Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/October 25

October 25


 * 2012 – Independent United Nations human rights researcher Ben Emmerson announces plans to launch an investigation into unmanned aerial vehicle strikes and other targeted assassinations by governments that kill or injure civilians.
 * 2009 – CSA Czech Airlines discontinues all long-haul routes from Prague, including New York and Toronto
 * 2007 – The first Airbus A380 passenger flight, operating for Singapore Airlines, with flight number SQ380, flying scheduled service between Singapore and Sydney, Australia.
 * 2006 – The first production CH-47 F Chinook helicopter successfully completes its first flight.
 * 2006 – (25-26) Oasis Hong Kong Airlines originally began service with initial service to London-Gatwick on the 25th but due to problems with rights flying over Russia, the initial flight OHK 700/O8 700 was delayed to the 26th.
 * 2003 – UH-60L Black Hawk 96-26653 From B co. 3-158 Avn. Regt. of the 12th Avn. BDE crashes and burns out after being hit by an SA-7 missile near Tikrit, 1 soldier injured. This reference story is incorrect. From the Plt. Sgt. that maintained the aircraft. P.O.C. commander the aircraft belonged to, CPT Scott Halter.
 * 2000 – A Russian Air Force Ilyushin Il-18 crashes near Batumi, Georgia killing all 86 people on board.
 * 1999 – A Learjet 35 flying between Orlando, Florida and Dallas crashed after flying for almost four hours and 1500 mi, until it ran out of fuel. Among the six people on board were golf star Payne Stewart and Bruce Borland.
 * 1994 – First flight of the Bell 430
 * 1994 – U. S. Navy Lieutenant Kara Hultgreen, the first female aircraft carrier-based fighter pilot, is killed off San Diego, California, in the crash of an F-14 Tomcat fighter she is piloting on final approach to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).
 * 1991 – First flight of the Airbus A340
 * 1986 – Piedmont Airlines Flight 467, a Boeing 737, overruns the runway at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport; there are no fatalities on board, but the aircraft is written off
 * 1985 – Emirates operates its first revenue flight, from Dubai to Karachi using an Airbus A300 leased from Pakistan International Airlines.
 * 1982 – Canadian Armed Forces accepted the first two CF-18 Hornet fighter aircraft at CFB Uplands.
 * 1979 – The Air Force takes delivery of the last U. S.-built McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. It is the 5,057 Phantom to roll out from the plant at St. Louis, Mo., since May 1958.
 * 1976 – Lockheed SR-71A, 61-7965, Article 2016, lost near Lovelock, Nevada during night training sortie following INS platform failure. Pilot St. Martin and RSO Carnochan eject safely.
 * 1969 – Two United States Air Force Academy faculty[clarification needed] are killed when their Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star crashed and burned in a meadow near the main runway while landing at Peterson Field, Colorado. Pilot was Maj. Donald J. Usry, 32, of the academy faculty, and back-seater was Capt. Martin Bezyack, of the academy's athletic department.
 * 1968 – Northeast Airlines Flight 946, a Fairchild 227, crashes near Etna, New Hampshire, killing 32 passengers and crew.
 * 1961 – Sikorsky HSS-1N Seabat, BuNo 149132, c/n 58-1374, coded '139', of the Koninklijke Marine, ditches at Moray Firth, near Scotland.
 * 1960 – National Aviation Museum was opened at Uplands Airport by Hon J. Angus MacLean, acting on behalf of Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.
 * 1960 – First flight of the Boeing Vertol Model 107, a predecessor to the CH-46 Sea Knight.
 * 1956 – First (of two) Bell XV-3s, 54-147, first flown 11 August 1955, crashes this date when pilot Dick Stansbury blacks out due to extremely high cockpit vibrations when the rotor shafts are moved 17 degrees forward from vertical. Pilot is seriously injured and airframe is damaged beyond repair. Design was initially designated XH-33.
 * 1955 – First flight of the Saab 35 Draken
 * 1955 – Boeing WB-29A-35-BN Superfortress, 44-61600, c/n 11077, of the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, out of RAF Burtonwood, experiences multiple problems including failed fuel feed pump, head winds, while returning from "Falcon" mission to polar region; pilot orders bail out of crew shortly before midnight as fuel exhaustion becomes critical, all eleven survive, with only one minor injury. Aircraft comes down near Kirby Lonsdale, Lancashire, England, burns, only rear fuselage and tail remaining intact.
 * 1951 – Japan Airlines flies its first flights, using three Northwest Airlines Martin 2-0-2 aircraft, flown by Northwest crews.
 * 1944 – The first kamikaze mission is carried out, with aircraft of the 201st Kokutai sinking the carrier USS St Lo.
 * 1943 – 61 Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators raid Rabaul, escorted by 50 P-38 Lightnings. The Fifth Air Force’s commander, Major General George Kenney, claims 175 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the raids of October 23-25; the Japanese admit a loss of nine of their planes shot down and 25 destroyed on the ground.
 * 1940 – F/L GR McGregor and F/O BD Russel, No. 1 Squadron, were awarded the DFC for services in the Battle of Britain.
 * 1938 – 1938 Kyeema crash, an Australian National Airways Douglas DC-2 crashes in heavy fog into Mount Dandenong in Victoria, Australia, killing all 18 people on board.
 * 1930 – TWA (originally "Transcontinental and Western Air") begins the first regular passenger flights between New York and Los Angeles.
 * 1922 – The Douglas Co. begins its association with the Army Air Service when it receives a memo requesting information on a modified version of the DT-2.