1995 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1995.

Events

• Alyemda Air Yemen is renamed Alyemen Airlines of Yemen.
• A
  Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak by ramming his presidential aircraft.^[1]

• January 4 – Mexican composer and conductor Eduardo Mata and his passenger are killed when an engine of the Piper Aerostar Mata is piloting fails and the Aerostar crashes near Cuernavaca, Mexico, shortly after takeoff from Cuernavaca Airport.^[2]
• January 10 – Flight 6715, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6, went missing over the Molo Strait. All 14 people on board were likely killed. Investigators suspected that an explosion occurred on the lower cargo compartment.^[3]
• January 11 – Intercontinental de Aviación Flight 256 crashes near Cartagena, Colombia with 51 fatalities. A 9-year-old girl is the only survivor.
• January 19 –
  life raft
  and are rescued.
• January 26 – The
  Mil Mi-25 (NATO reporting name "Hind D"), as well as Ecuadorian Aérospatiale Gazelle
  helicopters begin ground-attack operations.
• Project Bojinka, a project to destroy planes and buildings was discovered by authorities in January 1995. A plan to blow up Delta Airlines and United Airlines planes was also discovered. Ramzi Yousef was the mastermind. ^{[4][verification needed][page needed}
  ]

• Cirrus Airlines is founded.
• February 9–12 – Heavy fighting continues between Peru and Ecuador. The Peruvian and Ecuadorian Air Forces step up their activities.
• February 10 – The prototype
  collides with an Antonov An-72 chase plane over Kyiv Oblast in Ukraine during a test flight. The An-72 lands safely at Hostomel Airport
  , but the An-70 crashes, killing all seven people on board.
• February 10 – A pair of Ecuadorian Air Force
  Cessna A-37B
  .
• February 13 – A violent
  jetways
  suffer serious damage.
• February 27 – The last flight to depart
  Douglas DC-10-30 (registration N12061) bound for London′s Gatwick Airport – takes off, and the airport closes after 65½ years of service; its property will be redeveloped as a residential and retail center. The event also marks the end of Continental's use of Denver as a hub. A large convoy of airport ground vehicles then drives overnight from Stapleton International to its successor, Denver International Airport, which opens the following morning.^[5][6][7]
• February 28 – Sixteen months behind schedule, Denver International Airport opens in Denver, Colorado, replacing Stapleton International Airport. The first flight to depart from the new airport is United Airlines Flight 1062 to Kansas City International Airport in Kansas City, Missouri, and the first to arrive is United Airlines Flight 1474 from Colorado Springs Airport in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

March

• March 14
  • An Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crashes near Baku, Azerbaijan, after running out of fuel. Crew negligence is blamed, and it is suggested that the flight crew were drunk.
  • A Bell 206B-3 helicopter piloted by Carlos Menem, Jr., the son of President of Argentina Carlos Menem, strikes power lines while taking off at San Nicholas, Argentina, and crashes, killing him and his passenger, Argentinian race car driver Silvio Oltra.^[2]
• March 31 – The
  Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest
  , killing all 60 people on board.

• April 4 –
  Chechnia
  .
• April 27 – American air racer and aircraft designer and builder
  wing flutter makes him lose control of the plane and it crashes, killing both of them.^[2]

• May 16 – A
  BAe Nimrod is forced to ditch in Moray Firth
• May 24 – Knight Air Flight 816 bound for Aberdeen crashes in a field near Dunkeswick shortly after departure from Leeds-Bradford airport. All 9 passengers and 3 crew members were killed.
• May 25–26 – A combined force of
  Bosnian Serb ammunition depot near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[8]
• May 28 – Bosnian Serb forces shoot down a
  F-16 Fighting Falcon
  .

• June 2 – While on an
  Mrkonjić Grad incident
  .
• June 6 –Due to fog an Indian Air Force Mil Mi 17 crashed killing a pilot, major and few soldiers died leaving the co-pilot, Flying Officer Deven Arekar with 50% burns later succumbed, Walong, Arunachal Pradesh, India
• June 9 – During an instrument approach to
  Tararua Ranges
  , killing four of the 21 people on board and injuring all 17 survivors.
• June 12 – A court in Brussels, Belgium, declares Air Zaïre bankrupt, and the airline ceases operations and goes out of business.

July

• Alliance Air, a multinational airline based in Uganda, begins flight operations, using a single Boeing 747SP.
• July 6 – The
  Government of Australia abolishes its Civil Aviation Authority and establishes the new Civil Aviation Safety Authority and Airservices Australia. The Civil Aviation Authority's functions are divided between the two new entities, with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority becoming Australia′s national civil aviation authority, with responsibility for the safety of civil aviation, while Airservices Australia, a government-owned corporation, takes over the responsibility for air traffic control
  in Australia.
• July 11
  • Muslim population in Srebrenica if NATO air strikes continue. The Srebrenica massacre
    ensues.
  • A Cubana de Aviación Antonov An-24 crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people.
• July 25 – The North Atlantic Council authorizes military planning aimed at deterring an attack on the safe area of Goražde in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and threatens the use of NATO air power if the safe area is threatened or attacked.^[8]

August

• Emerging from financial difficulties, the
  national airline of Ecuador, Ecuatoriana de Aviación, resumes business operations after being dormant since September 1993. It will resume flight operations in June 1996
  .
• August 1 – The North Atlantic Council authorizes military planning aimed at deterring attacks on the safe areas of Sarajevo, Bihać, and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and threatens the use of NATO air power if the safe areas are threatened or attacked.^[8]
• August 3 – A
  Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Taliban will hold the aircraft and the seven Russian men on board for over a year until they escape in the aircraft on August 16, 1996
  .
• August 4 – NATO aircraft conduct air strikes against
  air defense radars in Croatia near Udbina airfield and Knin.^[8]
• August 9 – While on approach to land at
  Boeing 737-200, crashes into San Vicente volcano
  , killing all 65 people on board.
• August 10 – The commanders of
  Allied Forces Southern Europe and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) conclude a memorandum of understanding on the execution of airstrikes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[10]
• August 16 – A
  Honolulu, Hawaii; and Acapulco, Mexico.^[11]
• August 21 –
  captain
  .
• August 28 – Air Baltic is founded as the flag carrier of Latvia. It will begin flight operations on October 1.
• August 30 – The
  French Air Force Dassault Mirage 2000 near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[10][12][13]
  Raids will continue until September 14.

• September 1 – The
  Bosnian Serbs lift the Siege of Sarajevo, remove their heavy weapons from the heavy weapons exclusion zone around Sarajevo
  , and make no further moves to endanger the complete security of other United Nations safe areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATO threatens to resume air strikes if the Bosnian Serbs do not meet these demands by September 4.
• September 2 – At the
  stalls during a low-altitude turn and crashes into Lake Ontario, killing its entire seven-man crew.^[14]
• September 5 – The Bosnian Serbs having failed to comply with its demands of September 1, NATO resumes air attacks on their positions around Sarajevo and near the Bosnian Serb headquarters at Pale. During the day, the U.S. Navy's Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter is used as an attack aircraft for the first time when an F-14A operating from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in the Adriatic Sea drops two 2,000-pound (910 kg) bombs on Bosnian Serb positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.^[15]
• September 10 – U.S. Air Force
  Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.^[16][17]
• September 11 – The
  Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California
  .
• September 14 – NATO suspends its air campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 72 hours – later extended to 114 hours – to allow the Bosnian Serbs to implement an agreement with NATO requiring them to withdraw their heavy weapons from the Sarajevo exclusion zone in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• September 19 –
  Tupolev Tu-154M carrying 174 people, during a flight from Tehran, Iran, to Kish Island, Iran, and demands that it fly to Europe. Lacking the fuel to do so, the plane instead lands at the military base at Ovda Airport in Israel
  , where Jabari is arrested. The airliner's passengers are flown to Iran the next day.
• September 20 – The commanders of the
  Allied Forces Southern Europe agree that the resumption of Operation Deliberate Force airstrikes is not necessary, as Bosnian Serbs had complied with the conditions set out by the United Nations. The NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina comes to an end.^[18]
  During the 22-day campaign, NATO aircraft have flown 3,515 sorties against 338 individual targets, losing only one aircraft, with its two-man crew captured.
• September 22 – A
  E-3 Sentry runs into a flight of Canada geese on takeoff from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage, Alaska. The two portside engines ingest geese, and the plane crashes 2 miles (3.2 km) from the runway, killing all 24 people on board. It is the deadliest bird strike in history involving a U.S. military aircraft.^[19]

• October 1 – The flag carrier of Latvia, Air Baltic, begins flight operations. The airline takes delivery of its first plane, a Saab 340, during the day, and the plane makes the airline's first flight during the afternoon.
• October 2 – Aer Lingus retires its Boeing 747s from service. Over the preceding 25 years, over eight million people had flown on transatlantic flights aboard Aer Lingus Boeing 747s.

November

• The Swiss airline Crossair begins charter service for its major shareholder, Swissair.
• November 9 – Macau International Airport opens for commercial operations in Macau.
• November 12 – American Airlines Flight 1572, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 with 78 people on board, lands short of the runway at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Only one person is injured.
• November 17 – The rollout of the first HAL Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) technology demonstrator, TD-1, takes place.

December

• December 3 –
  mangrove swamp
  , killing 71 of the 76 people on board and injuring all five survivors.
• December 5 –
  Nakhchivan Airport, killing 52 people on board.^[20]
• December 6 – Khabarovsk United Air Group Flight 3949 crashes into Bo-Dzhausa Mountain, Russia, killing all 98 people aboard (including six children).
• December 7 – An
  illegal immigrants from French territory to Haiti drifts off course and crashes into a mountain near Bell-Anse, Haiti, while on approach to Port-au-Prince
  , Haiti, killing all 20 people on board.
• December 9 –
  Operation Provide Comfort II at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. It concludes the final U.S. Air Force operational use of the F-4 Phantom II.^[21]
• December 12 – The
  Dassault-Breguet Mirage 2000 near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They report that the Bosnian Serbs had treated them well during their captivity.^[22][23]
• December 13 – Overloaded and suffering from
  snowstorm
  . All 49 people on board die.
• December 18 – A badly overloaded
  crashes at Cahangula, Angola, on takeoff from Jamba Airport
  , killing 141 of the 144 people on board and injuring all three survivors. The deadliest aircraft crash of 1995 at the time, its death toll will be exceeded two days later.
• December 20 – An American Airlines Boeing 757 operating as Flight 965 crashes on a mountainside near Cali, Colombia, minutes before beginning its landing approach. Four people on board the aircraft survive, but 159 people die in the deadliest aviation accident of 1995.

First flights

March

• March 3 — Gippsland GA8 Airvan^[24]
• March 14 — HB Flugtechnik HB-207 Alfa^[24]
• March 21 – Cirrus SR20
• March 31 – Grob Strato 2C^[24]
• March 31 — Myasishchev M-101T^[25]

May

• May 31 — Schweizer RU-38 Twin Condor^[25]

June

• June 9 –
  Eurocopter Colibri^[24]

• August 10 – IPTN N-250^[24]
• August 17 –
  Embraer ERJ 145 family
• August 25 – Airbus A319

September

• September 18 –
  Lambach HL II

October

• October 7 – Learjet 45
• October 7 – Mitsubishi F-2

November

• November 2 –
  Fokker 60
• November 28 – Gulfstream V
• November 29 – Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

December

• December 1 – Air Tractor AT-602

Entered service

April

• April 2 - McDonnell Douglas MD-90 with Delta Air Lines

June

• June 7 – Boeing 777 with United Airlines

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757 which crashed in mountainous terrain near Buga, Colombia on 20 December, killing 159 of the 163 people on board.

References