Portal:Aviation/Today in aviation

2010 – Sun Way Flight 4412, operated by Ilyushin Il-76 4L-GNI on a cargo flight crashed in a populated area of Karachi, Pakistan, shortly after taking off from Jinnah International Airport. All eight people on board were killed, as were a further two people on the ground. The aircraft was reported to have been trying to return to Jinnah after suffering an engine fire.^[1]

2009 – Avient Aviation Flight 324, operated by McDonnell Douglas MD-11 F Z-BAV, crashed on take-off from Shanghai Pudong International Airport on a flight to Bishkek – Manas International Airport, Kyrgyzstan with the loss of 3 lives. The plane was written-off.

2005 – Boeing delivers its last 757 passenger airplane to Shanghai Airlines, concluding a 23-year production run. It is the 1,050th Boeing 757, with more than 1,030 still in service.

2004 – The landing gear of KLM Flight 1673 struck a bird, which broke a cable in the nose wheel. The flight continued normally, but when the flight crew attempted to land their jet, they were unable to control the aircraft's movement, and the aircraft veered off the runway before the landing gear collapsed. All 146 passengers on board the Boeing 737-406 survived the accident.

2002 – Arkia Israel Airlines Flight 582 was a flight operated by a Boeing 757-300 aircraft that narrowly avoided two surface to air missiles.

1987 – South African Airways Flight 295, a Boeing 747, crashes into the Indian Ocean after a fire in the cargo hold. All 159 aboard die.

1983 – Launch: Space shuttle Columbia STS-9 at 11:00:00 EDT (16:00:00 UTC). Mission highlights: First Spacelab mission.

1979 – Air New Zealand Flight 901, a McDonnell-Douglas DC-10, collides with Mount Erebus, Antarctica during a sightseeing flight, killing all 257 people on board; this crash is also known as the Mount Erebus Disaster.

1972 – Japan Airlines Flight 446 was a Japan Airlines flight from Sheremetyevo International Airport of Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union to Tokyo International Airport (Haneda Airport) in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan. The DC-8-62 on the route crashed during the initial climb phase upon takeoff from Sheremetyevo. While it is established by investigation that the direct reason for the crash was stalling shortly after takeoff, the Soviet Accident Investigation Committee noted the possibility of accidental deployment of the spoilers and reduced thrust due to engine problems as the cause for this accident.

1966 – Second prototype Dassault Mirage IIIV, an experimental VTOL fighter design, first flown 22 June 1966, crashes this date. Project, running several years behind schedule, is canceled and plans to build additional prototypes dropped.

1957 – Lockheed U-2A, 56-6704, Article 371, eleventh airframe of first USAF order, delivered April 1957, moved to 4080th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, Laughlin AFB, Texas, June: 1957, crashes at night this date. Capt. Benny Lacombe killed when he unsuccessfully attempts to bail out of crippled aircraft 13 miles SE of Laughlin. Ejection seats had not yet been fitted to U-2s at this point.

1947 – A USAF Douglas C-47B-6-DK, 43-48736, c/n 14552/25997, of the 15th Troop Carrier Squadron, 61st Troop Carrier Group, piloted by Wesley B. Fleming,[146] en route from Pisa to Frankfurt-Rhein-Main AFB, thirty miles off-course, crashes in the Italian Alps near Trappa, Italy. All five crew and 15 passengers KWF. Wreckage discovered eight months later.

1945 – Pan American World Airways orders 20 Boeing Stratocruisers (Model 377), a commercial version of the C-97 military transport.

1943 – Japanese resistance on Tarawa Atoll ends. American aircraft carriers depart the Gilbert Islands area before the end of the month.

1942 – Australian pilot F/Sgt Ron Middleton earns a posthumous VC for valour in bringing his crew and crippled bomber home after a raid on Turin, Italy.

1941 – First prototype Grumman XTBF-1 Avenger, BuNo 2539, suffers fire in bomb bay during test flight out of Long Island, New York factory airfield, forcing pilot Hobart Cook and engineer Gordon Israel to bail out. (Joe Mizrahi source cites date of accident as 28 August 1941.)

1938 – 28-30 – A Lufthansa Fw 200 (right) makes the airline's first flight to Japan, flying non-stop from Berlin to Tokyo via Basra, Karachi, and Hanoi. The 14,228 km (8,841 mile) flight breaks the distance record and takes 46 hours 18 min.

1936 – Thus far in the Spanish Civil War, Italy has sent about 24 Fiat CR.32 fighters, 19 Savoia-Marchetti SM.81 bombers, and some IMAM Ro.37 reconnaissance aircraft to support the Nationalists.

1934 – The RCAF acquired ten more Atlases to increase strength – They were the first new aircraft acquired since 1931!

1929 – American Commander Richard Byrd and crew make the first flight over the South Pole, in a Ford 4-AT Trimotor monoplane, November 28-29.

1928 – Floyd Bennett, a Ford Trimotor flown by Harold June, Commander Richard Byrd, Bernt Balchen, Captain R. Ashley and C. McKinley made the first flight over the South Pole.

1916 – Three Royal Naval Air Service BE.2 cs, one of them flown by Flight Lieutenant Egbert Cadbury, shoot down the German Zeppelin L 21 off Lowestoft, England.

1912 – The Italian Air Battalion is made a fully operational command, the (Flotta Aerea d'Italia).

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