On This Day in Aviation History

2014-01-22

January 22nd in Aviation History: Pilot Mistakes Ireland for California and More

2013 – An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Yemen’s Al Jawf Governorate, killing three suspected al-Qaeda members.
2013 – Two Russian Emergencies Ministry begin sending transport aircraft to carry 77 Russian citizens fleeing the Syrian Civil War from Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, to Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow.
2011 – Launch of Kounotori 2, or HTV-2, second Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle to resupply the International Space Station (ISS).
2010 – A Myanmar Air Force Chengdu F-7 fighter crashes while attempting to land at Yangon airport, killing its pilot.
2008 – A Pakistan Air Force Cessna T-37 Tweet trainer faced mechanical failure while operating the first solo flight of Pilot Officer Raja Jahanzeb flying over Topi, Pakistan. Declining ejection orders to prevent loss of life on the ground he chose to crash land the plane on a campus road of GIK Institute merely avoiding faculty buildings and blew up into pieces on crashing. The crash killed the pilot and a gardener. Raja Jahanzeb was posthumously awarded Tamgha-e-Basalat (Medal of Good Conduct).
1998 – First flight of the Boeing 737-600, which still sees service in North America from Westjet.
1998 – Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-89 launches at 9:48:15 pm EST. Mission highlights a Mir docking.
1992 – Space Shuttle Discovery launches for STS-42, carrying into space the first Canadian woman. During the mission, the crew broadcasts live during the Super Bowl, showing a failed coin toss due to zero gravity.
1991 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi anti-aircraft artillery downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U. S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes. In addition, 4 U. S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.
1990 – Spot-2, an Earth observation satellite, is launched. The satellite would be deorbited in July 2009.
1987 – The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Michelob Light Eagle, piloted by Glenn Tremml, sets a world closed circuit distance record for human-powered aircraft of (36 miles) (58 km).
1982 – A F/A-18 Hornet makes a fully automated landing, its autopilot linked to a ground radar at the Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River.
1973 – An Alia Royal Jordanian Airlines flight crashes on landing at Kano, Nigeria, killing 176 of the 202 on-board. The Boeing 707 (JY-ADO) had struck a crack in the concrete on the runway during landing, collapsing the landing gear.
1971 – A P-3 Orion of the US Navy sets a distance record of 7,010 miles, the longest for a turbo-prop aircraft. The flight departed from Atsugi, Japan, arriving at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland after a 15 hour, 21 minute flight.
1971 – An Antonov An-12 crashes due to icing while on approach to Surgut International Airport. All 13 on board are killed.

CF Sabre, seen here in 1956.

CF Sabre, seen here in 1956.

1970 – The last CF Sabre flight. It was ferried Canadair-Trenton by pilot Bob Ayers.
1968 – Apollo 5, the first unmanned flight of the Apollo Lunar Module, was launched.
1964 – A USAF Lockheed F-104B-10-LO Starfighter (57‑1306, c/n 283-5019), of the 319th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Homestead Air Force Base, crashes on Santa Rosa Island, one mile east of Fort Walton Beach, Florida shortly after departure from Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The pilot, Capt. Lucius O. Evans, ejects safely just before the fighter impacted ground.
1955 – Birth of Thomas David Jones, USAF pilot and NASA astronaut.
1952 – The de Havilland Comet 1 became the first turbojet-powered civil airliner to be awarded a certificate of airworthiness. Entered Service with BOAC.
1952 – American Airlines Flight 6780, a Convair 240 (N94229) drifts off course and crashes into downtown Elizabeth, NJ while on approach to Newark Airport in the fog and rain. The crashed killed former War Secretary Robert Patterson, who was one of the 23 souls aboard the aircraft. The aircraft crashed into a home, killing an additional 5 people.
1952 – The De Havilland Comet enters service with BOAC as the world’s first jetliner. Comet Trivia…at the end of this aircraft’s existence, its fuselage would be modified for development of the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod.
1948 – First flight of the Short Sealand, a British light, twin-engined commercial amphibian aircraft for 5-7 passengers, designed for the general overseas market in territories with suitable water access and/or runways.
1945 – U. S. Army Air Forces aircraft begin a heavy bombing campaign against Japanese forces on Corregidor. By the time U. S. ground forces land on Corregidor on February 15-16, they will drop over 3,200 tons (2,903,021 kg) of bombs on the island.
1945 – Task Force 38 aircraft conduct an early morning night strike against Formosa, sinking a large tanker in exchange for the loss of three U. S. aircraft, then fly 682 sorties during daylight hours to strike and conduct photographic reconnaissance missions against Okinawa, the Sakishima Gunto, Ie Shima, and Amami O Shima, destroying 28 Japanese aircraft, all on the ground. Task Force 38 then retires to its base at Ulithi Atoll. During January 1945, its aircraft have destroyed 300,000 tons of Japanese shipping and claimed 615 Japanese planes destroyed in exchange for the loss of 201 U. S. carrier aircraft.
1944 – In Operation Shingle, Allied forces land at Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. Allied air forces fly 1,200 sorties in support of the landings.

Else Andersson

Else Andersson

1936 – Italian aircraft play a decisive role in the first Battle of Tembien, dropping mustard gas to defeat a promising offensive by Ethiopian forces.
1933 – Jean Mermoz lands his Couzinet 70 ‘Arc an Ciel’ in Buenos Aires after a South Atlantic crossing from Paris-Le Bourget.
1931 – First flight of the Bristol Type 118, a British general-purpose military aircraft, a two-seat biplane prototype for overseas markets.

1926 – Spanish Dornier Do J Wal flying boat ‘Plus Ultra’ takes off from Palos de la Frontera, in Huelva, Spain, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, for the first Trans-Atlantic flight between Spain and South America.

1922 – Elsa Andersson, Sweden’s first female aviator and stunt parachutist, dies. She was born a farmer’s daughter in the Scanian countryside, at Strovelstrop. Andersson’s mother died at her birth and her elder brother moved to America for a new life. A determined and inspirational woman, Andersson had ambitions beyond becoming a farmer’s wife and so, aged 21, she learned to fly, getting her diploma “no.203” in 1920. Not content with being the first Swedish woman to become a pilot, she went to Germany to learn parachute jumping. In 1922, Andersson was tragically killed on her third jump in Askersund, Sweden. Thousands of spectators were gathering below on the ice of the frozen lake Alsen. She had trouble releasing her parachute, which finally unfolded only at a small distance from the treetops and she crashed violently against the ground. In 1926, the Swedish Aero Club erected a three-meter-high obelisk memorial in the place where she was found dead.

1907 – Douglas Corrigan, American pilot, is born (d. 1995). Douglas “Wrong Way” Corrigan was an American aviator born in Galveston, Texas. 1938, after a transcontinental flight from Long Beach, California, to New York, he flew from Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York, to Ireland, even though he was supposed to be returning to Long Beach. He claimed that his unauthorized flight was due to a navigational error, caused by heavy cloud cover that obscured landmarks and low-light conditions, causing him to misread his compass. His wife claims he also refused to stop and ask for directions.



About the Author

NYCAviation Staff





 
 

 
Scott Bateman in front of an under construction Boeing 747.

Social Media Focus – Scott Bateman, Airline Pilot and More

(Welcome to Social Media Focus. In this new series for NYCAviation, we will spend time and focus on a regular aviation social media poster.  In this first installment, we meet and spend a little time with Scott Bateman. Sc...
by Mark Lawrence
0

 
 

Join Us for #Avgeek Movie Night! This Week: Sully

Join us on Twitter for #Avgeek Movie Night every Friday! Each week, we'll select an aviation themed movie to watch. This week's movie is Sully.
by Ben Granucci
3

 

 

Emotional Baggage: Passengers Taking Their Bags During Airline Emergencies

Over the past several years, there have been multiple instances of air passengers retrieving their belongings before exiting an aircraft while under evacuation orders, despite instructions to leave these items behind. This has ...
by William Rizzo
0

 
 

So Long, Senior Fleet

Today marks the end of an era as Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways flies its last scheduled passenger 747-400 flight and retires the final 3 aircraft. Columnist Justin Schlecter takes a look back at his 7 years spent flyin...
by Justin Schlechter
6

 
 

Behind the Scenes with the U.S. Navy TACDEMO Team

NYCAviation had the privilege of getting a behind the scenes look at the U.S. Navy Tactical Demonstration Team during the Quonset Point Airshow.
by Mark Kolanowski
0

 




  • AviationVideosDublin

    Haha thats great mistaking Ireland for California!!! Not as much sun and lots of cloud might of gave it away!!