 Fine Air McDonnell Douglas DC-8 at San Jose (Norman Y. Mineta International), California, USA, in June 1995 Fine Air is an international cargo airline. It began in 1989 under the supervising eye of owner J. Frank Fine. Since it started flying, Fine Air has had various members of the Fine family work at different capabilities.
On August 7, 1997, Fine Air flight 101, a Cargo DC-8-1 on route from Miami to Santo Domingo, in the Dominican Republic, suffered sudden movement of cargo materials in the aft cargo hold while on take off, the aircraft's nose rose steeply due to the sudden uneven weight distribution caused by shifting boxes of denim material that had not been securely fastened. The pilots, departing out of the former Runway 27R (now 28L) attempted to recover but the aircraft stalled and crashed onto a field adjacent the Miami City Rail Yard less than a mile from the airport. The aircraft missed two factories, a commercial building, and the Budweiser Distribution Center in unincorporated Miami, Florida between the populated residential suburbs of Miami Springs and Doral, FL. It hit the field and skidded across it and onto NW 72nd Ave, a street that is typically full of traffic on a daily basis. Fortunately, the crash occured at 12:00 PM, a time when NW 72nd Ave was free of traffic. The plane's wreckage skidded quickly across the street and onto the parking lot of a commercial mini-mall across the street from the empty field; it took out 26 cars in the lot. Inside one of the cars sat a man who had just arrived back at his shop in the mini-mall after picking up lunch for him and his wife. He was unable to make it out of the car and was caught up in the fireball that engulfed the multi-lane avenue, field, and parking lot. The plane's wreckage fell four feet short of the entrances to three shops. It missed two occupied cars and a truck that were waiting for the traffic signal at the intersection of NW 30th Street and NW 72nd Avenue, less than 30 yards away. The only deaths were those of the three crew members, a company security guard on the flight, and the man in the parking lot. In the minutes following the crash, police were alerted to a fire at NW 72nd Ave, only to discover it was a plane crash. For nearly 45 minutes, mixed reports claimed the plane was a passenger flight, but within the hour the control tower at MIA confirmed it was Fine Air Cargo Flight 101.
In 2000, Fine Air filed for bankruptcy and soon after, it was merged into Arrow Air, another cargo airline. Both airlines still use their respective names.
Fine Air has hubs in Miami International Airport, Hartsfield International Airport in Atlanta and Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in Puerto Rico. It operates DC-8 and L-1011 type of jets, and it has a contract with model airplane manufacturers Gemini Jets and Flight Miniatures to produce toy models of its airplanes.
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