1991 in aviation
Years in aviation :
|
1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | |
| Years: | 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 |
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1991.
Events
January
- Air Dolomiti begins flight operations, offering service between Genoa and Trieste, Italy.
- January 8 – At a substantial financial loss, Chicago, Illinois.
- January 9 – Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to increasing fuel costs.[1] It continues to fly, however, operating 80 daily flights by the summer of 1991[2]
- January 16 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental Airlines.
- January 17 – Air-Launched Cruise Missile in combat for the first time.[4] The Iraqi national integrated air defense system collapses within the first two hours after shooting down only one Coalition aircraft (a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet), and the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has its commander executed.[5] During the first 14 hours of the bombardment, the attacking aircraft fly more than 1,000 sorties and drop 18,000 tons (16,329,493 kg) of explosives; they lose three of their number – one American, one British, and one Kuwaiti plane – during the day, all to Iraqi ground fire.[6][7] Iraq loses 10 aircraft in air-to-air combat during the day.[8]
- January 21 – The guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight decksimilar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
- January 21 – An Iraqi Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers.[10] They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.[11]
- January 22 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi T43 class minesweeper.[13]
- January 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U.S. Air Force Zhuk-class patrol boat.[13]
- January 24 – Iraqi ground fire shoots down another RAF Tornado, over Captain Ayedh al-Shamrani, using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, shoots down two Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1 jets as they approach British Royal Navy ships in the Persian Gulf.[14] U.S. Navy aircraft attack Iraqi Navy ships; A-6Es sink a Zhuk-class patrol boat and Spasilac-class minelayer and cause a minesweeper taking evasive action to strike an Iraqi mine and sink, and a force of A-6Es and F/A-18 Hornets hit four ships in an attack on Umm Qasr naval base.[13] U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell announces that during the first week of air attacks on Iraq, Coalition air forces have flown more than 10,000 sorties, knocked out 61 of Iraq's 66 airfields, and shot down 19 Iraqi aircraft in air-to-air-combat, losing 16 of their own number – all to ground fire.[15]
- January 26 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.[16] U.S. Navy A-6Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning.[13] The U.S. Navy loses an F/A-18C Hornet to non-combat causes.[12]
- January 27 – Two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the mine warfare ships, one hovercraft, three patrol boats, and two unidentified vessels confirmed as sunk.[17]Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
- January 28 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II over Faylakah Island, and a U.S. Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes.[12]
- January 28–29 – U.S. Navy A-6Es conduct two days of attacks on Iraqi ships in Bubiyan Channel, at the Umm Qasr naval base, and in Kuwait Harbor.[13]
- January 29 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23s using Sparrow missiles.hand grenades – and Royal Air Force Jaguar and U.S. Navy carrier-based A-6E Intruder bombers join in. The attacks sink 14 of the boats and drive the other three ashore, preventing the planned commando operation.[18]
- January 30 – Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters (employing Sea Skuas), Royal Air Force Jaguars, and U.S. Navy A-6Es (using minesweeper, three fast-attack craft, and three landing craft carrying troops and ammunition, breaking up the second and final seaborne component of Iraqi forces in the Battle of Khafji.[19] The Coalition reports that thus far in the Gulf War it has destroyed or disabled 46 Iraqi naval vessels, although another report at about this time claims the total is about 60.[17]Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
- January 31 – An Iraqi shoulder-launched Strela 2 surface-to-air missile hits a U.S. Air Force AC-130H Spectre gunship over Kuwait during the Battle of Khafji; the aircraft crashes into the Persian Gulf, killing all 14 on board.[12] It is the largest Coalition loss of life in a single aviation incident during the Gulf War.[20]
February
- February 1
- In the Gulf War, a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder hits an Iraqi Navy patrol boat near Min-al-Bakr oil terminal, leaving it burning.[21]
- Los Angeles, California, killing 22 people on the USAir plane and everyone aboard the Skywest aircraft. Thirty people on the USAir plane are injured, 13 of them seriously.
- February 2 – antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder near Kuwait City, Kuwait, an Iraqi short-range surface-to-air missile downs a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, and a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1J SeaCobra crashes due to non-combat causes while returning from an armed escort mission.[22]
- February 3
- Returning from a strike against Iraqi forces, a U.S. Air Force B-52G Stratofortress attempting to land at Diego Garcia crashes on final approach.[12]
- The Albanian Civil Aviation Authority.
- February 5 – A U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet crashes in the northern Persian Gulf while returning to its aircraft carrier from a strike against Iraqi forces.[12]
- February 6 – Two U.S. Air Force Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ranger (CV-61) shoots down an Iraqi Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter, the last of the five kills F-14s score during the Tomcat's career in U.S. Navy service.[24]
- February 7
- U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles use
- Unable to find investors in the unprofitable airline Interflug, formerly the national airline of East Germany, German officials announce that it will be dissolved.
- February 8 – A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II uses Alouette III helicopter.[23] U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders neutralize two Iraqi Navy vessels – a training ship and a TNC-45 fast attack craft – at Khor Al Zubair.[21]
- February 9 – A U.S. Navy A-6E badly damages an Iraqi Zhuk-class patrol boat with a Rockeye cluster bomb.[21]
- February 10 – U.S. Navy A-6Es sink two Iraqi Navy patrol boats in the northern Persian Gulf.[21] Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II over southern Kuwait.[25]
- February 10 - Two parked Iraqi Airways Tupulevs are destroyed by Coalition jet fighters at Baghdad Saddam Hussein Int'l airport. [26]
- February 11 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing use AIM-7 Sparrow missiles to shoot down two Iraqi helicopters.[23]
- February 13 – Two U.S. Air Force F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighters bomb a low structure in Baghdad which the Coalition believes houses an Iraqi military command-and-control facility. The attack destroys an air raid shelter, with Iraq claiming that over 400 civilians in it were killed, although the Coalition stands firm on its claim that the target was a military facility within which Iraq had illegally sheltered civilians to gain a propaganda advantage if they were killed.[27] Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Saudi Air Force F-5E Tiger II fighter over southwestern Iraq.[12]
- February 14 – U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders sink an Iraqi Navy
- February 15 – Iraqi shoulder-launched Scud ballistic missile mission destroys a hovering Iraqi helicopter with a laser-guided bomb; the helicopter is the last Iraqi aircraft destroyed in the air during the Gulf War.[23]
- February 16 – A U.S. Air Force F-16C crashes while making an instrument landing approach in Saudi Arabia.[25]
- February 18 – A U.S. Air Force F-16 goes down in Kuwait 40 miles (64 km) north of the Saudi border.[25]
- February 19 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Air Force OA-10A Thunderbolt II airborne forward air control aircraft over Kuwait.[25]
- February 21 – Iraqi forces shoot down a U.S. Army Bell OH-58 Kiowa helicopter as it returns from a border reconnaissance mission, and U.S. military forces lose three other helicopters and an F-16 fighter in non-combat crashes.[25] In five weeks of air strikes against Iraq and Iraqi forces in Kuwait, Coalition aircraft have flown over 88,000 sorties, with the loss of 22 American and nine other aircraft, all to enemy ground fire.[29]
- February 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II near Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.[25]
- February 24 – The U.S.-led Coalition's ground attack against Iraqi forces in Kuwait begins. In its first hours, 60
- February 25 – 63 U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters lift the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) 155 miles (250 km) behind Iraqi ground forces attempting to retreat from Kuwait, cutting them off. This will allow Coalition aircraft and ground forces to annihilate the trapped Iraqi units on Highway 8 between Basra and Baghdad.[30] Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II southeast of Kuwait City, and also claims an American OV-10D Bronco and an American attack helicopter.[25]
- February 27
- Fearing that its arrival overhead presages a devastating Coalition airstrike against their positions, 40 Iraqi soldiers on Pioneer unmanned aerial vehicle flying a reconnaissance mission from the battleship USS Wisconsin (BB-64). It is the first time in history that troops surrender to an unmanned vehicle.[31]
- An American OV-10D Bronco becomes the last Coalition aircraft lost in combat during the Gulf War.[25]
- Fearing that its arrival overhead presages a devastating Coalition airstrike against their positions, 40 Iraqi soldiers on
- February 28 – The U.S.-led Coalition calls a ceasefire with Iraq, with all Iraqi forces driven out of Kuwait and airpower having neutralized practically all of Iraq's ability to make war. Coalition aircraft have shot down 40 Iraqi aircraft while losing none of their own in air-to-air combat.[29]
March
- OceanAir – the future Azores Airlines – begins operations as a non-scheduled carrier.
- March 3
- At ceasefire talks with Iraqi representatives at
- First Officer Patricia Eidson becomes the first female pilot to die in an accident involving an American pure-jet airliner.
- March 5
- Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes into a mountain shrouded in fog near La Valesa, Venezuela, killing all 45 people on board.
- Blackhawk International Airways is incorporated.
- March 9 – Retired American Key West, Florida, and the plane crashes while he is attempting to return to the airport to make an emergency landing.[33]
- March 16 – While American singer San Diego, California.[33]
- March 20 – A U.S. Air Force Sukhoi Su-22 (NATO reporting name "Fitter") which is violating the post-Gulf War Coalition prohibition against Iraqi military flights.[23]
- March 22 – A 36th Tactical Fighter Wing F-15C again downs an Iraqi Su-22 with a Sidewinder. Another Su-22 accompanying the first one crashes while maneuvering to evade the approaching F-15C.[23] The pilot of an Iraqi Pilatus PC-9 trainer bails out when American aircraft approach his plane.[34]
- March 26 – Four armed men claiming to be members of the Singapore Armed Forces Commando Formationstorms the plane and kills all four hijackers without further injury to anyone else on board.
April
- Netherlinesmerge to create the airline.
- With negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa underway since the previous year, Air Zaïre begins service to Johannesburg, South Africa.
- April 4 – Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and crash.
- April 5 – Embraer 120RT Brasilia, crashes on approach to Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 people on board. Among the dead are former United States Senator John Tower, his daughter Marian, astronaut Manley "Sonny" Carter, American College of Physicians president-elect Dr. Nicholas Davies, and professional golfer Davis Love, Jr., the father of golfer Davis Love III.[33]
- April 6 – Operation Provide Comfort begins to bring aid to civilians in northern Iraq. It includes a no-fly zone for Iraqi military aircraft over Iraq north of the 36th parallel enforced by American, British, and French aircraft, and continues until July 24.
- April 30 – Interflug, formerly the national airline of East Germany, makes its last flight, a Tupolev Tu-134 flying the Berlin-Vienna-Berlin route. Interflug subsequently is dissolved and its assets liquidated.
May
- Iraqi Airways, which has not flown since the Gulf War earlier in the year, attempts to resume service. The United Nations grants it permission to operate a domestic service only, and only using helicopters.
- May 3 – After merging with Universair, Alisarda is renamed Meridiana.
- May 24–25 – Over a 36-hour period, C-130 Hercules, El Al airliners, and a single Ethiopian airliner – making 40 flights, with 28 aircraft in the air simultaneously at one point overnight. Five babies are born aboard the planes during the flights. On May 24, an El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane participating in the operation sets the record for the largest number of people transported in one flight by any single aircraft of any type in history, carrying 1,087 people; three babies are born aboard the 747 during the flight.[35]
- May 26 – Minutes after takeoff from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, a thrust reverser deploys in flight aboard Lauda Air Flight 004, the Boeing 767-3Z9ER Mozart, causing it to stall, dive, and disintegrate at 4,000 feet (1,219 m). Its wreckage falls over a wide area in what is now Phu Toei National Park in Uthai Thani province, Thailand. All 223 people on board die.
June
- June 14 – Julie Ann Gibson becomes the first woman to qualify as a pilot with the Royal Air Force.[36]
- June 17 – Alaska Airlines commences services to the Soviet Union.
July
- July 1 – Trans World Airlines chairman Carl Icahn sells the airline's route authorities to London from Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City to American Airlines for $445 million.[37]
- July 8 – A U.S. Navy airborne early warningaircraft after its crew abandons it following an engine fire.
- July 10 – Attempting an instrument approach to Birmingham Municipal Airport (now Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, killing 13 of the 15 people on board and injuring the two survivors and four people on the ground. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in Alabama's history.
- July 11 – An under-inflated tire overheats and starts a fire on board McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, shortly after takeoff from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The flight crew attempts to return to the airport, but the airliner crashes short of the runway, killing all 261 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident involving a DC-8.
- July 17 – Death of Arthur Raymond Brooks, age 95, at his home in Summit, New Jersey; he is the last surviving American World War I ace to have served in a U.S. Squadron.[38]
- July 24 – Iraqi Kurds. It includes a no-fly zone for Iraqi military aircraft over Iraq north of the 36th parallelenforced by American, British, and French aircraft.
- July 31 – American race car driver Al Loquasto and his passenger are killed when the wings of a Piper PA-28-236 Cherokee he is piloting separate from its fuselage in flight in a violent thunderstorm and it crashes.[33]
August
- During the month, the Bird Strike Committee USA, a volunteer group including representatives from the United States Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the United States Department of Agriculture, the aviation industry, and airports, is formed to promote the collection of data on bird strikes and other collisions between wildlife and aircraft, facilitate exchange of the data, and champion the development of systems to reduce the hazard of such collisions.[39]
- August 16 – Indian Airlines Flight 257, a Boeing 737-2A8, crashes on descent into Imphal, India, killing all 69 people on board.
September
- September 8–12 – The 35th Annual Frank B. Kelso II, and a total of 14 admirals and almost 300 other officers having their careers ended or damaged. The Department of the Navy severs its ties to the Tailhook Association from October 1991 until January 1999.
- September 11 – Houston, Texas, killing all 14 people on board.
- September 20 – Lithuanian Airlines – the future FlyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines – is founded as the flag carrier of Lithuania.
- September 27 – Trans European Airways goes out of business.
October
- October 25 – American concert promoter Bill Graham, another passenger, and the pilot die when their Bell 206B helicopter, off course and flying too low in high winds and rain, strikes a 223-foot (68-meter) transmission tower and explodes west of Vallejo, California.[33]The helicopter's wreckage hangs in the tower for more than a day after the accident.
- October 29 – A Victoria, Australia, while conducting an asymmetric flight demonstration.
November
- November 5 – .
- November 13 – Midway Airlines ceases flight operations. The bankrupt airline is later liquidated.
- November 20 – An Azerbaijani Khojavend Rayon, killing all 22 people on board, including government officials from Azerbaijan and observers from Russia and Kazakhstan.
December
- December 4 – Pan American World Airways, bankrupt since August 11, is finally dissolved after 64 years of operation.
- December 16 – The Estonian Air Force is reestablished.
- December 21 – In response to the outbreak of the Yugoslav Wars, Germany bans all air traffic between itself and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- December 25
- The Soviet Union is dissolved into 15 post-Soviet states, bringing the Cold War to an end.
- The 12 members of the Kirghizstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan– sign the Civil Aviation and Airspace Use Treaty in Minsk, Belarus. The treaty creates the CIS's Interstate Aviation Committee, a supervising body overseeing the use and management of civil aviation in the CIS which also serves as the official civil aviationauthority in Russia.
- December 27 – Ice breaks off the McDonnell Douglas MD-81 with 129 people on board, causing both engines to shut down just after the aircraft lifts off from Stockholm, Sweden. The plane makes an emergency landing in a field near Gottröra. There are no fatalities, but 92 of the people on board are injured.
- December 29 – Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, after the number three engine and its pylon break off the right wing and strike the number four engine, breaking it off as well. The entire crew of five dies. The Boeing Companysubsequently recalls all Boeing 747s for pylon modifications.
First flights
January
- January 11 - Swift S-1[40]
- January 16 - Terzi T30 Katana[40]
February
March
- March 22 - Scaled Composites Pond Racer[40]
April
- April 4 – Wilson Global Explorer[41]
- April 27 – Eurocopter Tiger[41]
- April 29 – Atlas ACE[41]
- April 29 – Cessna CitationJet/M2[41]
May
- May 10 – Canadair Regional Jet[41]
- May 15 – Lockheed ES-3A Shadow[42]
- May 31 – Pilatus PC-12[41]
June
August
- August 9 – Allstar SZD-59[41]
- August 12 – Bell 230[41]
September
October
- October 1 – Reflex Lightning Bug[43]
- October 25 – Airbus A340[43]
November
- November 22 – Korean Air Chang-Gong 91[43]
- November 36 – Grob GF 200[43]
December
- December 6 – Dornier 328[43]
- December 6 – DG Flugzeugbau DG-800[43]
- December 23 – Kaman K-MAX[43]
Retirements
Deadliest crash
The deadliest crash of this year was
McDonnell Douglas DC-8 which crashed near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
on 11 July, killing all 261 people on board.
References
- ^ Plume, Janet (January 10, 1991). "L'Express files for Chapter 11 protection". The New Orleans Times-Picayune. pp. D2.
- ^ .[1] Smothers, Ronald; Weather is linked to crash of plane; The New York Times; July 12, 1991
- ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, pp. 35, 39, 44, 51.
- ISBN 978-1-84681-000-8, p. 294.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 158, 162.
- ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, p. 40.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 354.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, pp. 357-358.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, pp. 354-355.
- ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, p. 100.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, p. 102.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 355.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 363.
- ^ "Jan J. Safarik: Air Aces Home Page". aces.safarikovi.org.
- ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, p. 42.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 358.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 424.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, pp. 201, 363.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, pp. 201, 363–364.
- ^ "www2.hurlburt.af.mil Factsheets: AC-130A Spectre". Archived from the original on September 27, 2011. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 364.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 355
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 359.
- ^ Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: A Premier Fighter," Naval History, April 2012, p. 14.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, p. 356.
- ^ "Aviation Safety Network > ASN Aviation Safety Database > ASN Aviation Safety Database results". aviation-safety.net.
- ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, pp. 55-56.
- ISBN 978-1-55750-254-4, pp. 355–356.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-316-85100-8, p. 57.
- ^ a b [Birdwell, Glenn, "Hamilton Howze Devised the Army's Airmobile Concept to Deliver Troops Swiftly to the Battlefield. It is Still In Use Today," Military Herirtage, December 2011, Page 23.]
- ^ Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Pioneering Pioneer," Naval History, October 2013, p. 15.
- ^ "Operation Southern Watch". www.globalsecurity.org.
- ^ a b c d e "Famous people who died in aviation accidents". www.planecrashinfo.com.
- ^ "Operation Provide Comfort II". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
- ^ Brinkley, Joel (May 26, 1991). "Ethiopian Jews and Israelis Exult as Airlift Is Completed". The New York Times – via NYTimes.com.
- ISBN 978-0-87436-958-8.
- ^ "twaflightattendants.com". ww38.twaflightattendants.com. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015.
- ^ "Arthur Brooks, Last American World War I Fighter-Pilot Ace". The Seattle Times. Associated Press. July 20, 1991. Retrieved February 20, 2011.
SUMMIT, N.J. - Arthur Raymond Brooks, a World War I ace who shot down six planes and whose fighter is on display at the Smithsonian Institution, died this week at his home. He was 95.
- ^ Brotak, Ed, "When Birds Strike," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 49.
- ^ a b c d e Lambert 1991, p. [35]
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lambert 1992, p. [23].
- ^ Bodie, Waren M., "Flashback," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 45.
- ^ a b c d e f g Lambert 1992, p. [24].
- ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 85.
- Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1991–92. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1991. ISBN 0-7106-0965-5.
- Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1992–93. Coulsdon, Surry, UK: Jane's Data Division, 1992. ISBN 0-7106-0987-6.