2001 – Crossair Flight 3597, an Avro RJ100 registered HB-IXM, crashes on approach to Zurich, killing 24 of the 33 people on-board. The pilot had intentionally descended below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) without required visual contact. The plane crashed into a wooded area 2.5 miles short of the runway.
1990 – China Southern Airlines Flight 3943, a Boeing 737-300 (B-2523) flying from Guangzhou (CAN) to Guilin (KWL) crashes near Liutang, China. An autothrottle malfunction is blamed: The number 2 engine remained at idle while the number 1 engine provided all its power, causing an asymmetrical thrust condition which led to a loss of control. All 131 passengers and 10 crew are killed.
1971 – A man traveling under the name Dan Cooper (later to be known at D.B. Cooper) boards Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington, and sits in seat 18C. With a flight attendant jumpseat right behind him, he hands her a note, which she thought to be a phone number. Instead, it informed her that he had a bomb along with him. He demanded that $200,000 and four parachutes be ready for him upon arrival. Authorities comply and he lets all of the passengers off in Seattle, keeping the flight crew on-board. Back into the sky they go, flying south at 10,000ft, unpressurized (as ordered), where Mr. Cooper opens the aft stairs and jumps out, never to be seen again. His true identity has never been proven to this day.
1969 – The second manned mission to the Moon comes to a close as Apollo 12 splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean.
1966 – TABSO Flight 101, an Ilyushin IL-18B registered LZ-BEN, crashes near Bratisllava, Slovakia, killing all 82 on-board. The plane flew into elevated terrain at full takeoff thrust just after departure in total darkness. The crash would be blamed on lack of pilot awareness in regard to the area surrounding the airport.
1955 – A prototype for the Fokker F-27 Friendship makes its first flight.
1939 – BOAC is formed when Imperial Airways and the original British Airways merge.
1924 – A KLM Fokker F.VII completes the first trip from the Netherlands to the Dutch East Indies (now known as Indonesia) in 127 hours.
