1975 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1975.

Events

January

• A specially modified McDonnell Douglas
  F-15 Eagle
  sets eight time to climb records, including one of 3 minutes 27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of 30,000 metres (98,000 feet).
• January 3 – A lone
  Pensacola Regional Airport in Pensacola, Florida. Only a small crew of cleaners is aboard the airliner, and they overpower the hijacker.^[1]
• January 6 – An Argentine Army de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 (registration AE-259) on a reconnaissance flight in poor weather crashes into the side of the mountain Nuñorco Chico in Argentina's Sierra del Aconquija at an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,600 feet), killing all 12 people on board.^[2]
• January 7 – A male passenger hijacks a
  US$230,000 and a parachute, then changes hs mind and instead demands to be flown to Paris, where he says he will surrender 48 hours after arriving, giving him time to fulfill a purpose he does not reveal. The flight crew tricks him into letting them fly him to London Stansted Airport, and he is arrested there.^[3]
• January 8 – A SATENA Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration FAC-688) crashes into a hill near El Doncello, Colombia, killing all 23 people on board.^[4]
• January 9
  • British Airways begins Europe′s first no-booking shuttle service, between London, England, and Glasgow, Scotland.
  • Katherine Edwards Middle School, where 300 people are watching an outdoor basketball
    game.
• January 13 – As
  Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. During the final descent to the airport, an off-duty Philadelphia police officer aboard as a passenger grabs Wright, shoves him into a lavatory, and holds the door closed until the plane lands and all passengers have escaped. Airport security officers then board the plane and arrest Wright.^[5][6]
• January 14 – The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is announced as the winner of the LWF (Light Weight Fighter) competition.
• January 16 – United States Air Force Major D. W. Petersen sets a new world absolute time-to-height speed record, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle to 15,000 meters (49,000 feet) in 77.02 seconds.^[7]
• January 20 – Terrorists hijack an Air France Boeing 707 and have it flown to Baghdad, Iraq.^{[citation needed]}
• January 22 – A lone hijacker commandeers a
  Boeing 737-200 during a domestic flight in Brazil from Goiânia to Brasília, demanding ransom money and the release of prisoners. Security forces storm the airliner and arrest the hijacker.^[8]
• January 30 – While the
  Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, the runway goes dark when the airport suffers a power failure. The flight crew initiates a missed approach but crashes into the Sea of Marmara
  while maneuvering for a second landing attempt, killing all 42 people on board.

• February 1 – U.S. Air Force Major R. Smith sets a new world absolute time-to-height speed record, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle to 30,000 meters (98,000 feet) in 207.80 seconds.^[7]
• February 3 – An engine fire breaks out aboard a
  Manila International Airport in Manila, the Philippines. While attempting to return to the airport it crashes in a rice field, killing all 33 people on board.^[9]
• February 8 – Hastily developed
  Olympic Airways are the first airlines to serve the new airport; its runways are not yet long enough to accommodate jet aircraft, so Cyprus Airways uses Vickers Viscount 800 airliners there, while Olympic uses NAMC YS-11s
  .
• February 9 – A
  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) missile base on Crete crashes in stormy weather at an altitude of about 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) in snow-covered mountains 24 kilometers (15 miles) from Crete's Chania-Soúda Airport, killing all 42 people on board.^[10]
• February 14 – Jerry Pettis, a member of the United States House of Representatives representing California's 37th Congressional District dies when the Beechcraft Model V35B Bonanza he is piloting crashes near Cherry Valley, California, after he encounters adverse weather conditions.^[11]
• February 20 – A
  stalls while attempting a go-around in clouds and darkness at Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida, and crashes into Tampa Bay. Colt, Idol, and Hart survive, but Shane drowns in the plane's back seat.^[11]
• February 22 – A lone hijacker commandeers a
  Boeing 737-2A1 (registration PP-SMU) during a domestic flight in Brazil from Goiânia to Brasília, demanding ransom money. The hijacker is taken down.^[12]
• February 27 – A VASP Embraer EMB 110C Bandeirante crashes just after takeoff from São Paulo–Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 15 people on board.^[13]

March

• March 1 – Three
  Boeing 737-200 during a domestic flight in Iraq from Mosul to Baghdad. They surrender to authorities, but one person is killed during the incident.^[14]
• March 2 – A hijacker aboard
  Hyannis Airport and arrest the hijacker.^[15]
• March 12 – An
  Saigon, South Vietnam, crashes 25 kilometers (16 miles) southwest of Pleiku, South Vietnam, killing all 26 people on board.^[16]
• March 16 – A
  Neuquen Province.^[17]
• March 21 – Because of confusion about air traffic control instructions, a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141A-20-LM Starlifter flying from Yokota Air Base in Japan to McChord Field in Pierce County, Washington, crashes into 7,743-foot (2,360-meter) Mount Constance in Washington's Olympic National Park, striking a ridge 150 feet (46 meters) below its summit. The crash kills all 16 people on board.^[18]
• March 31 –
  Casper/Natrona County International Airport near Casper, Wyoming
  , injuring four of the 99 people on board and damaging the aircraft beyond repair.

• U.S. Navy
  1 (VF-1) and 2 (VF-2) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVAN-65) fly air patrols over South Vietnam during the evacuation of Saigon.^[19]
• Boeing 707-320B leased from Air France
  .
• April 1 – The Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed.
• April 4 – The cargo door of a U.S. Air Force
  Saigon
  , South Vietnam, killing 153 of the 328 people on board. Seventy-six of the dead are South Vietnamese orphans being airlifted to join caregivers in the United States. It remains the deadliest accident involving a U.S. military aircraft.
• April 9 – A lone
  Japan Air Lines Flight 514 – a Boeing 747SR-46 with 215 people on board – during a domestic flight in Japan from Sapporo to Tokyo′s Haneda Airport. Security forces storm the airliner at Tokyo and arrest the hijacker.^[20]
• April 12 – United States Marine Corps helicopters conduct Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Embassy personnel, US citizens and designated Cambodians from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.^[21]
• April 16 – Evergreen International Airlines is founded.
• April 19 – Making the last flight by a
  C-130 Hercules normally configured to seat 92 passengers and a crew of five carries a record load for a C-130 of 452 passengers – South Vietnamese and Americans fleeing the North Vietnamese – and the pilot. Thirty-two of the passengers ride on the flight deck.^[22]
• April 25 – After drinking heavily aboard United Airlines Flight 344 – a Boeing 727 with 67 people on board flying from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Newark, New Jersey – 44-year-old Frank Page Covey announces that he is carrying explosives and demands that the airliner fly him to Cuba because he "wanted to see Castro." After the plane lands in Atlanta, Georgia, Covey releases all the passengers and flight attendants. While he is negotiating with United Airlines officials over the radio, the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer sneak out the plane's rear exit, leaving Covey alone on the plane. Agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation then board the airliner and arrest Covey.^[23][24]
• April 30
  • United States Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aircraft conduct
    Saigon
    .
  • South Vietnam surrenders to North Vietnam, bringing the Vietnam War to an end. With the collapse of South Vietnam, its air force, the
    Boeing 727-100
    .

May

• May 11 – A PLUNA Vickers 769D Viscount (registration CX-AQO) runs off the end of the runway while landing at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The aircraft is a total loss, but all 57 people on board survive.
• May 12 - The Mayaguez incident begins. U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft begin searching for the American container ship SS Mayaguez, which Cambodian Khmer Rouge forces seized earlier in the day in the Gulf of Thailand.
• May 13–14 - U.S. Navy
  P-3 Orion patrol aircraft discover Mayaguez off Cambodia's Puolo Wai
  island. For two days, U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force aircraft exchange fire with Khmer Rouge ground and sea forces in the vicinity of Mayaguez.
• May 15
  • Eight U.S. Air Force helicopters carry a force of
    Kompong Som in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge releases the Mayaguez crew, which actually is being held at Rong Som Lem
    island.
  • A
    San Francisco, California. After the airliner lands at San Francisco International Airport, the hijacker is taken down.^[25]

• June 22 –
  trainer
  .
• June 24 –
  Jamaica, New York, killing 113 of the 124 people on board. American Basketball Association player Wendell Ladner
  is among the dead.
• June 28 – A hijacker commandeers a Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Antonov An-24 during a domestic flight in Bulgaria from Varna to Sofia, demanding to be flown to Greece. The airliner diverts to Thessaloniki, Greece, where the hijacker surrenders to the authorities.^[26]
• June 30
  • The United States disestablishes the Continental Air Defense Command.
  • The United States Navy reclassifies all of its "attack aircraft carriers" (CVA) as "aircraft carriers" (CV); "nuclear-powered attack aircraft carriers" (CVA(N)) become "nuclear-powered aircraft carriers" (CVN).

July

• July 12 – The U.S. Navy retires the last
  Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona.^[27]
• July 15 – Attempting a
  Chorokh Airport in Batumi in the Soviet Union's Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Aeroflot Flight E-15, a Yakovlev Yak-40 (registration CCCP-87475), crashes into Mount Mtirala 18 kilometers (11 miles) east of the airport, killing all 40 people on board.^[28]
• July 26 – A
  Colombian Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration FAC-654), crashes in Colombia's Sierra Nevada de Cocuy, killing all 10 people on board.^[29]
• July 28 – A 17-year-old male passenger
  Okinawa. The police then board the plane and arrest him.^[30]
• July 31 –
  Taipei Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, killing 27 of the 75 people on board.^[31]

• August 3
  • A
    Agadir, Morocco, while on approach to Inezgane Airport
    , killing all 188 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident in history involving a Boeing 707.
  • Flying from Veracruz, Mexico, to San Salvador, El Salvador, a Nicaraguan Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain is forced to divert due to bad weather at San Salvador. Before it can land at another airport, it runs out of fuel and crashes into the Pacific Ocean off Punta Amapala, El Salvador, killing all 21 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of El Salvador at the time.^[31]
• August 9
  • Japan Air Lines establishes Japan Asia Airways
    as a subsidiary.
  • On approach in clouds to
    Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-14M (registration CCCP-52056) strays off course and crashes into a wooded hillside 28 kilometers (17 miles) from the airport, killing all 11 people on board.^[32]
• August 15 – An Aeroflot
  stalls and banks heavily before its fuselage strikes cliffs along the Caspian Sea coast 4.7 kilometers (2.9 miles) short of the runway. Its right wing and engine separate, it bounces off the cliff, and then it crashes into another cliff and catches fire. The crash kills 23 of the 28 people on board. It is the worst aviation accident in the history of Turkmenistan.^[33]
• August 20 – ČSA Flight 540, an Ilyushin Il-62, en route from Prague to Tehran via Damascus and Baghdad crashes into a sand dune while on approach to Damascus International Airport, Syria, killing 126 of the 128 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident in the history of ČSA.
• August 30 – Wien Air Alaska Flight 99, a Fairchild F-27B, crashes into Sevuokuk Mountain while on approach to Gambell, Alaska, in fog, killing 10 of the 32 people on board and injuring all 22 survivors.

September

• September 1 – Too low on approach to Leipzig/Halle Airport in Schkeuditz, East Germany, an Interflug Tupolev Tu-134 (registration DM-SCD) strikes a radio mast at an altitude of 2 to 3 meters (6.6 to 9.8 ft), damaging its left wing and causing its left engine to detach. It crashes short of the runway, killing 27 of the 34 people on board.^[34]
• September 2
  • The unified Canadian Armed Forces merges its aviation services into a single command, the Canadian Forces Air Command.
  • New all-year
    Svalbard Airport, Longyear, opens on permafrost at Hotellneset, operated by Avinor
    . It is the world's northernmost airport with public scheduled flights.
• September 3 – Retired American professional baseball player Irv Medlinger is one of two people killed aboard a Piper PA-24 Comanche destroyed while attempting a crash-landing near Wheeling, Illinois, after its engine fails.^[11]
• September 9 – Three
  Gonaives, Haiti, where the hijackers are taken down.^[35]
• September 15 – A 24-year-old gunman rapes a woman, attempts to rob a store, and goes to
  San Jose Municipal Airport, where he takes two Continental Airlines mechanics hostage and boards a parked Continental Airlines Boeing 727. Two hostages escape, and after negotiations between the authorities and the gunman, a sniper shoots and kills him.^[36]
• September 24 –
  Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport in Palembang on Sumatra in Indonesia
  , killing 25 of the 61 people on board and injuring all 36 survivors. One person on the ground also dies.
• September 26 – A fire breaks out in the No.1 engine of a Portuguese Air Force Nord 2501D Noratlas shortly after it takes off from Tancos Air Base in Tancos, Portugal. The fire causes the wing to collapse in flight, and the Noratlas crashes near the air base, killing all 11 people on board.^[37]
• September 27 – A hijacker commandeers an
  Mikonos. The hijacker is taken down at Mikonos.^[38]
• September 30 –
  Tupolev Tu-154B, crashes in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Lebanon
  , killing all 60 people on board.

• During the month, members of the Flying Club of Angola gather in Luanda, Portuguese Angola. They will form the basis of the People's Air Force of Angola, which will be established in January 1976.
• October 5 –
  Boeing 737-287C (registration LV-JNE) during a domestic flight in Argentina from Buenos Aires to Corrientes. They force the airliner to divert to Formosa, Argentina, where they allow all the passengers to disembark. Another group of guerrillas who had staged an armed raid on a police garrison in Formosa join the hijackers aboard the plane. The hijackers then order the plane to fly to Brazil, but it runs low on fuel and lands at Rafaela, Argentina, where the guerrillas disembark and escape.^[39]
• October 7 – A hijacker commandeers a
  Philippine Air Lines BAC One-Eleven during a domestic flight in the Philippines from Davao City to Manila, demanding to be flown to Libya. The airliner lands at Manila, where the hijacker surrenders.^[40]
• October 14 – An
  Avro Vulcan B.2, XM645, explodes and crashes over Żabbar, Malta after an aborted landing, killing five crew members and one person on the ground.^[41]
• October 22 – On approach in fog to
  Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, an Aeroflot Yakovlev Yak-40 (registration CCCP-87458) drifts off course. Its landing gear and wing strike a building, after which the airliner crashes into an apartment building and a car, starting a fire. The crash kills all six people on the plane and five people on the ground.^[42]
• October 23 – Attempting a go-around after a missed approach in a heavy rain shower at Cairns Airport in Cairns, Australia, Connair Flight 1263, a de Havilland DH.114 Riley Heron (registration VH-CLS) crashes, killing all 11 people on board.^[43]
• October 27 – An overloaded
  Convair CV-440-12 (registration TAM-44) on a domestic flight in Bolivia carrying military officers and their wives and children to La Paz fails to gain enough altitude to pass over the Andes after taking off from Tomonoco. It crashes into the stratovolcano Cerro Colorado, killing all 67 people on board.^[44]
• October 30 – A chartered
  final approach to land at Prague, Czechoslovakia
  , in foggy weather, killing 75 of the 120 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Czechoslovakia.

• November 12 –
  seagulls on takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City. Its No. 3 engine ingests some of the seagulls, starting a fire on the right wing. The pilots abort the takeoff and stop the airliner on a taxiway, and all 139 people on board evacuate safely, but the fire spreads and destroys the plane.^[45][46]
• November 17 – Off course after flying around a thunderstorm, an Aeroflot Antonov An-24RV (registration CCCP-46467) crashes into 2,250-meter (7,380-foot) Mount Apshara 25 kilometers (16 miles) northeast of Gali in the Soviet Union's Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic after beginning a descent to Sukhumi Babushara Airport outside Sukhumi. The airliner strikes the mountain 330 meters (1,080 feet) below its summit, killing all 38 people on board.^[47]
• November 18 – An
  Aviateca Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain (registration TG-AGA) crashes in Guatemala's Petén Department, killing 15 of the 22 people on board.^[48]
• November 20
  • On descent to
    Kharkov in the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, an Aeroflot Antonov An-24B (registration CCCP-46349) strikes trees and crashes into a hillside 17 kilometers (11 miles) west of the airport, killing 19 of the 50 people on board.^[49]
  • A
    Hawker Siddeley Aviation strikes a flock of lapwings while taking off from Dunsfold Aerodrome in Surrey, England, in the United Kingdom. Returning to the airport, it runs off the end of the runway, crosses fields, runs through hedges, strikes a ditch, and bounces across a road, colliding with a Ford Cortina automobile, before coming to rest after crossing another field. All nine people aboard the aircraft survive, but all six people in the car die.^[50]
• November 25 – Flying through clouds at night during a military exercise, an
  El Arish, Egypt, killing all 20 people on board.^[51]
• November 29 – British race car drivers
  Elstree Airfield.^[11]

• December 26
  • The world's first
    Alma-Ata.^[52] The Tu-144 will not begin passenger service until November 1977
    .
  • A Star Aviation Mitsubishi MU-2B crashes in mountainous terrain near Rollinsville, Colorado, while flying in adverse weather conditions. American actress Myrna Ross is among the dead.^[11]
• December 28 – The
  vertical or short takeoff and landing (VSTOL) jets and helicopters
  .
• December 29 – A bomb equivalent in power to 25 sticks of
  the bombing, which remains unsolved.^[53]

• Cessna 441 Conquest, later known as the Cessna 441 Conquest II

January

• January 24 -
  Aerospatiale SA 365 Dauphin F-WVKE^[54]
• January 25 - Birdman TL-1,^[55] lightest piloted powered aircraft

February

• February 6 – Beechcraft PD 285^[55]
• February 22 - Sukhoi T-8-1, prototype of the Su-25 attack aircraft
• February 26 - Cessna 404 Titan N5404J^[55]

March

• Bellanca Skyrocket II
• March 7 – Yakovlev Yak-42 CCCP-1974^[56]
• March 27 –
  de Havilland Canada DHC-7 C-GNBX-X^[57]
• March 30 – Jurca 1-Nine-0^[55]

April

• April 21 -
  Dominion Skytrader 800 N800ST^[55]

• May 5 – Isaacs Spitfire^[55]
• May 21 - Rutan VariEze N7EZ^[58]

June

• June 3 - Mitsubishi F-1 59-5107^[59]
• June 15 -
  Akaflieg Stuttgart FS-29^[59]
• June 16 -
  Atlas C4M Kudu ZS-IZF (military prototype)^[60]
• June 18 – Chasle LMC-1 Sprintair^[55]
• June 29 - Jeffair Barracuda^[59]

July

• July 1 - Valmet L-70 Vinka^[59]
• July 2 - Bowers Namu II^[59]
• July 4 – Boeing 747SP^[55]
• July 18 - Zlín Z-50^[59]

August

• August 26 - Cessna 441 Conquest II N441CC^[59]
• August 26 - McDonnell Douglas YC-15 72-1875^[59]
• August 29 - Robinson R22^[59]

September

• September 16 - Mikoyan Ye-155MP
• September 30 -
  Hughes YAH-64 73-22248^[59]

• October 1 - Bell YAH-63^[59]
• October 29 - Harmon Mister America^[59]

November

• November 13 - Fuji/Rockwell Commander 700^[59]
• November 19 - AmEagle American Eaglet^[59]
• November 23 - Schleicher ASW 19^[59]

Entered service

• Late 1975 – Beechcraft Baron Model 58P^[61]
• Late 1975 – Beechcraft King Air Model B100^[62]

March

• March 5 –
  Shin Meiwa US-1 with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force

• April 14 – IAF Kfir C.1 with two squadrons of the Israeli Air Force^[63]

October

• Bell 206L LongRanger^[64]

December

• December 26 – Tupolev Tu-144, the world's first supersonic transport, with Aeroflot^[52]

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was the