Portal:Aviation/Anniversaries/June 9

June 9

• 2009 – An Indian Air Force Antonov An-32 crashes in Arunachal Pradesh province killing all thirteen people on board.

• 2005 – Logan Airport runway incursion: After air traffic controllers at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, give them clearance to take off simulatenously on intersectong runways, US Airways Flight 1170, a Boeing 737-3B7 with 109 people on board, and Aer Lingus Flight 132, an Airbus A330-301 with 272 people on board, nearly collide on takeoff. Disaster is averted when the US Airways first officer sees the approaching A330, realizes the aircraft could collide if they both become airborne, and pushes the control column forward to keep the 737 on the ground until the A330 passes 170 feet (52 m) overhead. The 381 people on the two planes suffer no injuries.

• 1997 – Air Malta Flight KM 830, a Boeing 737-200, registration 9H-ABF, named Zurrieq, was a flight bound for Istanbul with 80 passengers and crew on board when it was hijacked 20 minutes after take off and diverted to Cologne. The Air Malta aircraft was hijacked by two men, one of the men went into the cockpit and showed the pilot what looked like sticks of dynamite strapped to his chest. Once in Cologne they asked for a doctor, a Turkish interpreter and a television crew to release a statement. The hijackers demanded the release of Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Ağca, who at the time was serving a life sentence in Italy after trying to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981. However three hours after landing, the men left the plane with their hands in the air. German police found no explosives on the aircraft and all passengers were released unharmed.

• 1996 – Eastwind Airlines Flight 517 was a scheduled flight from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Trenton, New Jersey to Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia. The crew lost rudder control but successfully landed. No casualties occurred and one flight attendant suffered only minor injuries. No damage occurred to the airplane as a result of the incident.

• 1996 – the Swedish Air Force opens a new pilot training centre at Såtenäs

• 1995 – First Flight: Eurocopter Colibri

• 1995 – Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 was an Ansett New Zealand scheduled passenger transport flight from Auckland Airport to Palmerston North. On 9 June 1995, the Dash 8 aircraft flying this route crashed west of the Tararua Ranges and 16 km east of Palmerston North airport, during an instrument approach in bad weather. There was 17 injuries and 4 fatalities.

• 1994 – An Antonov An-124 carries a 109-tonne diesel locomotive from Ontario, Canada, to Dublin, Ireland.

• 1989 – Jane Foster and Deanna Brasseur passed a course to become Canada’s first two female fighter pilots available for combat roles; possibly the world’s first.

• 1974 – The first flight of Northrop YF-17 experimental lightweight fighter is made. It is built to test what might be called the aerodynamics of agility, with all of the factors of weight, materials, and design geared to making it as agile as possible.

• 1964 – United Airlines Flight 823 was a scheduled flight from Philadelphia International Airport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Huntsville International Airport, Huntsville, Alabama with 39 on board. At approximately 18:15 EST it crashed 2 miles northeast of Parrottsville, Tennessee after experiencing an uncontrollable fire on board, killing all 39. The fire of unknown origin initiated below the passenger floor and eventually involved the passenger cabin. One passenger attempted to abandon the aircraft through the No.4 escape window prior to impact but did not survive the free-fall. The ignition source was never determined, but it is thought the plane’s battery overheated or something in a passenger’s luggage caused the fire. According to NTSB investigators, lethal amounts of CO2 were present in the cockpit, explaining witnesses’ reports of the aircraft seen flying erratically. The fire eventually burned through the cockpit and it is likely the crew was unconscious by that time.

• 1958 – First Flight: Agusta AZ8-L

• 1958 – London Gatwick Airport opens after two years of extensive reconstruction. It is the first multimodal airport in the world, with direct rail connections from the main terminal to London and Brighton.

• 1944 – Allied land-based aircraft strike Japanese airfields on Peleliu, Woleai, and Yap.

• 1944 – First Flight: Avro Lincoln

• 1938 – Nationalist aircraft bomb Granollers, Spain, a town without military significance, killing about 100 people. Most of the dead are women and children.

• 1938 – the Nicaraguan Air Force is formed as the Fuerza Aérea de la Guarda Nacional.

• 1931 – first rocket-powered aircraft design patented (R Goddard).

• 1928 – Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew make the first flight across the Pacific Ocean in the Fokker F.VIIb-3m Southern Cross. They left Oakland, California on May 31 and reach Brisbane via Honolulu and Fiji. The flight takes 83 hours.

• 1923 – First autogyro flight. Juan de la Cierva, a brilliant Spanish mathematician, made the first successful flight in a rotary wing aircraft in Madrid.

• 1916 – With an envelope capacity of 170,000 cu. ft. and an endurance of 11 hours, the first of 45 Coastal (C)-type, nonrigid British airships ordered for the Royal Naval Air Service makes its first flight from the airship station at Pembroke.

• 1914 – Using a ramp constructed over the foredeck of the seaplane carrier Foudre, French Navy Lieutenant de Vaisseau Jean de Laborde attempts France’s second airplane takeoff from a ship and the first by a French naval aviator, but crashes.

• 1908 – The Aeronautical Society of the United States is established in New York.

• 1861 – Two members of the First Rhode Island Regiment, James Allen and Dr. William H. Helme, make the first U.S. Army trial captive balloon ascent.