Antonio Alvs Ramos Jr. forms Parense Commercial, Ltda. at Belem on February 22, 1952. Planning to operate a beef haulage and general charter service, Ramos purchases a former Aero Geral, S. A. Consolidated PBY-5 Catalina and begins flying to the Goias community of Pedro Afonso on March 30. Two more Geral Catalinas are acquired in 1953-1954. In 1955, the company is renamed PAT.
Two Curtiss C-46 freighters are obtained on September 4, 1957 and in March 1958 are employed to begin scheduled frequencies to Rio de Janeiro via Pedro Afonso, Cristalandia, Brasilia, and Goiania. Service is also started from Rio to Sao Paulo. Over the next two years, six additional C-46s are acquired, several in passenger configuration. During the same time, three Commandos are lost.
A C-46D with four crew fails its takeoff from Rio de Janeiro on May 31 and crashes; there are no survivors.
A C-46A with five crew is lost at Rio de Janeiro on January 6, 1959; there are no fatalities. Another C-46A with five crew is lost near Babac-ulandia, Brazil, on July 15; again, there are no fatalities.
A new route, actually awarded two years earlier, is started in August 1960 Sao Paulo-Cuiaba-Porto Velho-Rio Branco. Other destinations added include Campo Grande, Manaus, Jacareaconga, Itaituba, Sanarem, Altamira, Braganca, Pinheiro, Parnaiba, and Fortaleza.
A C-46A fails its initial climb away from Belem on September 22; no one is hurt in the subsequent forced landing.
Over the next decade, Ramos expands his network, but in the process, gains a terrible reputation for poor safety. A C-46A with two crew is destroyed in a takeoff accident at Pedro Alfonso, Brazil, on June 27, 1962; neither flyer is hurt.
A Douglas DC-3 is purchased on February 7, 1963, but is soon lost in a forced landing near Porto Velho. Of three DC-4s purchased in two-year period, one is lost under unknown circumstances at Sao Paulo on May 5 and another crashes upon takeoff from Belem on April 4, 1964 and is destroyed; no fatalities are reported in either incident.
Of the six C-46s acquired in 1957-1959, all are lost by 1965, including one lost in a nonfatal landing accident at Rio Branco on March 24. A C-46A with 3 crew and 10 passengers is destroyed in a midair explosion near Buraco on August 12; there are no survivors. Another C-46A with 2 crew is lost 25 mi. from Vilhena on October 23; there are no fatalities.
The fleet at the beginning of 1966 includes just 7 Commandos, 4 DC-4s, and 1 DC-3. Six more C-46s are purchased from Sweden late in the year.
Five Fairchild Hiller FH-227Bs are ordered in November 1967 and delivered to the company’s Belem base in January 1968. Christened Rio Rapajos, the first enters service in February. Operations continue without incident in 1969.
While on final approach to Baia de Guajara Airport on March 14, 1970, an FH-227B with 5 crew and 35 passengers, crashes 1 mi. short of the runway and into Guajara Bay (38 dead). Another FH-227B is later wrecked by a vehicle on the ground at Belem Airport.
Already in financial difficulty from previous losses and unable to compete with all but one modern airliner not grounded for repair or overhaul, the carrier is now subjected to an audit-inspection by the federal government. On May 29, Paraense’s operating permit is pulled and on July 15 the government takes over the last four surviving aircraft and gives them to VARIG Brazilian Airlines (Viacao Aerea Rio Grandense, S. A.) for use on the Ponte Aerea Air Bridge shuttle service.
PARAGON AIR: P. O. Box 575, Commuter Airline Terminal, Kahu-lui Airport, Kahului, Maui, Hawaii 96732, United States; Phone (808) 244-3356; Fax (808) 873-7895; Http://www. maui. net/~wings; Year Founded 1980. Paragon is established at Kahului in 1980 to provide fixed-wing passenger and cargo charters, 24 hours a day, to Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, Hawaii, and the Kalaupapa Peninsula on the island of Molokai.
Family-owned and operated, the state’s oldest FAR Part 135 fixed-wing charter company has a perfect safety record by 2000, operating a fleet of Piper PA-31-350 Navajo Chieftains and Britten-Norman BN-2 Islanders.
Among the celebrities transported by the concern over the years are: Steve Jones, Michael Douglas, Kenny Loggins, Mike Love, Richard Pryor, Bill Gates, the John Paul Getty family, Kevin Costner, Dennis Hopper, and Jackson Browne.
World History
