On This Day in Aviation History

2012-02-28

February 28th in Aviation History: Global Hawk Makes Its First Flight and SeaTac Tower is Damaged by an Earthquake

First flight of the Global Hawk took place on Feb. 28, 1998

2005 – Aviation adventurer Steve Fossett takes off from Salinas, Kansas flying the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer in an attempt to complete the first solo, nonstop, unrefueled circumnavigation of the globe. He pulls it off, landing back in Salinas 2 days, 19 hours, 1 minute and 46 seconds later.

2001 – The air traffic control tower at Seattle Tacoma International Airport is heavily damaged during an earthquake, which measures 6.8 on the Richter scale. An interim control tower is used until a new, more earthquake resistant tower is built in 2004. The original tower is later repaired and used by ground controllers.

1998 – The Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle makes its maiden flight.

1991 – The Persian Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm, waged by the U.S. and its allies against Iraq, formally ends.

1959Discoverer 1, a prototype spy satellite commissioned by the CIA with assistance from the US Air Force, is launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Meant to be the first polar orbiting satellite, the space craft fails to reach orbit, and is believed to have landed somewhere near the South Pole.



About the Author

admin





 
 

 

Today in Aviation History: January 6

Happy birthday to Lufthansa! United Grounds Ted, the US Marines take delivery of their first AV-8 Harrier and more...
by NYCAviation Staff

 
 
President Richard M. Nixon and Dr. James C. Fletcher, NASA Administrator, discuss the proposed Space Shuttle vehicle in San Clemente, California, on January 5, 1972. (Photo by NASA)

Today in Aviation History: January 5th

The Space Shuttle program is launched, Amelia Earhart is declared legally dead, Independence Air ceases operations, and more...
by NYCAviation Staff

 

 
The Apollo 17 spacecraft, containing astronauts Eugene A. Cernan, Ronald E. Evans, and Harrison H. Schmitt, glided to a safe splashdown at 2:25 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 1972, 648 kilometers (350 nautical miles) southeast of American Samoa. The astronauts were flown by recovery helicopter to the U.S.S. Ticonderoga slightly less than an hour after the completion of NASA's sixth and last manned lunar landing in the Apollo program. (Photo by NASA)

Today in Aviation History: December 19th

The world's first airport opens near Paris, the last moon mission returns to earth, a Chalk's Ocean Airways crash is captured on video, and more...
by NYCAviation Staff

 
 

Today in Aviation History: December 16th

The midair collision of a United DC-8 and TWA Constellation over New York City, Concorde makes the first sub-3-hour Atlantic crossing, an Air Canada CRJ crashes, and more...
by NYCAviation Staff
726

 
 

Today in Aviation History: December 15th

In a near disaster, KLM Flight 867 loses all engines temporarily after flying through a cloud of volcanic ash, McDonnell Douglas and Boeing merge, the Boeing 787 makes its first flight, and more..
by NYCAviation Staff