Fleet size See Fleet below Headquarters Melbourne | Parent organization Academi | |
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Operating bases Parent company Aviation Worldwide Services | ||
Presidential Airways (PAW) is a charter cargo and passenger airline currently based at Melbourne International Airport serving Melbourne, Florida, USA. Presidential is now a subsidiary of Aviation Worldwide Services.
Contents
History
Its parent company, Aviation Worldwide Services, Inc. is owned by AAR Corp. AAR Corp purchased the company from Blackwater USA (currently named Academi) in April 2010.
Incidents and accidents
An aircraft, Blackwater 61, operated by Presidential and owned by its sister company, Blackwater AWS crashed on November 27, 2004 in Afghanistan; it had been a contract flight for the United States Air Force en route from Bagram to Farah. All aboard, three soldiers and three civilian crew members, were killed. Several of their survivors filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Presidential in October 2005. A 60 Minutes investigation reported that the crash was caused by pilot error but that the company tried to avoid responsibility.
Fleet
Presidential operates CASA C-212 and CASA CN-235 turboprops. Recent contracts have added de Havilland Canada DHC-8 Dash 8 turboprop aircraft to the fleet. The company also operates turbine powered helicopters including Bell 214ST, Bell 412, MD Helicopters MD-530, Eurocopter/Aerospatiale SA 330J "Puma", and Sikorsky S-61 rotorcraft.