Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/March 30

March 30


 * 2011 – Ten sailors are injured when an engine of a McDonnell-Douglas F/A-18C Hornet of VMFAT-101 based at MCAS Miramar, California, suffers a catastrophic failure while preparing for launch at 1450 hrs. during routine training exercises from the USS John C. Stennis, ~100 miles off the California coast. U.S. Navy Cmdr. Pauline Storum said that five of the injured are taken by helicopter to the shore, four to the Naval Medical Center, San Diego, and one to Scripps Institute at La Jolla, California. None of the injuries were considered life threatening but the fighter sustained damages over $1 million. The ensuing fire was quickly extinguished and the carrier itself was not damaged.


 * 2011 – After a sandstorm prevents strikes the previous day, coalition aircraft begin attacks against Libyan government forces around Ra's Lanuf and on the road to Uqayla.


 * 2008 – A privately registered Cessna 501 Citation carrying five people crashed into two homes in Farnborough, Kent, United Kingdom, after taking off from London Biggin Hill Airport. On board were former racing drivers Richard Lloyd and David Leslie.


 * 2008 – Ten days after filing for bankruptcy protection, Aloha Airlines announces that the next day will be their final day of operations.


 * 2007 – Sudan Airways hijacking Flight 111, an Airbus A300 flying from Tripoli, Libya to Khartoum, Sudan, is hijacked by a man demanding to go to South Africa. He enters the cockpit an hour and a half into the flight while holding a knife and is convinced to allow the plane to land in Khartoum anyway for fuel. After several hours of negotiations, he surrenders, and all 284 on the aircraft leave safely.


 * 2006 – Marcos Pontes becomes the first Brazilian astronaut in space.


 * 2004 – Two AH-1W SuperCobras 163947 and 164595 of HMLA-775 collide near Al Taqaddum, Iraq; pilots rescued. Both helicopters destroyed.


 * 2003 – UH-1N Huey 160620 of HMLA-169 crashes; three die.


 * 2000 – An Avialinii ARR Antonov An-26 (UR-79170) chartered by the Sri Lankan Air Force carrying soldiers injured during fighting with Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels crashes in Sir Lanka. Reports indicate the aircraft may have reported engine troubles shortly before the crash. All 40 on the aircraft are killed.


 * 1992 – An Aviaco Douglas DC-9-32 (EC-BYH) crashes on landing at Granada Airport in Spain. With an 11-knot tailwind, the aircraft lands hard, bouncing back into the air and landing almost 1,200ft further down the runway. All of the tires burst and the fuselage breaks into two pieces. There are no fatalities among the 99 aboard.


 * 1992 – An Aeroflot Antonov An-26 (CCCP-26154) crashes in Swarupnagar, India due to fuel exhaustion. Making their way to their destination of Calcutta, the pilots advise ATC of their minimum fuel situation, which controllers do not offer proper guidance nor assistance for. The aircraft strays away from its flight path, becomes lost and is forced to land nearly 30 miles from their destination. There is only 7 crew on the aircraft, and all are able to survive, though the aircraft is written off.


 * 1982 – Landing: Space shuttle Columbia STS-3 at 16:04:46 UTC. Mission highlights: Shuttle R&D flight, first and only landing at White Sands, New Mexico.


 * 1967 – Delta Airlines Flight 9877, a training flight for pilots on a Douglas DC-8-51 N802E, crashes in New Orleans, Louisiana after simulating a dual engine failure landing. The aircraft strikes power lines half a mile from the airport and crashes into a residential area. In addition to the 6 on the aircraft, 13 are killed on the ground. The fatalities include 8 girls who burned to death after their motel became engulfed with flames from jet fuel after they huddled in the shower and turned the water on to try to protect themselves.


 * 1964 – Former Astronaut John Glenn bows out of the Ohio senate race after a concussion received while hitting his head in the bathtub leaves him unable to campaign.


 * 1963 – An Itavia Douglas DC-3 (I-TAVI) crashes into a mountain in Sora, Italy while trying to navigate through poor weather. Low ceilings force the aircraft to descend to maintain visual contact, which then becomes lost. All 11 occupants on the aircraft are killed.


 * 1961 – A Boeing B-52G-125-BW Stratofortress, 59-2576, c/n 464339, of the 341st Bombardment Squadron, 4038th Strategic Wing, Dow Air Force Base, Maine, explodes in flight at 2115 hrs. with the wreckage falling near Denton, North Carolina. Debris was scattered over a ten-mile (16 km) area, setting fires in woods and fields. Of eight crew, only six have ejection seats, only five eject and only two survive. Dead are Capt. William D. McMullen, 36, commander/pilot, Bad Axe, Michigan; Capt. William W. Farmer, 29, co-pilot, Wilson, North Carolina; Capt. Robert M. Morgenroth, 31, radar navigator, Christiana, Pennsylvania; Capt. George W. Beale, 34, competition observer, Bowling Green, Virginia; Sgt. James H. Fults, 29, instructor gunner, Tracy City, Tennessee; and A1C Robert N. Gaskey, 28, Providence, Rhode Island. The survivors are Major Wilbur F. Minnich, 40, Des Plaines, Illinois; and 1st Lt. Glen C. Farnham, 25, electronics warfare officer, Loveland, Texas. The survivors bailed out at 50,000 feet (15,000 m) and landed six to seven miles (11 km) away from the crash site. Maj. Minnich, the navigator, suffered a dislocated arm when he bailed out. Lt. Farnham complained of back pains but was apparently unhurt. There were no nuclear weapons on board the bomber. Minutes before the explosion the plane had attempted to make contact with a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker jet tanker to be refuelled in flight. Col. Oscar V. Jones, commander of the 4241st Strategic Air Command Wing at Seymour Johnson AFB, Goldsboro, North Carolina, stated that the bomber was in "the observation position 100 to 200 feet behind and below the tanker just before the explosion, but never made contact." Col. Jones arrived at the site before dawn today [31 March] to take charge of operations.


 * 1955 – 405 Squadron took delivery two of the RCAF’s P2 V Neptunes.


 * 1954 – A Fairchild C-119F-FA Flying Boxcar, 51-2679, c/n 10668, careens into a US Army mess hall and explodes after crash-landing in a parade field at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, United States, killing five aboard the plane and two inside the building.


 * 1951 – Flight-Lieutenant Omer Levesque shot down a North Korean MiG-15 fighter aircraft in combat while attached to the United States Air Force, he became the first Canadian pilot to score a jet-to-jet victory in the Korean War.


 * 1944 – (30–31) Carrier aircraft of U. S. Navy Task Force 58 strike the Palau Islands. For the first time in the Pacific, carrier-based aircraft lay naval mines during the strikes.


 * 1944 – (30–31) The U. S. Army Air Forces‘ Fifth Air Force launches its first large daylight strike, attacking Japanese airfields in the Hollandia area on New Guinea, using 80 B-24 Liberators and 59 P-38 Lightnings the first day and similar strnegth the second day. They catch most of the Japanese planes in the area parked on the ground and claim 199 of them destroyed


 * 1944 – (March 30–31) RAF Bomber Command raid on Nuremberg on 30-31 March 1944 resulted in the highest number of aircrew losses for any single air mission in World War 2. Out of 779 bombers sent to attack 105 did not return. 534 airmen took their last steps from British airbases on that night with a further 157 being captured or taken prisoner.


 * 1939 – Hans Dieterle sets a new airspeed record in a Heinkel He 100 of 746 km/h (464 mph).


 * 1937 – The CAC Wirraway, the Australian version of the North American NA-16, makes its maiden flight.


 * 1936 – Sole Pitcairn YG-2 gyrocopter, (Pitcairn PA-33), 35-270, undergoing tests by NACA, crashes near the Back River, Virginia, two miles SE of Langley Field, and burns. Pilot William H. McAvoy bails out after structural failure.


 * 1934 – While on landing approach to Davenport, Iowa, Lt. Thurmond Wood, flying U.S. Mail in a Curtiss A-12 Shrike, enters a severe thunderstorm. Attempting to reverse course, he loses control and spins in, with fatal result.


 * 1934 – First flight of the Sikorsky S-42


 * 1930 – Western Canada Airways inaugurated the Prairie Air Mail Route.


 * 1929 – Imperial Airways commences the first scheduled air service between England and India.


 * 1928 – Mario di Bernardi sets a new airspeed record – The first over 300 mph (483 km/h). He flies a Macchi M.52bis.


 * 1928 – A resident of Zehden, Germany, Samuel Schwartz, asks German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) for rent for the airspace above his house, citing law that says his rights extend to the “space above and the ground beneath” his property.


 * 1918] – Alan Jerrard VC, British ace (7 victories) is shot down by Benno Fiala von Fernbrugg and taken captive.