2008 – Southwest Airlines grounds 44 aircraft for inspections, days after the FAA accuses as many as 117 of its 737s of flying without proper airworthiness certificates.
2007 – Continental Airlines increases their Boeing 787 Dreamliner order from 20 to 25, adding five copies of the 787-9.
1993 – The Blizzard of 1993, also known as the “Storm of the Century,” begins its two days of havoc along the east coast of North America. Nearly every airport between Nova Scotia and Georgia is closed at some point during the 30 hour storm.
1980 – A pair of B-52 Stratofortress aircraft begin an around-the-world nonstop trip, which will take them 42.5 hours.
1979 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines is founded.
1975 – An Air Vietnam Douglas DC-4 (XV-NUJ) is shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Pleiku, Vietnam, killing all 26 people aboard.
1950 – An Airflight Limited Avro 689 Tudor V (G-AKBY, nicknamed “Star Girl”) crashes while on approach to Llandow’s Runway 28 in Sigingstone, Wales, killing 80 of the 83 people onboard. While attempting to correct a lower-than-normal approach, the pilot’s correction leads to a stall. The blame was placed on improper loading, creating a a center of gravity issue and the subsequent low angle of attack while trying to land. At the time it is the most deadly aviation disaster in history.
1948 – Northwest Airlines Flight 4422, a Douglas DC-4 (NC95422) returning to the United States from Shanghai, China, crashes into Mount Sanford in Alaska, killing all 30 onboard. Though the crash was witnessed by several locals, the plane became buried in snow and lost for near half a century. Removal of wreckage was only allowed by Parks Departments officials in 1999, and remains found of one passenger was also found and positively identified through DNA testing.
1932 – Newark Airport installs landing aid equipment to assist with nighttime approaches.
1908 – The U.S. Aerial Experiment Association’s first aircraft, the Red Wing, makes its first flight. This flight ends in a crash, from which pilot Thomas Baldwin, survives.
