2011: An Avis Amur Antonov An-12 transport plane (RA-11125) en route from Magadan to Chukotka in Russia’s Far East crashes after an engine fire, killing all 11 onboard. The accident marks the second fatal crash in Russia in as many days.
2010: JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater concludes a flight from Pittsburgh to New York-JFK by cursing on the PA, declaring that he quits and deploying the emergency slide, through which he exits with two cans of beer. Slater is later arrested and, of course, no longer employed at JetBlue.
2007: Air Moorea Flight 1121, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter, crashes after takeoff from Temae Airport on Moorea island in French Polynesia for enroute to Tahiti. All 21 people onboard are killed.
2006: 24 men are arrested in England for plotting to detonate liquid explosives on at least 10 airliners bound for the US and Canada. The plot led to restrictions on the container size and types of liquids passengers are allowed to carry onto planes around the world.
1996: Sir Frank White, inventor of the jet engine, dies in Columbia, Maryland, at the age of 89.
1995: Aviateca Flight 901, a Boeing 737-200 (N125GU), crashes into the San Vicente volcano in El Salvador while on approach to the airport, killing all 65 passengers and crew.
1980: Jacqueline Cochrane, American pilot and the first female to fly faster than sound, dies at age 70.
1970: LANSA Flight 502, a Lockheed L-188A Electra, crashes shortly after takeoff from Cusco, Peru, killing all but one of the 100 on board, including 49 students from upstate New York. Two farmers on the ground also perish. Investigators find that an engine failure combined with improper engine-out procedures carried out by the crew, as well as inadequate loading procedures, led to the accident.
1967: The Boeing 737-100 makes its first flight.
1956: The Fiat G.91, winner of a NATO competition to outfit Allied forces with light jet fighters, makes its first flight.
1945: A B-29 Superfortress named “Bockscar” drops an atomic bomb dubbed “Fat Man” on the Japanese city of Nagasaki as a follow up to the annihilation of Hiroshima a couple of days earlier. This second catastrophe, combined with the Soviets declaring war on Japan a day earlier, would force the Empire to surrender to the Allies within a couple of days.
1901: The Wright Flyer flies 389 feet at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
1884: Airship La France makes the first fully-controlled round-trip flight, completing a 5 mile circle in 23 minutes, averaging a speed of 14mph. The ship had been built by Frenchmen Charles Renard and Arthur Krebs, powered by a 9hp electric motor.