1985 – Iberia Flight 610, a 727-200 (EC-DDU) crashes after striking a television antenna while on approach to Bilbao, Spain, killing all 148 on-board. The Captain was heard to have yelled “Shut up” several times as the Ground Proximity Warning System told him to pull up.
1985 – China Airlines Flight 006, a 747SP (N4522V) flying from Taipei to Los Angeles experiences a failure of the no. 4 engine, leading the aircraft to roll and take a 30,000ft dive before regaining control. The aircraft received significant damage to the horizontal stabilizer, and its right main gear became deployed while it also lost a large amount of hydraulic fluid. The aircraft would divert to San Francisco with only two injuries among the 274 people aboard.
1982 – The first Boeing 757 takes to the air on its maiden test flight.
1965 – Lufthansa signs up as the first customer for the forthcoming Boeing 737.
1960 – China launches its first sounding rocket, the T-7.
1955 – TWA Flight 260, a Martin 4-0-4 (N40416) crashes into the Sandia Mountains while on a flight from Albuquerque to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Instrument failure providing poor direction is accredited with the deaths of all 16 on-board. The 10,678ft mountain is still the home to some of the wreckage, which can be seen from the Sandia Tram.
1942 – About 250 Japanese warplanes bomb Darwin, Australia.
1934 – The United States Army Air Corps begins flying US airmail after the government cancels all existing airmail contracts due to alleged improprieties by the previous administration during the negotiations of those contracts.
Sequence of China Airlines Flight 006 during its two and a half minute, 30,000-foot dive.
