Flight Express, Inc. was a cargo airline owned by Bayside Capital. Bayside Capital acquired Flight Express on November 4, 2008. Flight Express, Inc. operates as an air courier company in the Southeast and Midwest United States. It offers air freight and ground courier services. The company also operates aircraft. It specializes in the transport of cargo for banking and financial institutions, life sciences organizations, newspaper publishers, overnight freight delivery companies, and payroll and photographic processors. It operates 84 aircraft from facilities in eight states. It was founded in 1985 and is based in Orlando, Florida, United States.
History
Flight Express originally started as a company named Chapman Air in May 1978. James E. Chapman started his FAR-135 operation with two aircraft, a Cherokee Six and a Cessna Skyhawk, with a base at KORL in Orlando Florida. In the early days of the company aircraft were tied down in a grassy area to the east of Hangar 191 at KORL. (28 33 01.21 N, 81 20 19.19 W) The main source of business revenue was flying bank documents, cancelled checks, and photographic materials under contract for the Pony Express Courier Corporation throughout Florida.
In 1982 the company moved to the east ramp at KORL and opened a small aircraft maintenance facility. (28 33 02.54 N, 81 19 35.15 W) This first facility was actually one of the recently constructed "T" hangars located on the ramp. By this time the fleet had expanded to ten aircraft. By the end of 1984, Chapman Air was operating a fleet of 20 aircraft consisting of PA-32s, C-210s, M-20s and C-172s, logging over 14,000 total flight hours annually. The company now employed sixteen pilots, and two full-time mechanics.
On April 1, 1985, Chapman moved its operation to the larger Hangar 190 located at 3614 E Amelia St, on ORL. (28 33 01.11 N, 81 20 21.62 W) The company was still doing well and at this time the maintenance staff had increased to three full-time mechanics, and a larger business office was added inside the hangar.
On November 1, 1985, Jim Chapman sold his company, lock, stock, and barrel, to a group of investors and the company became known as Flight Express, Inc. John Kirchhoefer, one of the investors, became the President of the new company. The Director of Operations at this time was Brian Smith and the Director of Maintenance was Edward Redfield. The organization continued to grow and prosper and in the first quarter of 1993 the company took over a "sister" hangar (Hangar 191) to the east of its operation and doubled its floor space. A larger parts room was constructed and a maintenance library, break room and sales office were also added.
By the early 1990s Flight Express was operating over 50 aircraft and employed over 100 people. The fleet was logging more than 39,000 flight hours annually. A full-time Flight Control/Dispatch Department was staffed 24-hrs to control crew schedules and to dispatched and monitored flights. The mainstay of their business continued to be the transportation of banking materials and cancelled checks.
In 1995 Flight Express established FLX Courier Systems. FLX was a ground courier company and was a natural progression for the company. FLX Courier Systems augmented Flight Express's air courier fleet and could now move parcels door-to-door instead of airport-to-airport.
By the mid-1990s the air network covered much of the Southeast US. Flight Express began to acquire leaseholds in other locations to support the fleet. The first was Tampa Florida with a maintenance hangar and an above ground fuel farm on KTPA. (27 58 23.59 N, 82 31 06.58 W) It was during this period the company began to acquire some competing air-courier companies as well. With each acquisition the fleet and air network grew.
Flight Express was acquired by Bayside Capital (a financial holding company) in Oct 2008. The company continued to operate as “Flight Express” from its original base at the Orlando Executive Airport for another 5-years. After the purchase, Bayside Capital began the process of merging Flight Express with an existing FAR-135 courier operation they already owned called Airnet Systems in Columbus, OH. It took 5-years to fully complete the merger and on 30 April 2013 the Orlando facilities that once served as the base and headquarters of Flight Express, permanently closed. For a time, Airnet continued using the “Flight Express” name, mainly in the form of an Internet web site. However, the name no longer appears in any Airnet advertising or branding. The exact date Airnet ceased using the name “Flight Express” is not known.
Fleet
The Flight Express, Inc. fleet consists the following aircraft (): + Flight Express, Inc. Fleet:AircraftIn FleetOrdersNotesCessna 210580Beechcraft Baron260
Accidents and incidents
January 15, 1985, in Floridana, Florida, Piper PA-32-300, N1496X, injuries: 1 uninjured: During cruise flight, the pilot noted the engine was vibrating severely and spraying oil and then failed. Examination of the engine revealed that the #2 cylinder connecting rod had failed in overload. A small piece of gear tooth was found inside the engine and it exhibited evidence of fatigue failure modes. The loose gear tooth was free to move through the engine cavity and initiate other failures. Probable cause was total failure engine connecting rod. August 5, 1985, Longwood, Florida, Cessna 210L, N1752X, Injuries: 1 Uninjured: The aircraft was 12 miles out & cleared for a visual approach when the pilot reported total loss of eng power. Examination of the wreckage disclosed about four fluid ounces of fuel remaining in fuel tanks. Entry on maintenance discrepancy sheet read 'fuel gauges are 100% unreliable. Check tanks visually.’ Probable cause(s): Fuel exhaustion. Contributing Factors: Inadequate PIC preflight. October 4, 1985 in Jacksonville, Florida, Piper PA-32-300, N8614N, Injuries: 1 Uninjured: After departure flight experienced loss of engine power and visible smoke coming from the windshield exhaust ducts. The engine subsequently failed but the pilot was able to regain power and return to the airport for a normal landing. Post landing inspection of the aircraft revealed an exhaust pipe had cracked and caused the lower engine cowling to catch fire just forward of the engine air intake. The exhaust had cracked where a previous repair had been made due to a previous crack. The repair was improper due to the weld not fully penetrating the cracked metal. Probable cause(s): Cracked exhaust system, manifold/pipe. Contributing Factors: Improper maintenance. January 17, 1989 KFMY, Piper PA-32-300, N4763T, Injuries: 1 Minor. The pilot stated that during the initial climb after takeoff, he heard a 'pop' & the engine started running rough. He turned back toward the airport. About 2 min later, there was a loud noise, which was followed by a progressive loss of all power. Subsequently, the aircraft was damaged during an emergency landing at night in a marshy area about 1 to 2 mi from the airport. An exam of the engine revealed the #5 connecting rod cap bolt had failed, which resulted in further damage of the engine. Probable cause: Failure of the #5 connecting rod bolt. Factors related to the accident were: Dark night and the soft and wet (marshy) terrain conditions in the emergency landing area. February 26, 1990 KSRQ, Cessna 210, N525CW, Injuries: 1 Serious: The commercial pilot was on initial climb at 200 feet AGL from the Sarasota-Bradenton airport, Sarasota, FL, when the airplane experienced a total loss of engine power. The pilot was on a non scheduled air taxi flight in VFR conditions. No flight plan was filed. The pilot conducted an emergency descent, and forced landing back to the departure airport. On landing roll, the airplane experienced an on ground collision with a dirt bank and was destroyed. The pilot sustained serious injuries. Examination of the crankshaft by the NTSB materials laboratory revealed the crankshaft failed due to fatigue cracking of undetermined origin. Probable cause(s): The total loss of engine power caused by crankshaft failure, due to fatigue cracking of undetermined origin. January 28, 1991 KORL, Cessna 210L, N210GC, Injuries: 1 Fatal: The pilot reported a vacuum pump failure to his company operations and air traffic control by airplane radio. While being vectored for an ILS back-course approach in instrument conditions, the airplane collided with terrain. Probable cause(s): The pilot's failure to maintain aircraft control in instrument conditions and his spatial disorientation. Factors were a failure of the vacuum pump and the pilot's lack of recent experience in partial panel instrument flying or training. September 21, 1992 KORL, Cessna 210L, N2013S, Injuries: 1 Uninjured: Pilot stated that while attempting to extend the landing gear the gear hydraulic motor operated but the gear did not extend. After several seconds of gear motor operation the circuit breaker for the gear motor popped. Further attempts to extend the gear by normal and emergency procedures were unsuccessful. A gear up landing was made. After the accident the aircraft was raised and the landing gear was extended by use of the manual gear extension emergency hydraulic pump. According to maintenance personnel a wire to the nose landing gear squat switch was chafed and grounded which caused the system to be signaled for gear up at all times. They further stated the pilot could not extend the gear by use of the backup hydraulic pump because the gear down solenoid had overheated during attempts to lower the gear and froze in the gear up position. After the solenoid cooled after landing they were able to manually lower the gear. Probable cause(s): Undetected chafing and grounding of a wire to the nose landing gear squat switch which resulted in the landing gear being signaled at all times for gear up when electrical power was applied to the system. Contributing to the accident was the overheating of the gear down solenoid which caused it to stick in the gear up position and prevented the gear from being manually extended. September 21, 1992, KORL, Cessna 210L, N777BK, Injuries: 1 Uninjured: Flight was unable to get safe indication for landing gear extended while approaching destination airport. Flight returned to departure airport. After accomplishing emergency procedures for gear extension, gear safe indication was still not obtained. Pilot determined all hydraulic fluid had been lost. Flight was landed with the nose gear locked and the main gears partially extended. Post-landing examination revealed right main gear hydraulic actuator had failed due to overstress along metal grain boundaries and at area of low wall thickness. All hydraulic system pressures were found to be normal and no other landing gear system failures were found. After failure of the gear actuator all normal and emergency system fluid was lost through the actuator. Probable cause(s): Failure of the right main landing gear actuator due to overstress for undetermined reasons which resulted in loss of all landing gear system hydraulic fluid which in turn resulted in the pilot being unable to extend and lock the landing gear.