On This Day in Aviation History

January 21, 2012
595 comments »

On This Day in Aviation History: January 21st

More articles by »
By: Phil Derner Jr.
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
0121_thumb
2004 – NASA’s Mars Exploration Robot-A (MER-A) Spirit ceases communication from the red-planet because of a flash memory issue. The problem would be fixed two days later remotely from Earth.

Concorde's first scheduled flight took off in 1976. The last is seen here in 2003

The final scheduled Concorde service is seen departing New York in 2003. (Photo by Art Brett)

1985 – Galaxy Airlines Flight 203, a Lockheed L-188 Electra (reg N5532) crashes just after takeoff from Reno, Nevada. The small air-start door on the right wing had not not secured properly by ground crews, causing a vibration felt by the crew. The pilots then eased back on the engines to try to isolate the noise, which resulted in a stall as they tried to continue climbing. There was only one survivor among the 70 people on the aircraft.

1980 – An Iran Air Boeing 727-086 (EP-IRD), crashes into a mountain while on approach to Tehran in very snow conditions. There were no survivors among the 128 aboard.

1976 – The Concorde begins scheduled service, with British Airways and Air France simulaneously launching flights from London to Bahrain and Paris to Rio de Janeiro, respectively.

1943 – Pan Am flight 1104, a Martin M-130 Flying Boat (“Philippine Clipper”, reg. NC-14715), crashes in Ukiah, California, killing all 19 on-board. The aircraft, flying in very poor weather, descended for improved visibility, causing it to crash into a mountain after drifting off-course. The 10 passengers on the aircraft were all naval officers enroute to San Francisco.

1921 – The first triple-triplane aircraft, also the first passenger-carrying aircraft designed to carry more than 100 people that actually got off the ground, is launched at Lake Maggiore, Italy. The flight attempt ends in failure when the 55,000 lb. flying boat takes a nosedive into the lake.



 

Tag cloud

 

Valentines Deals

• Book a Valentine’s Day Getaway! Save $15* with Promo Code VALENTINE15 Book Now! Offer expires February 14, 2013

• Stay 6+ nights at the Cove Atlantis and get $300 credit instantly! Offer ends Feb 4th! - Expires 2/4/13

$20 for $40 Worth of Valentine's Day Flowers and Gifts from FTD