2010 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2010.

Events

January

2 January

• A package containing the explosive
  Poprad-Tatry Airport in Slovakia as part of a bomb-detection training exercise, but police fail to remove the package afterwards, and the luggage continues onto a Danube Wings flight to Dublin Airport where the unsuspecting passenger retrieves his explosive-laden luggage and takes it to his Dublin
  home, resulting in a bomb alert and his arrest three days later. The man is released after the Slovak government admits he is blameless.

• German airline Blue Wings ceases operations.^[1]

19 January

• Japan Airlines files for protection from bankruptcy.

20 January

• British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announces that commercial flights between the United Kingdom and the Yemen would be suspended, owing to British concerns over terrorist activity in Yemen, and will not resume until the security situation in Yemen improves.^[2]

21 January

• Luxembourg International Airport
  and sustains a damaged tyre. Three investigations are launched into the incident.

23 January

• United Eagle Airlines is renamed Chengdu Airlines.

24 January

• Mashhad International Airport
  in Iran. All 170 people on board escape from the burning aircraft.

25 January

• Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport
  in Beirut, Lebanon. All 90 people on board die.

26 January

• Spanish airline Quantum Air ceased operations.

31 January

• American carrier Northwest Airlines is merged into Delta Air Lines.

February

11 February

• Trigana Air Service Flight 168, an ATR 42-300F, makes a forced landing in a paddy field
  at Bone, Indonesia. Two people are seriously injured and the aircraft was written off.

• Spanish airline Hola Airlines ceases operations.

18 February

• After setting fire to his house and leaving behind a
  Piper Dakota into an office building housing an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) field office in Austin, Texas
  , killing himself and an IRS manager and injuring 13 others, two of them seriously.

• Scottish airline Highland Airways ceases operations.^[3]

31 March

• Canadian airline Skyservice ceases operations.
• Aloha Airlines ceases operations and declares bankruptcy. It halts all passenger operations and transfers all of its cargo operations to Aloha Air Cargo.

April

8 April

• British Airways and Iberia confirm that they have agreed to merge.

10 April

• A
  crashes in poor visibility on approach to Smolensk North Airport in Smolensk, Russia, killing all 96 people on board.^[4]

• Air Jamaica ceases operations and its routes are taken over by Caribbean Airlines.

13 April

• Boeing 737-300, overruns the runway at Rendani Airport
  , Manokwari, Indonesia. All 103 passengers and crew escape alive.

• General Mariano Escobedo International Airport
  , Monterrey, Mexico, killing all five crew and one person in a car struck by the aircraft.
• Cathay Pacific Flight 780 from Indonesia to Hong Kong has some trouble with its engines. They shut down and the pilots are able to turn one engine back on, however, they are unable to adjust the speed. The plane lands at nearly twice the normal landing speed and the brakes are put through its limits, turning orange-red.[5]

15 April

• Following the second eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland, large areas of controlled airspace were closed, causing widespread suspension of services across Europe.

21 April

• Pacific East Asia Cargo Airlines Flight 7815, an Antonov An-12, crashes on approach to Clark International Airport, Philippines after an in-flight fire. Three of the six crew die.^[6]

22 April

• On
  F/A-18 Super Hornet powered by a biofuel blend. The aircraft, nicknamed the "Green Hornet," flies for about 45 minutes on a 50/50 blend of conventional jet fuel and a biofuel made from Camelina sativa. The flight is the first of a planned 15 test flights totaling about 23 flight-hours, scheduled for completion by mid-June 2010.^[7]

• Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771, an Airbus A330-202, crashes on approach to Tripoli International Airport, Libya, killing 103 people.

15 May

• A
  Blue Wing Airlines Antonov An-28 crashes shortly after take-off from Godo Holo Airstrip
  killing all eight on board.

• Pamir Airways Flight 112, an Antonov An-24, crashes in the Salang Pass killing all 43 on board.

22 May

• Mangalore International Airport
  with the loss of 158 lives.

26 May

• Iraqi Airways ceases operations.
• Launched from a
  Boeing X-51A Waverider makes a successful first flight, reaching nearly Mach 5. It is the first time in history that an aircraft flies powered by a practical thermally balanced hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet engine.^[8][9]

• The first
  Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland.^[10]

• The European Union (EU) and the United States sign phase two of the EU–US Open Skies Agreement.

6 June

• A
  wheel-well stowaway inside a Boeing 747 survives a flight from Vienna to London.^[11]

• Berlin Air Services
  crashed shortly after take-off from Berlin Schönefeld Airport
  on a local sightseeing flight. Eight people were injured and the aircraft was substantially damaged.

• A
  Cameroon Aero Service CASA C-212 Aviocar crashes in the Republic of the Congo, killing all eleven people on board, including Australian mining magnate Ken Talbot
  .

• The first
  Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland, and returning after 26 hours 10 minutes 19 seconds in the air, the first overnight flight by a solar-powered aircraft and the longest flight in history up to this time by a crewed solar-powered aircraft. The flight also sets a record for the highest altitude ever attained by a crewed solar-powered aircraft, reaching 8,744 meters (28,688 feet) above ground and 9,235 meters (30,299 feet) in absolute altitude.^[12][13]

• The
  Farnborough Airshow, UK.^[14]

• A
  Lufthansa Cargo McDonnell Douglas MD-11 crashes at King Khalid International Airport
  , Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

• Airblue Flight 202, an Airbus A321, crashes in the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, killing all 152 aboard in the deadliest air accident in Pakistan's history.
• crashed near Elmendorf Air Force Base
  killing all four people on board.

• Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies pilots a human-powered ornithopter, Snowbird, in Ontario, sustaining 19.3 seconds of flight, covering a distance of 145 metres (476 feet). The 42.6 kg (94 lb) craft has 32-metre (105-foot) span flapping wings.^[15]
• The Mexican airline Mexicana files for insolvency proceedings in Mexico and bankruptcy protection in the United States.

3 August

• Katekavia Flight 9357, an Antonov An-24, crashes in Igarka, Russia, killing eleven people.

9 August

• A
  EADS North America CEO Sean O'Keefe
  is among the four survivors.

• Boeing 737-73V, crashes short of the runway at Gustavo Rojas Pinilla International Airport
  , San Andrés, Colombia and breaks into three sections. One passenger dies from a heart attack following the accident. The other 124 passengers and six crew survive.

• Saudi airline SAMA ceases operations.
• Shikharpur
  , Nepal killing all 14 people on board.
• Lindu Airport
  , China, killing 42 of the 96 people on board.

25 August

• A
  Filair Let L-410 Turbolet crashes short of the runway at Bandundu Airport
  , killing all 14 people on board.

• Five days of flight testing at
  C-17 Globemaster III end with the C-17 flying using a blend of 50 percent conventional JP-8 jet fuel, 25 percent HRJ biofuel made from beef tallow, and 25 percent coal-based fuel made through the Fischer–Tropsch process, becoming the first United States Department of Defense aircraft to fly on such a blend and the first aircraft to operate from Edwards using a fuel derived from beef tallow. The flight is a culmination of a series of test flights, with the C-17 flying using JP-8 in three of its engines and a 50/50 blend of JP-8 and biofuel in one engine on 23 August, followed by a flight with the same 50/50 blend in all four engines on 24 August.^[16]

• UPS Airlines Flight 6, a Boeing 747-44AF, crashes shortly after take-off from Dubai International Airport, killing both crew and destroying the aircraft.

4 September

• A
  Fletcher FU24 crashed on take-off from the Fox Glacier
  , killing all nine people on board.

• A De Havilland Tiger Moth crashes into spectators at an air show at the Lauf-Lillinghof airfield near Nuremberg, Germany, killing one person and injuring 38, five of them seriously.^[17] Four years later, a trial in Hersbrucker District Court determined that the cause of the crash was pilot error, finding the pilot guilty of "… fahrlässiger Tötung und fahrlässiger Körperverletzung …" ("involuntary manslaughter and negligent injury").^[18]

7 September

• Alrosa Mirny Air Enterprise Flight 514, a Tupolev Tu-154M, has a total electrical failure in flight and makes an emergency landing at Izhma Airport, but overruns the runway. All 81 passengers and crew escaped uninjured. The aircraft involved was repaired in 2011.^[19]

• Conviasa Flight 2350, a ATR 42–400, crashes shortly after take-off from Manuel Carlos Piar Guayana Airport, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela, killing 17 and injuring 23.

30 September

• After Pakistani troops at a border post along the border with
  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) attack helicopters flying a combat mission over Afghan territory against Afghan insurgents near the border, the helicopters mistake them for insurgents and return fire, killing three Pakistanis.^[20][21]

• Italian airline Livingston suspends flight operations. The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) will revoke its air operator's certificate on 14 October.

12 October

• Transafrik International Flight 662, a Lockheed L-100 Hercules, crashes into a mountain 19 miles (31 km) east of Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan, killing all eight crew.

29 October

• A
  terrorist plot to send bombs by air freight from Yemen to the United States via the United Kingdom
  is uncovered.

• Batam Island
  , Indonesia. Falling debris injured one person on the ground. The aircraft returned to Singapore.
• Aero Caribbean Flight 883, an ATR 72, crashes at Guasimal, Cuba, killing all 68 people on board.

5 November

• A
  Jahangir Siddiqui Air Beechcraft 1900 crashes near Karachi
  , Pakistan, killing all 21 people on board.

• Sun Way Flight 4412, an Ilyushin Il-76, crashes in a populated area of Karachi, Pakistan, shortly after taking off from Jinnah International Airport, killing all eight persons on board and two on the ground.

29 November

• The shareholders of British Airways and Iberia approve the merger of the two airlines.

December

• Turkey sends two firefighting aircraft to Israel to assist in aerial firefighting efforts against the 2010 Mount Carmel forest fire.^[22]

3 December

• Domodedovo International Airport
  , Moscow, Russia. Of the 168 people on board, two passengers were killed.

15 December

• A Tara Air de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter crashes into a mountain shortly after departure from Lamidanda Airport, Nepal. The aircraft was operating a chartered passenger flight to Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu, Nepal. All 19 passengers and crew were killed.^[23]
• Last operation by a Harrier jump jet in United Kingdom service, from RAF Cottesmore.^[24]

First flights

• Grob G 120TP^{[citation needed]}
• Wild DoubleEnder^{[citation needed]}

January

26 January

• Kawasaki C-2^[25] - 08-1201

29 January

• Sukhoi T-50^[26]

February

• Corvus Racer 540^{[citation needed]}

8 February

• Boeing 747-8.^[27] - N747EX

March

10 March

• KAI KUH-1 Surion^[28]

18 March

• Avicopter AC313

29 March

• HAL Light Combat Helicopter^[29]

• Antonov An-158^[30]

• Eurocopter X3^[31]

• Shaanxi Y-9^{[citation needed]}

December

30 December

• TAI Anka^[32]

Retirements

September

17 September

• Boeing T-43^[33]

December

• General Dynamics F-111 by the Royal Australian Air Force, the last operator of the type.^[34]

Deaths

19 July

• cockpit voice recorder (b. 1925

The deadliest crash of this year was Air India Express Flight 812, a Boeing 737 which crashed in a runway overrun at Mangalore, India on 22 May, killing 158 of the 166 people on board.

References