Zantop Air Transport

Zantop Air Transport was a United States airline incorporated in 7 July 1956 from the earlier Zantop Flying Service.^[1] It was a Part 45 carrier until 1962 when the Civil Aeronautics Board approved transfer of the operating certificate of Coastal Air Lines, making Zantop a supplemental air carrier.^[2] As a Part 45 carrier, Zantop was not a common carrier, it flew contract work for the Big Three automakers and for the Air Force Logair air freight service and with the US Navy, Quicktrans freight service up and down the Eastern Seaboard. As a supplemental, Zantop was able to hold itself out to the public as a general charter carrier. The original founders of Zantop Flying Services, the Zantop brothers, all sold their stock and resigned from the company in 1966. A name change was filed with the State of Michigan effective 29 December 1966 in the name of Universal Airlines, Inc.^[3]

The airline was based at Wayne County Airport, Inkster, Michigan.^[2]

Zantop Flying Service was a fixed base operator (FBO) formed by brothers Duane, Lloyd and Howard Zantop as a partnership in 1946.^[2] The base of operations for the new company was Jackson, Michigan. At first, the fledgling company used light aircraft, and performed cargo duties for General Motors. In 1952 the company obtained a commercial operators permit and began to service Chrysler and Ford. A year later in 1953 they moved the operations to Wayne Major Airport, now Detroit Metro Airport.

The company continued under that name until becoming Zantop Air Transport in 1956.

Universal collapsed on 4 May 1972. Zantop International Airlines was incorporated in 30 May 1972 by the three Zantop brothers with minority participation by two other people. By June it was in operation, once again flying auto parts.

The Zantop Air Transport fleet consists of the following aircraft as of 1966:^[4]

• 20 January 1954: Zantop Flying Service DC-3 N49551 headed to Fairfax Municipal Airport in Kansas City from Jackson, Michigan crashed near Kansas City Municipal Airport (close to Fairfax). Probable cause was loss of control due to an accumulation of ice and the use of de-ice boots, which increases stall speed. The three on board, all crew, perished.^[5]
• 16 December 1956: Curtiss C-46A N2028A encountered thick fog as it made a VFR approach to Long Beach, California from El Paso, landing short. All four on board survived, but the aircraft was a writeoff.^[6][7]
• 14 November 1961: Douglas DC-4 N30061
  Main article: 1961 Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash
• 16 February 1963: Curtiss C-46F N616Z crashed in a pasture in Puyallup, Washington after a one-engine go-around following an attempted emergency landing at a small airport. The crew, the only ones on board, survived, severely injured. The pilot was cited for mismanaging the malfunctioning engine, but a contributing factor was air traffic control's failure to notify the crew of the limitations of the small airport, leading them to attempt an emergency landing there rather than at a more suitable airport.^[8]
• 7 December 1963: Curtiss C-46A N609Z 3 Fatalities
• 30 June 1964: Douglas C-54A N188S
• 20 November 1964: Curtiss C-46F N3971B
• 30 December 1964: Curtiss C-46A N608Z 4 Fatalities
• 13 September 1965: Curtiss C-46D N5132B
• 14 October 1965: Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 Argosy N601Z
• 16 June 1966: Curtiss C-46A N10415 3 Fatalities
• 28 July 1966: Curtiss C-46A N9905F

• List of defunct airlines of the United States

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