ARTOP Linhas Aéreas

ARTOP Linhas Aéreas
IATA code :	FU
ICAO code :	FU
Call sign :	ARTOP
Founding:	1951
Operation stopped:	1958
Seat:	Lisbon , Portugal
Home airport :	Lisbon-Cabo Ruivo Airport
Management:	Durval Ferreira Mergulhão
Fleet size:	1
Aims:	Madeira
ARTOP Linhas Aéreas ceased operations in 1958. The information in italics refer to the last status before the end of operation.

ARTOP Linhas Aéreas (ARTOP) was the brand identity under which the Portuguese company Aero Topográfica , founded in 1951, operated scheduled flights with flying boats between Lisbon and Madeira from October 1, 1958 . As a result of an aircraft accident, the company stopped its scheduled services just one month after operations began.

history

In 1949 the British Aquila Airways opened a route from Southampton via Lisbon to Funchal on Madeira with flying boats . Because there was no paved airport on the island at that time and Aquila Airways was the only company that offered scheduled connections between Lisbon and Madeira in the 1950s, Portugal subsidized the British company's scheduled services on this route. After Aquila Airways had flown in considerable losses despite the subsidies, they applied for higher state subsidies in the spring of 1958, which was rejected by the Portuguese government. Instead, the Portuguese Ministry of Transport decided in June 1958 to reassign the route rights to Madeira. Aquila Airways then announced the cessation of its flight operations on October 1, 1958.

Because the Portuguese airline Transportes Aéreos Portugueses ( TAP ) did not own any flying boats, it decided not to take over the route. Instead, the company Aero Topográfica Ltda, founded in 1951 by the flight captain Durval Ferreira Mergulhão . the route rights, which until then had only carried out land surveys and aerial photographs with small aircraft . On June 25, 1958, Portugal granted the company government aid to purchase two Martin PBM Mariner flying boats . The US aircraft broker Surex Trading Company was tasked with finding suitable machines that should not show any signs of corrosion . Portuguese technicians and TAP employees then examined the twelve aircraft preselected by the broker. They opted for two military aircraft stored in Philadelphia and San Diego that were built for the US Navy in 1944 . Both aircraft were transferred to Lisbon at the end of August 1958 and converted there for civil air traffic. They received additional hull windows and a newly designed, continuous cabin with modern interior fittings that offered space for 41 passengers. The operating license for the first converted flying boat ( registration number : CS-THA) was issued on September 29, 1958 by the Portuguese aviation authority DGAC . At the same time, the company hired two flight captains and two co-pilots who were previously employed by Aquila Airways .

Aero Topográfica started the state-subsidized regular service to Madeira on October 1, 1958 from Lisbon-Cabo Ruivo airport under the brand name ARTOP Linhas Aéreas . The route was operated in cooperation with TAP , which sold the company's tickets in its international branches and also provided feeder services for the route to Madeira. The conversion of the second flying boat (CS-THB) was completed on November 2nd. After several test flights, the machine received its operating license from the DGAC on November 8, 1958 . Just one day later, this Martin PBM Mariner had an accident around 200 kilometers west of Cabo de São Vicente for unknown reasons . ARTOP then suspended all passenger flights without replacement on November 12, 1958, whereby civil air traffic to Madeira came to a complete standstill until the opening of Santa Catarina Airport in 1964.

After the discontinuation of scheduled flight operations, the Aero Topográfica company was not dissolved, but instead concentrated on its original core business. Today the company is active in the fields of cartography and geo-engineering .

fleet

• Martin PBM-5 Mariner ( registration number : CS-THA , baptismal name: "Madeira" and CS-THB , baptismal name: "Porto Santo")

Incidents

→ Main article : ARTOP flight 531

• On November 9, 1958, a Martin PBM Mariner (CS-THB) had an accident on the route to Madeira. 58 minutes after take-off from Lisbon-Cabo Ruivo airport, the pilots issued the message “QUG Emergência”, thus announcing an immediate emergency landing in the Atlantic . The reason for this remained open. At the time, the flying boat was around 250 kilometers southwest of Lisbon. Despite a four-day search, no traces of the machine or its 36 occupants were discovered. Due to the lack of rubble, the accident could not be resolved. The Portuguese commission of inquiry considered a simultaneous failure of both engines as the most likely cause. In addition, among other things, the suspicion was expressed that one of the gasoline- powered cabin fan heaters could have triggered a fire on board, which forced the crew to make an emergency landing.

Trivia

• Aero Topográfica was the last European airline to exclusively use air boats in scheduled services.

See also

• Former Airlines List (Europe)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} VOA Portugal, ARTOP - Aero Topográfica (in Portuguese), accessed on May 1, 2016
2. ↑ Flight International, July 25, 1958 (in English), accessed May 1, 2016
3. ^ Leslie Dawson: Fabulous Flying Boats: A History of the World's Passenger Flying Boats . Pen & Swords Books Limited, Barnsley 2013, ISBN 978-1-78159-109-3 .
4. ↑ Artop company's website - Aero Topográfica Lda (in Portuguese), accessed on May 1, 2016
5. ↑ ICAO Circular 59-AN / 54, Aircraft Accident Digest No. 10, p. 235 ff.
6. ^ British Caledonian a tribute, Captain Harry Frank "Jim" Broadbent, 1910-1958 (in English), accessed May 2, 2016