Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/October 10

October 10


 * 2012 – As part of an arms embargo against Syria, Turkish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons intercept Syrian Air Flight RB442, an Airbus A320 suspected of carrying Russian-made weapons, in Turkish airspace during its flight from Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow to Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, and force it to land at Esenboğa International Airport outside Ankara, Turkey. Inspectors confiscate military communications equipment and items "thought to be missile parts" found aboard the plane.


 * 2011 – Flying a modified Yakovlev Yak-3U powered by a Pratt & Whitney R-2000 engine, William Whiteside sets an official international speed record for piston-engined aircraft in the under-3,000 kg (6,615-pound) category, reaching 655 km/hr (407 mph) over a 3-km (1.863-mile) course at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the United States, greatly exceeding the previous record of 491 km/hr (305 mph) set in 2002 by Jim Wright.


 * 2011 – Tripoli International Airport in Tripoli, Libya, officially reopens. It had been closed since 19 March, when international forces had begun to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya imposed by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973.


 * 2006 – Atlantic Airways Flight 670, a BAe 146, slides off the runway at Stord, Norway, killing four of the 16 people on board.


 * 1998 – The 1998 Lignes Aériennes Congolaises crash occurs when rebels using a Strela 2 missile shoot down the Boeing 727, which crashes near Kindu, Democratic Republic of Congo, killing all 41 on board.


 * 1997 – Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553, a Douglas DC-9-32, crashes near Fray Bentos, Uruguay traveling from Posadas to Buenos Aires, resulting in the death of all 74 occupants – 5 crew members and 69 passengers.


 * 1990 – First flight of the Learjet 60


 * 1984 – UThe first of three Northrop F-20 Tigersharks, 82-0062, c/n GG1001, N4416T, during a world sales tour, crashes at Suwon Air Base, South Korea, killing Northrop chief test pilot Darrell Cornell. During the last manoeuvre of the final demonstration flight at Suwon, the aircraft stalled at the top of an erratic vertical climb and dove into the ground from 1,800 feet. High-G pilot incapacitation was suspected as the cause, as the investigation found no evidence of airframe failure.


 * 1976 – First flight of the Embraer EMB 121 Xingu


 * 1972 – Competitive fly-off between the Northrop YA-9 and Fairchild YA-10 begins, continuing until December 9.


 * 1972 – Douglas A-3B Skywarrior, BuNo 138968, of VAQ-33, crashes 1.6 statute miles NW of Holland, Virginia on old Highway 58 in Nansemond (Suffolk, Virginia), off Glen Haven Drive. LTJG David H. Grant, 25, of Westbury, New York, pilot; LTJG Ronald B. Ritchie, 25, of Virginia Beach, Virginia, navigator; and LTJG Jeffery R. Haushalter, 25, of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, electronic-weapons officer, are KWF.


 * 1968 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7977, Article 2028, lost at end of runway, Beale Air Force Base, California after tire explosion and runway abort. Pilot Maj. Gabriel A. Kardong rode airframe to a standstill. RSO James A. Kogler ejected safely. Both survived.


 * 1962 – Vickers Viscount CF-THA was involved in a ground collision with CF-101 Voodoo 17452 of the Royal Canadian Air Force at RCAF Station Bagotville. The Voodoo had been given clearance to take-off before the Viscount had cleared the runway. It collided with the tail of the Viscount, killing a flight attendant and a passenger. The crew of the Voodoo ejected as the aircraft had been set on fire as a result of the collision. The Viscount was substantially damaged but it was repaired and returned to service.


 * 1958 – A C-123 B Provider serving as a maintenance support aircraft for the United States Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration team flies into a flock of birds and crashes near Payette, Idaho, killing the entire flight crew of five and all 14 maintenance personnel on board. It remains the worst accident in Thunderbirds history.


 * 1956 – A United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster, BuNo 131588, c/n 43691/321, of VR-6, MATS, is lost at sea about 150 miles (240 km) north of the Azores. 59 died, 50 U.S. Air Force personnel from Lincoln AFB, and nine U.S. Navy personnel. Another source cites 11 October: as crash date.


 * 1956 – First flight of the Lockheed L-1649 Starliner


 * 1955 – Helicopters from USS Saipan play a key role in rescuing people stranded by flooding in Tampico, Mexico


 * 1953 – An RAF English Electric Canberra wins the Christchurch Centenary air race, flying 11,792 miles (18,976 km) from England to New Zealand in 23 hours 50 min


 * 1950 – First flight of the Boulton Paul P.111 VT935


 * 1947 Chuck Yeager's seventh powered flight. Chuck had the X-1 at .94 Mach when his controls suddenly ceased to function. Shock waves on the plane’s control surfaces made operation impossible. Always cool-headed in such situations, Chuck turned off the plane’s rockets to slow down and jettisoned the remaining fuel. He glided back in to the lakebed and explained to Ridley what had happened. Engineers had predicted that as the plane reached the speed of sound, its nose would pitch up or down. At .94 Mach, however, Chuck had lost the ability to operate the plane’s elevator. Without it, he could not correct for whatever pitch change might occur at Mach 1. It was Jack Ridley who came up with the solution. http://www.chuckyeager.com/1945-1947-mach-buster


 * 1944 – Aircraft from the 17 aircraft carriers of U. S. Navy Task Force 38 fly 1,396 sorties against targets on Okinawa and in the Ryukyu Islands, claiming 111 Japanese aircraft destroyed and sinking a submarine tender, 12 torpedo boats, two midget submarines, four cargo ships, and various smaller ships, in exchange for the loss of 21 U. S. aircraft, 5 pilots, and four aircrewmen. It is the closest Allied operation to Japan since the April 1942 Doolittle Raid.


 * 1944 – First Fisher P-75A-GC Eagle, 44-44549, crashes on flight test out of Eglin Field, Florida, when propellers apparently run out of oil, pilot Maj. Harold Bolster attempts dead-stick landing but crashes short on approach, dies.


 * 1933 – Fokker Y1O-27, 31-602, '3', of 30th Bombardment Squadron, Rockwell Field, California, en route from Burbank, California to Crissy Field, California, lands at Crissy with landing gear retracted. Both light and buzzer in cockpit that are supposed to activate when the throttles are retarded fail to function. Only serious damage is to the propellers but airframe is surveyed and dropped from inventory with 115 hours, 15 minutes flying time. Pilot 2nd Lt. Theodore B. Anderson uninjured.


 * 1933 – The United Airlines crash near Chesterton: a Boeing 247 is destroyed by a bomb over Chesterton, Indiana in the first proven case of air sabotage on a commercial aircraft; all seven on board are killed.


 * 1930 – First flight of the Short S.15 K. F.1, prototype of the Kawanishi H3K


 * 1928 – Flying an Engineering Division XCO-5 observation aircraft, St. Clair “Bill” Streett (pilot) and Albert William Stevens (passenger) set an unofficial altitude record for an aircraft carrying a passenger of 11,538 m (37,854 feet). Temperatures of −61 C (–71 F) freeze the controls, preventing Streett from losing altitude or turning off the engine; he waits 20 min for the engine to run out of gasoline (petrol), then glides to a deadstick landing.


 * 1923 – Christened: USS Shenandoah (ZR-1)


 * 1919 – On third day of transcontinental contest, an east-bound DH-4B, piloted by Maj. Albert Sneed, almost out of gas, makes fast landing at Buffalo, New York. Passenger Sgt. Worth C. McClure undoes his seatbelt and slides onto the rear fuselage to weight down the tail for a quicker stop. Plane bounces on landing, smashes nose-first into the ground, and McClure is thrown off and killed.


 * 1907 – Robert Esnault-Pelterie made the first airplane flight with a control stick; he used a single, broom handle-like lever.


 * 1898 – Augustus Herring pilots a powered biplane based on Octave Chanute’s glider design.