Evergreen International Airlines

CIA ties

The airline was established by Delford M. Smith (founder and owner) and began operations in 1960 as Evergreen Helicopters. It acquired the operating certificate of Johnson Flying Service and merged it with Intermountain Aviation (a known CIA front) from Pacific Corporation (also a CIA front) in 1975 to form Evergreen International Airlines, a United States supplemental air carrier (i.e. charter carrier). The holding company, Evergreen International Aviation, formed in 1979, wholly owned the airline. Evergreen also purchased the assets of Air America which had provided fixed wing and helicopter support for the CIA in southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict.

Evergreen served as an Agency front widely over its history:

Wherever there was a hot spot in the world, Evergreen's helicopters and later airplanes were never far behind. Evergreen's hardware was so inextricably linked with political intrigue that rumors swirled that the company was owned by, or a front for, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Indeed, several of the company's senior executives either worked for the agency or had close ties to it.

Smith never let on, disingenuously telling the Portland Oregonian in 1988, "We don't know when we've ever worked for them [the CIA], but if we did we're proud of it. We believe in patriotism, and, you know, they're not the [Russian spy service] KGB."

Evergreen bought assets during the 1970s that were previously linked to CIA operations including 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.

Officially, the company provided "aviation services" for the CIA, including illegal-drug abatement spraying in Mexico and South America and transporting the Shah of Iran from Egypt to Panama, then Panama to the United States in 1980. Shortly thereafter it ran mysterious missions to El Salvador and Nicaragua.

As public government contractor

Evergreen performed more than military and intelligence community work, also servicing other government agencies in the U.S. as well as in other nations. Its Boeing 747 Supertanker aircraft was used as an firefighting air tanker from Israel to Mexico; its unmanned systems division flew drone flights over disaster zones; NASA hired it to operate its flying infrared observatory; 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.

"All told, Smith said his company flew in 168 countries over the years. 'We were all over the world. Everywhere they needed a helicopter, they needed an airplane as well'", said Smith.

Destinations

Evergreen International Airlines operated the following freight services (as of December 2012):

Domestic scheduled destinations: Anchorage, New York, Chicago.

International scheduled destinations: Tokyo, Nagoya, Hong Kong, Shanghai.

Fleet

The Evergreen International Airlines fleet consisted of the following aircraft:

Accidents and incidents

March 18, 1989: Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, a Douglas DC-9, was on a cargo flight from Kelly Air Force Base outside San Antonio, Texas to Tinker Air Force Base outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with a stop at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas. 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 registered N475EV was flying from New York to Tokyo with a stop in Anchorage. The plane was cruising at 31,000 feet and then 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 (686 mph; 1,100 km/h) during its descent with some reports suggesting the plane broke the sound barrier, reaching speeds as high as Mach 1.25 (874.9 mph; 1,408 km/h).

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, registered 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.