Midland Airways group which ordered ve
(some being used by subsidiaries Manx
Airlines and Loganair) while Aer Lingus
Commuter also ordered ve after conducting
trials with a 330.
More revision and updating produced the
Series 200, and then the ultimate version,
the 360 Advanced (Series 300), tted with
PT6A-67AR engines and Hartzell six-
bladed propellers, resulting in an increased
cruising speed of 218kts (403.7km/h). On
March 18, 1987 Shorts handed over the rst
two production Series 300s to Philippine
Airlines. Another notable airline customer
was China’s CAAC, which purchased eight
aircraft to equip some of the new regional
airlines in China.
By 1987, some 115 examples of the 360
had been sold to 32 airlines worldwide, and
during that year the type was the second
most proli c regional aircraft (after the
Swearingen Metroliner) in passenger service
in the USA, with 74 examples offering a total
of 2,664 seats.
The 360 was gradually displaced from
passenger services by the new generation
of commuter jets, but many went on to nd
a ready second-hand market among the
numerous smaller carriers specialising inparcels and light-freight carriage, under
contract to distribution companies such as
FedEx and TNT.
The USAF eet of 18 Sherpas was
withdrawn from service in Europe in
November 1990 and ferried to the US for
disposal. In December 1997 seven were
sold to the US Department of Agriculture,
Forestry Service.
The US Army Sherpas were withdrawn
in January 2014 and placed into storage,
with 22 of them being earmarked as
replacements for the former USAF aircraft
with the Forest Service.
In 1985 Shorts had been considering the
production of a stretched follow-up to the
360, to be called the Shorts 450, and to be
built as a joint project with Embraer following
the completion of Shorts’ contract to build
Embraer Tucano trainers under licence. It
would have been an unpressurised 48-seater,
powered by new-generation turboprops,
and capable of a cruising speed of 240kts
(444.4km/h) and a maximum range of 400nm
(741km). However, after scrutinising the
project’s potential competitors, several of
which were pressurised, it was decided not
to proceed. Production of the 360 totalled
165 examples. The 330 and 360 were the nal Shorts designs to be built before the
company became fully absorbed into the
Bombardier Group.
Today both types have all but
disappeared from passenger services, but
continue to serve as freighters. The largest
commercial owner and user of 330s and
360s is Air Cargo Carriers, based at General
Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.
The company was established in 1986, and
built up a eet of ve Skyvans before adding
330s to the eet in 1990 and 360s in 1995,
at the same time phasing out the Skyvans.
The eet strength is somewhat uid,
as the company steadily procures more
examples, including Sherpas formerly used
by NASA, and sells or retires the higher-
timed airframes. At the end of 2015 the eet
comprised 15 360s and six 330s. Air Cargo
Carriers has also built up a considerable
stock of spares which it sells to other
airlines, as well as using it to keep its own
aircraft ying. A complex network of cargo
services is run on behalf of distribution
companies such as DHL, FedEx and UPS.
Routes within the continental US include
San Francisco to Sacramento, Louisville to
Charleston and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania
to Covington in Kentucky. Caribbean routes
are also own out of San Juan, Puerto
Rico, to island destinations such as Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic, and St
Thomas and St Croix (both in the US Virgin
Islands).
The Shorts 330 and 360 family of aircraft
gained a reputation for being rugged, reliable
and economical. As a result, they made
signi cant inroads into the US airline market,
something few other non-American aircraft
had been able to achieve.24 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2017Midland Airways group which ordered ve parcels and light-freight carriage, under nal Shorts designs to be built before the
company became fully absorbed into thedisappeared from passenger services, but
continue to serve as freighters. The largest
commercial owner and user of 330s and
360s is Air Cargo Carriers, based at GeneralThe company was established in 1986, and330s to the eet in 1990 and 360s in 1995, nal Shorts designs to be built before the nal Shorts designs to be built before theRight: Venezuelan Military Aviation received
its rst Shorts 360-300 in 2000 but the
initial aircraft was lost in an accident in- Two other examples remain in service.
AirTeamImages.com/Ivan P Nesbit
Below: Era Alaska Shorts 330 N186LM with
additional Cargo Solutions titles at Fairbanks,
Alaska in June 2014. Eric Melrose.
Air Cargo Carriers bought Shorts 360s
in 1995 and currently claims to be the
world’s largest commercial operator of the
manufacturer’s aircraft (330s and 360s).
AirTeamImages.com/Jan Severijns20-24_shortsDC.mfDCDC.mf.indd 24 03/02/2017 15:07