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NTSB Finds Short Runway
The NTSB announces that Comair Flight 5191 departed from a short runway not typically used by commercial jets before it crashed, killing 49. |
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Israel Suspends Air Ops
The US State Department announces that Israel has agreed to suspend air operations over southern Lebanon for 48 hours to investigate the strike on Qana, Lebanon which caused numerous civilian casulties. |
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Fossett Sets New Record
Adventurer Steve Fossett announces that he has broken the record for flying farther than anyone departing and landing at the same spot. He travelled more than 25,000 miles (40,225 kilometers) in three days in his GlobalFlyer aircraft. Fossett said he became restless during his three days in the plane and will retire the GlobalFlyer and give it to the Smithsonian Institution. |
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Fossett Sets Flight Record
US aviator Steve Fossett (61) completes the longest non-stop flight in aviation history after flying around the globe and beyond in roughly 80 hours. He is forced to land his lightweight experimental plane, Virgin Atlantic Global Flyer, at Bournemouth International Airport, in southern England, after encountering generator problems. His planned landing point was in nearby Kent. |
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US Helicopter Shot Down
Insurgents armed with heavy machineguns shoot down a U.S. military helicopter near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, killing its two pilots. The OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is completely destroyed and the pilots' bodies are recovered. |
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Iranian Military Plane Crashes
Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reports that a military plane with 11 passengers on board has crashed in northwestern Iran, killing a number of high-ranking officials in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps. |
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Boeing Finalizes 787 Body
One year to the day after the launch of the program, Boeing freezes the final look of the external 787 Dreamliner Design. |
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RAF C-130 Hercules Crashes
Prime Minister Tony Blair announces that British military personnel have been killed in a crash of Royal Air Force C-130 transport plane outside the Iraqi capital of Baghdad. The C-130 Hercules, built by Lockheed Martin, has been in production longer than any other aircraft in history. |
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PRC Airliners Fly to Taiwan
For the first time in 55 years, over half a century, Chinese airliners fly non-stop to Taiwan. |
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31 Killed in CH-53 Crash
US forces in Iraq suffer a deadly day of losses when 30 US Marines and a Navy corpsman are killed in a CH-53 helicopter crash near Iraq's border with Jordan. Additionally, four Marines are killed during combat in Iraq's al-Anbar province, and two US soldiers are killed in attacks in the Baghdad area. Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, suggests that CH-53E Super Stallion crashed due to bad weather. |
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General Qualifies F/A-22
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper completes his qualification flight in the F/A-22 Raptor, the Air Force’s newest fighter aircraft, ending two weeks of intense training. To qualify, the general completed over 50 hours of training in aircraft systems and avionics academics. He received stealth-tactics training focusing on integrated avionics and super cruise technology. He also was required to complete five simulator sessions and three Raptor flights. |
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Airbus Unveils Double Decker
Airbus President and CEO Noël Forgeard welcomes British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero to witness the unveiling of the A380, the world’s first double-deck passenger aircraft. The plane is unveiled with a fantastic light show at Jean-Luc Lagardère Final Assembly Line in Toulouse. |
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Pentagon Cuts F/A-22
The New York Times reports that Pentagon is planning deep cuts in the Air Force's program for its new F/A-22 fighter jet in order to offset mounting U.S. deficits and the ever increasing costs of the U.S. Led War on Terror. |
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US Spy Flights Noted in Iran
An article in the Iranian Etemaad newspaper, translated from Farsi by the CIA, reports on "the presence of unidentified flying objects in the Bushehr sky on a number of occasions, particularly in recent weeks." This marks the beginning of speculation that the US is using unmanned drones to spy on Iran's air defenses and its nuclear facilities. One Iranian official will later state "It was clear to our air force that the entire intention here was to get us to turn on our radar." |
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F/A-22 Raptor Crashes
An F/A-22 Raptor assigned to the 422nd Test and Evaluation Squadron crashes after takeoff at Nellis Air Force Base in the northeast part of the valley. The crash causes a black cloud of smoke to hang over Las Vegas for some time. The pilot ejects sucessfully, walks away from the crash site, and is taken to the base hospital. The stealth F/A-22 Raptor was unveiled in a special ceremony at Nellis Air Force Base in January of 2003. At the time, it is called "America's sharpest sword." |
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Explosive Found in Second Tupolev
Russians find traces of the explosive hexogen, more widely known as RDX, in the wreckage of the second of two Tupolev jets that went down simultaneously on August 24th after taking off from Moscow’s Domodedovo International Airport. |
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NW Flight Lands at U.S. Base
A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, South Dakota, landed a few miles off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for over three hours while their crew was interrogated. |
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EIGroup releases Billy Mitchell Bio
EIGroup releases a biographical article on Billy Mitchell, whose public court martial for insubordination embarrases Army and Navy brass and demonstrates to the American public the need for the creation of the United States Air Force as a separate branch of the armed services. |
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Boeing Sonic Cruiser Abandoned
The Boeing Sonic Cruiser project is finally abandoned in favor of the slower but fuel-efficient Boeing 787 Dreamliner. According to Boeing's own estimates, the Sonic Cruiser would burn 15-20% more fuel than conventional aircraft, but that it would burn roughly the same amount of fuel as a conventional aircraft flying the same route due to its faster travel-time. |
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Fossett Balloon Flight Ends
American Steve Fossett flies solo around the world in a hot air balloon named "Bud Light Spirit of Freedom." |
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AOPA Critiques FAA GPS Plan
Shutting Down VORs
AOPA Director of Advanced Technology Randy Kenagy suggests that the FAA's 2007 target date to begin replacing some VORs with GPS satellite-based navigation systems is too aggressive. |
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Lt. Col. Butler Suspended
Air Force Lt. Col. Steve Butler, who had called President Bush a joke and accused him of allowing the Sept. 11 attacks to happen, is suspended from his post at the Defense Language School in Monterey, Calif. |
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Student Pilot Targets Bank of America
Charles Bishop, a student pilot, commits suicide by crashing his small plane into a Bank of America tower in Tampa, Florida. His suicide notes that his action is in support of Osama Bin Laden. |
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Saudi Terrorists Topple Towers
Arab terrorists hijack 4 airplanes. Two crash into the Twin Towers of the NYC World Trade Center and topple them. The third crashes into the Pentagon. The fourth is taken down when passengers resist and crashes in a field in Pennsylvania. |
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First Test of Boeing X-43A
NASA conducts its first test of the Boeing X-43A unmmaned hypersonic prototype. The Pegasus booster loses control within 13 seconds after it is released from its B-52 carry plane. A control oscillation develops as it goes transonic and the rocket's starboard elevon fails. The entire stack is destroyed through the use of onboard explosives as a safety precaution. Once accelerated to its target speed, the Pegasus booster rocket is to be discarded and the X-43 will fly free on its own scramjet engine. |
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Boeing Unveils Sonic Cruiser
Boeing Company first unveils its futuristic design for the near supersonic airliner. Plans for this aircraft will be aborted in December of 2002 in favor of the more conventional 787 Dreamliner. |
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Predator UAF Fires Missile
A USAF RQ-1A Predator near Nellis Air Force Base fires an AGM-114 Hellfire-C missile for the first time. |
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AA to Acquire TWA Assets
American Airlines announces that it will acquire the assets of TWA. |
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JFK Jr. Lost in Airplane Crash
The tiny Piper Saratoga airplane carrying John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, crashes into the sea off the island of Martha's Vineyard. |
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USMC EA-6B Slices Gondola Cab
A U.S. Marine Corps EA-6B surveillance plans slices a ski gondola's cable at a resort in the Dolomite Mountains in Cavalese, Northern Italy. |
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