Hemingway Was a Regular on Chalk’s Ocean Airways

I hadn’t heard of Chalk’s Ocean Airways until this week, with the news that a twin-engine Mallard seaplane it operated crashed off Miami on Monday, killing at least 19 people on board. It turns out the company and its planes have a long, storied history. The Florida carrier claims to be the world’s oldest surviving airline, and according to a fine story in the Palm Beach Post, Ernest Hemingway was once a regular passenger on flights to the island of Bimini. The Post story opens with a description of a Mallard taking off.

Writes Cheryl Blackerby:

Taking off was the best part. As twin overhead engines roared, the little plane shimmied on the pavement outside the tiny terminal, then rolled down a boat ramp and cannonballed into Biscayne Bay. The boat-shaped belly slapped the swells splashing seawater over the windows.

Dripping water, the plane soared in slow motion out of the bay and into the blue Miami sky—an experience worth the price of a ticket to Bimini.

The Mallard was a crowd-pleaser. Passengers on cruise ships rushed to the railings to get a better look at this strange bird as it bounced on the air currents above the Port of Miami.

[snip]

In 1972, the airline got international attention when one of the planes was hijacked to Cuba. The plane, pilot and five passengers returned to Miami the next day. The photogenic little planes soon became famous, starring on “Miami Vice” and in movies including “Silence of the Lambs.”

USA Today examined whether the plane’s age was a factor in the crash: “[T]the age of the planes, some of which date back nearly 60 years, shouldn’t by itself be a safety hazard, according to accident investigators.”

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