1993 – China Airlines Flight 605, the carrier’s daily 747-400 service from Taipei to Hong Kong, slides off the side of the runway and into Victoria Harbour at Kai Tak International Airport, injuring 22 passengers. The crew was faulted for failing to execute a missed approach, as a passing of Tropical Storm Ira was dropping heavy rain and blowing strong crosswinds at the time of the accident. A British Airways flight had declined to attempt the approach just 13 minutes earlier. Despite the lack of serious injuries, the aircraft (reg: B-165) is declared a total loss and scrapped.
1982 – Pan Am inaugurates service from Los Angeles to Sydney; at 7,487 non-stop miles (11,979 km) it’s the longest non-stop flight in the world.
1976 – A Bali Air Service Fokker F-27 Friendship overruns a runway in Indonesia, killing 29 of the 38 on board.
1972 – A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Ilyushin IL-14 diverts to Provdiv due to fog at the original destination. Without charts for the diversion airport, however, the crew accidentally drives the aircraft into terrain, killing all 35 on board.
1967 – An Iberia SE 210 Caravelle crashes on approach to Sussex, England, killing all 37 on board.
1962 – The United States Air Force detonates a nuclear-tipped Nike-Hercules ground-to-air missile 69,000 feet over Johnston Island. It would be the last atmospheric nuclear test ever performed by the U.S.
1910 – The British non-rigid airship City of Cardiff, built by E.T. Willows, completes the first ever dirigible flight from England to France.
