircraft and resumed service as Continental Connection out of Houston.
On October 4, 2005, Colgan Air started providing flights for United Express flights out of Washington's Dulles International Airport. Initially serving Charleston, WV and Westchester County Airport in White Plains, NY, Colgan expanded its United Express service to include State College, PA, Charlottesville, VA, Allentown, PA, and Binghamton, NY.
Colgan Air was acquired by Pinnacle Airlines Corporation on January 18, 2007 for US$20 million. Under the terms of the purchase, Colgan's regional aircraft fleet continued to operate independently of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation's major subsidiary, Pinnacle Airlines, whose all regional jet fleet continued to fly and operate in the livery of Northwest Airlink. It was a strategic move by Pinnacle to get access to Colgan’s partners, Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.
Colgan Air began providing service out of Newark Liberty International Airport (as Continental Connection) starting in early 2008.
Colgan's headquarters moved from Manassas, VA to Pinnacle's headquarters in Memphis, TN in December 2009.
In January 2010, Colgan Air closed the LaGuardia crew base in response to the slot transaction at LaGuardia and Washington National Airport between US Airways and Delta Air Lines.[citation needed]
In July 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation announced that the Colgan Air name would be phased out and all Pinnacle Airlines Corporation propeller flights would be operated by Mesaba Airlines. Colgan operated for two more years before winding down operations:
Flying for US Airways Express ceased on May 15.
Flying out of the Houston hub for United Express ceased on June 5.
Saab 340 flying ceased on July 31.
The last revenue flight, United Express Flight 3923 from Washington-Dulles to Albany, NY, was on September 5.
The remaining Q400s on order were delivered to Republic Airlines.
Pilot Group
In December, 2008, the pilots of Colgan Air voted overwhelmingly to become members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). The U.S. National Mediation Board (NMB), which oversees union representation elections, announced that 313 of 449 eligible pilots voted in support of representation by ALPA, well above the threshold required for certification. Prior to the election, the Colgan pilots were unrepresented by a union. The drive for representation began in 2007 when an organizing committee was formed by a group of pilots at Colgan Air. The organizing committee hoped that union organization would help improve on the poor working conditions that the pilots of Colgan Air had to endure. This feeling was shared by the Colgan Air pilot group, which voted 70% in favor of unionizing.
In 2010, the pilots of Colgan Air began negotiations for a Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement (JCBA). Joining and participating with the Colgan pilots in these negotiations were their ALPA counterparts at Pinnacle and Mesaba Airlines. Because the three airlines were owned by the same holding company (Pinnacle Corp) the elected ALPA pilot-representatives strongly felt a joint contract, shared by the three airlines, was the only way to prevent a labor whipsaw by management.
On February 17, 2011, the pilots ratified the Joint Collective Bargaining Agreement after an agreement was reached with Pinnacle Corp management. This JCBA was a momentous event in the history of Colgan Air's pilots. It marked an end to working under ever changing, sub par working conditions and the fear that a pilot could be terminated without just cause. The JCBA provided provisions which would increase safety at the airline by providing for clear language that pertained to combating pilot fatigue and revamping the training process for pilots. The JCBA also provided new wage and work rules which would ensure that Colgan pilots would be paid and treated comparably to their counterparts at other regional airlines
Colgan Air Flight 9446 Accident
NTSB Probable Cause
NTSB Identification: NYC03MA183 The docket is stored in the Docket Management System (DMS). Please contact Records Management Division Accident occurred Tuesday, August 26, 2003 in Yarmouth, MA Probable Cause Approval Date: 08/31/2004 Aircraft: Beech 1900D, registration: N240CJ Injuries: 2 Fatal. NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The accident flight was the first flight after maintenance personnel replaced the forward elevator trim cable. When the flightcrew received the airplane, the captain did not address the recent cable change noted on his maintenance release. The captain also did not perform a first flight of the day checklist, which included an elevator trim check. Shortly after takeoff, the flightcrew reported a runway trim, and manually selected nose-up trim. However, the elevator trim then traveled to the full nose-down position. The control column forces subsequently increased to 250 pounds, and the flightcrew was unable to maintain control of the airplane. During the replacement of the cable, the maintenance personnel skipped a step in the manufacturer's airliner maintenance manual (AMM). They did not use a lead wire to assist with cable orientation. In addition, the AMM incorrectly depicted the elevator trim drum, and the depiction of the orientation of the cable around the drum was ambiguous. The maintenance personnel stated that they had completed an operational check of the airplane after maintenance. The Safety Board performed a mis-rigging demonstration on an exemplar airplane, which reversed the elevator trim system. An operational check on that airplane revealed that when the electric trim motor was activated in one direction, the elevator trim tabs moved in the correct direction, but the trim wheel moved opposite of the corresponding correct direction. When the manual trim wheel was moved in one direction, the elevator trim tabs moved opposite of the corresponding correct direction.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: •The improper replacement of the forward elevator trim cable, and subsequent inadequate functional check of the maintenance performed, which resulted in a reversal of the elevator trim system and a loss of control in-flight. Factors were the flightcrew's failure to follow the checklist procedures, and the aircraft manufacturer's erroneous depiction of the elevator trim drum in the maintenance manual.
Colgan Flight 3407 Accident
Actual aircraft, N200WQ
NTSB Identification: DCA09MA027 Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of COLGAN AIR INC (D.B.A. Continental Connection) Accident occurred Thursday, February 12, 2009 in Clarence Center, NY Probable Cause Approval Date: 03/28/2010 Aircraft: BOMBARDIER INC DHC-8-402, registration: N200WQ Injuries: 50 Fatal. NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.
The Safety Board’s full report is available at http://www.ntsb.gov/publictn/A_Acc1.htm. The Aircraft Accident Report number is NTSB/AAR-10/01.
On February 12, 2009, about 2217 eastern standard time, a Colgan Air, Inc., Bombardier DHC-8-400, N200WQ, operating as Continental Connection flight 3407, was on an instrument approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, Buffalo, New York, when it crashed into a residence in Clarence Center, New York, about 5 nautical miles northeast of the airport. The 2 pilots, 2 flight attendants, and 45 passengers aboard the airplane were killed, one person on the ground was killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces and a postcrash fire. The flight was operating under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121. Night visual meteorological conditions prevailed at the time of the accident.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows: •The captain’s inappropriate response to the activation of the stick shaker, which led to an aerodynamic stall from which the airplane did not recover. Contributing to the accident were (1) the flight crew’s failure to monitor airspeed in relation to the rising position of the low-speed cue, (2) the flight crew failure to adhere to sterile cockpit procedures, (3) the captain’s failure to effectively manage the flight, and (4) Colgan Air’s inadequate procedures for airspeed selection and management during approaches in icing conditions.
