Tag: aviation history
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On This Day In Aviation History: Communist Bulgaria Shot Down El Al Flight 402 – All 58 On Board Perished
July 27, 1955, remains one of the darkest and most controversial days in civil aviation history. In the tense atmosphere of the Cold War, a routine international passenger flight became the target of military fighter jets, ending in a tragedy that shocked the world. El Al Flight 402, a Lockheed L-049 Constellation, had departed London…
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Today In 2000: Air France Flight 4590 – How A 17-Inch Metal Strip Caused The Only Fatal Concorde Crash And Ended The Supersonic Era
On July 25, 2000, Air France Flight 4590, a Concorde supersonic airliner, crashed just moments after takeoff from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport, becoming the only fatal accident involving the legendary Concorde during its 27 years of passenger service. In a tragic chain of events lasting barely more than a minute, all 109 people on…
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History in the Making: Qantas’ Airbus A350-1000ULR Is Now 13 Hours Into a 20+ Hour Nonstop Marathon Flight!
Qantas’ Airbus A350-1000ULR is making aviation history as it continues its marathon nonstop test flight from Toulouse, France, to Melbourne, Australia. The aircraft has now been airborne for around 13 hours and still has approximately 7.5 hours remaining before landing in Melbourne. Once it arrives, the journey is expected to exceed 20 hours, making it…
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Today in 1983: One Tiny Fuel Calculation Error Shut Down Both Engines at 41,000 Feet – How the “Gimli Glider” Saved All 69 on Board
On July 23, 1983, Air Canada Flight 143 turned what should have been one of aviation’s deadliest disasters into one of its greatest survival stories. The Boeing 767-200, carrying 61 passengers and eight crew members, departed Montreal for Edmonton with a scheduled stop in Ottawa. What nobody on board realized was that the aircraft had…
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Wreckage Found After 74 Years: What Really Happened When Pan Am Flight 526A Lost Both Right-Wing Engines And Ditched Into The Atlantic
For 74 years, the final resting place of Pan American World Airways Flight 526A remained one of aviation’s greatest unsolved mysteries. The Douglas DC-4, named Clipper Endeavor, vanished beneath the Atlantic Ocean off Puerto Rico on Good Friday, April 11, 1952. While the tragedy forever changed commercial aviation safety, the wreck itself remained hidden until…
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74 Years Later, The Ocean Finally Gave Up Its Secret: Lost Pan Am Airliner Found 2,000 Feet Below The Atlantic
For more than seven decades, the final resting place of one of Pan American World Airways’ most tragic accidents remained hidden beneath the Atlantic Ocean. Now, 74 years after the disaster, explorers have finally located the wreckage of the legendary Pan Am “Clipper Endeavor” off the northern coast of Puerto Rico—bringing long-awaited answers to families…
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FBI Documents Revealed: Egyptian Terrorist Organization Claimed Responsibility For 1996 Plane Crash Which Killed 230 Onboard
Nearly 30 years after the tragic crash of TWA Flight 800, newly released FBI documents have reignited one of aviation’s most controversial mysteries. On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747 en route from New York to Paris, exploded just minutes after takeoff over the Atlantic Ocean off Long Island, killing all 230…
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When NASA Dropped Experimental Aircraft From a B-52 to Help Shape the Space Shuttle
In 1966, NASA research pilot Milt Thompson sat inside one of the most unusual aircraft ever flown — the M2-F2 “heavyweight” lifting body research vehicle. With its broad, rounded fuselage and almost nonexistent conventional wings, the M2-F2 looked more like a spacecraft than an airplane. And that was exactly the point. NASA researchers were exploring…
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41 Years Ago, The Soviet Union’s “Madcap” AWACS Took Flight – But Never Reached The Front Line
On July 12, 1985, one of the Soviet Union’s most unusual airborne radar aircraft took to the skies for the first time. The Antonov An-71, known to NATO by the reporting name “Madcap,” was designed to become a tactical airborne early warning and control aircraft for Soviet combat forces. Developed from the successful Antonov An-72…
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The Real Reason Delta Air Lines Brought Back the Boeing 747 After an 18-Year Absence
Retiring an aircraft is usually a one-way decision. Once a type disappears from an airline’s fleet, it rarely returns nearly two decades later. But Delta Air Lines and the legendary Boeing 747 have one of the most unusual fleet stories in aviation history. Delta first welcomed the “Queen of the Skies” in 1970. Then, after…
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