Evergreen International Airlines: История, Связи с ЦРУ и Авиакатастрофы.

Airline

Evergreen International Airlines was a charter and cargo airline based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Wholly owned by Evergreen International Aviation, it had longstanding ties to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Evergreen also maintained a large aircraft maintenance and storage facility at the Pinal Airpark in Marana, Arizona, that the company acquired from the CIA's Air America operation.

The airline was established by Delford Smith (founder and owner) and began operations in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters. It acquired the operating certificate of alleged Central Intelligence Agency front company Johnson Flying Service</blockquote>

Evergreen bought assets during the 1970s that were previously linked to CIA operations including Montana's Johnson Flying Service and the CIA's aviation 'skunk works' located at the Pinal Airpark in Arizona where Evergreen subsequently performed special maintenance such as servicing the NASA operated Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft used to transport the Space Shuttle. Evergreen subsequently sold the Pinal Airpark facility to Relativity Capital in 2011. Shortly thereafter it ran mysterious missions to El Salvador and Nicaragua. its aircraft supported United Nations peacekeeping operations in 30 countries; flew insect eradication missions throughout Africa; provided helicopter support for the National Park Service and the U. S. Forest Service; and operated helicopters for FEMA following Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana. Commercially, the airline helped build the Trans Alaska Pipeline; and developed and serviced the offshore oil and gas market with helicopter support worldwide via its Evergreen Helicopters division. starred in the 1990 action film Die Hard 2. A Boeing 727 (registered N727EV) appeared in episode 8 of season 4 of Remington Steele titled "Coffee Tea or Steele".

March 18, 1989: Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, a DC 9 was on a cargo flight from Kelly Air Force Base outside San Antonio to Tinker Air Force Base outside of Oklahoma City, with a stop at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth. As the plane was departing, the cargo door on the plane opened; the pilot immediately requested emergency return to Carswell. As the plane was approaching on base leg, the cargo door fully opened, which caused the plane to yaw to the left and right, and then roll, until crashing near Saginaw in an inverted position. Both pilots on board were killed. The investigation found that when closing the cargo door, the copilot did not close it fully, but since the locked and latched indicators were applied incorrectly, the copilot thought the door was fully locked. December 12, 1991: An Evergreen Boeing 747 100, N475EV, flying from Newark to Tokyo at 31,000 feet suddenly banked 90 degrees to the right and descended at an angle of 30 35 degrees, falling over 10,000 feet before the pilots could regain control. The pilots stabilized the aircraft at 22,500 feet before landing safely in Duluth, Minnesota. Official reports indicate the aircraft reached Mach 0.98 during its descent with some reports suggesting the plane broke the sound barrier, reaching speeds as high as Mach 1.25. March 31, 1993: Lee waves were believed responsible for the in flight separation of the #2 engine on an Evergreen Boeing 747 100 operating for Japan Airlines as Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 46E, registration: N473EV, near Anchorage, Alaska. The plane involved was used in the movie Die Hard 2. The plane was subsequently repaired, continuing in service until 2001.