Connecting Skies • Bridging Continents
Deutsche Aircraft hosted a D328 Operator Summit in Germany to strengthen engagement with operators and support the future introduction of the D328eco programme. Deutsche Aircraft
Savback Helicopters and Dufour Aerospace have partnered to launch a long-range drone logistics network in Sweden using hybrid-electric Aero-200 tiltwing aircraft. Sweden’s Savback Helicopters and
Israel Aerospace Industries has advanced its Airbus A330-300 passenger-to-freighter conversion programme into the testing phase, with certification targeted by year-end. Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has reached a major milestone in its Airbus A330-300 passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion programme after the first converted aircraft came “off jacks”, signalling
AirAsia has placed a firm order for 150 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, becoming a new customer for the type and launching a new 160-seat cabin configuration. Malaysia-based low-cost carrier AirAsia has placed a firm order for 150 Airbus A220-300 aircraft, marking the largest single order yet for
Alaska Airlines has formally adopted Boeing’s Virtual Airplane training platform, enabling pilots to practise procedures remotely using high-fidelity digital training tools. Alaska Airlines has signed a formal licence agreement for Boeing’s Virtual Airplane (VA) pilot training platform, marking the airline’s transition from development partner to full
LIFT and Build-A-Bear South Africa partnered to conduct the world’s first inflight Build-A-Bear heart ceremony during flights between Cape Town and Johannesburg. South African airline LIFT has partnered with Build-A-Bear South Africa to deliver what the companies describe as the world’s first Build-A-Bear “heart ceremony” conducted
Phelan Green outlines its strategy to supply electro-sustainable aviation fuel from South Africa into European markets, aligned with upcoming EU and UK blending mandates. By
B&H Worldwide launches an online Case Study Library, showcasing real-world aerospace logistics operations including AOG response, engine transport, and supply chain solutions. Digital platform highlights
hensec introduces AGNOST-A, an early-warning system that alerts pilots to GNSS jamming and spoofing threats at destination airports, enhancing operational awareness and safety. Early-warning solution
2011 – Swiss “Jetman” Yves Rossy completed an eight-minute flight along the Grand Canyon, Flying his jet-propelled wing attached to his back, and steering only by moving his body.
2002 – China Northern Airlines Flight 6136, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes near Dalian, China, after a passenger sets fire to the cabin with gasoline; all 103 passengers and 9 crew are killed.
1992 – Launch: Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-49 at 7:40 pm EDT. Mission highlights: Intelsat VI repair; first flight of Endeavour. First 3 person EVA. ASEM space station truss experiment EVA, record four EVAs total for mission.
1991 – The brand new Space Shuttle Endeavour, built to replace the destroyed Challenger, arrives at Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a NASA 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.
1990 – Air India Flight 132 catches fire on landing at Delhi-Indira Gandhi International Airport in India. An improperly installed fuse pin on the #1 engine on the Boeing 747 causes a fuel line to rupture after the reverse thrust is activated on landing. All 215 people on the aircraft remain unhurt, although the aircraft is completely destroyed.
1986 – Aircraft designer Al Mooney dies, aged 80.
1984 – First flight of the first Pilatus PC-9
1979 – Air France is the first airline to operate the Lockheed L-1011-500, a long-range version of the TriStar with shorter fuselage, more powerful engines, and improved aerodynamics.
1975 – Second prototype General Dynamics YF-16A Fighting Falcon, 72-01568, on practice flight prior to deployment for the Paris Air Show, suffers failure of main undercarriage leg to extend. General Dynamics test pilot Neil Anderson flies aircraft until fuel is nearly exhausted then makes expert grass belly-landing at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. Aircraft is not heavily damaged and pilot is uninjured. Airframe is then sent to Rome Air Development Center Newport Site for use in radar tests. This was the first F-16 mishap.
1965 – First flight of the Canadair CL-84 Dynavert
1963 – Telstar 2 (communications satellite) is launched.
1959 – First flight of the Procaer Picchio
1958 – U. S. Air Force Major Howard C. Johnson of the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron set a new world record for altitude, flying a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to 27,813 m (91,249 feet).
1946 – First flight of the Handley Page Hastings
1944 – Flight test program of the Mikoyan/Gurevich I-222, high-altitude Soviet fighter aircraft, Evolution of the MIG-3, begins.
1944 – First flight of the Beechcraft XA-38 Grizzly.
1938 – First flight of the Arpin A-1, a two-seat low-wing monoplane which was powered by a single radial engine in pusher configuration.
1936 – Amy Mollison lands at Wingfield Aerodrome, Cape Town, South Africa, to set a new record of 3 days, 6 hours, 26 min for a flight from England.
1936 – 7-8 – Stanislaw Skarzynski flies the South Atlantic from Senegal to Brazil in a small single-seater tourist airplane RWD-5bis, in 20 hours 30 min, over a distance of 3,582 km (2,238 miles). The RWD-5bis was the smallest plane to have ever flown the Atlantic – Empty weight below 450 kg (990 lb), loaded 1100 kg. It is a part of 17,885 km Warsaw – Rio de Janeiro flight from April 27 to June 24.
1932 – First flight of the Dornier Do 11
1931 – Death of Richard Dick Waghorn AFC, English aviator, a pilot with the Royal Air Force who flew the winning aircraft in the 1929 Schneider Trophy seaplane race. Died from injuries after his crash 2 days before.
1927 – Varig is founded as the first Brazilian airline.
1926 – First flight of the Blériot 127
1918 – First flight of the Curtiss 18, unofficially known as the Wasp and by the United States Navy as the Kirkham, early American triplane fighter aircraft designed by Curtiss Engineering for the US Navy
1912 – An American Wright biplane, flown by Lieutenant Thomas De Witt Milling at College Park in Maryland, becomes the first aeroplane to be armed with a machine gun
1910 – First airplane flight in Cuba. For a few minutes, Frenchman André Bellot rose into space in a 60HP Voisin biplane. He took off from the Almendares Hippodrome and fell almost immediately but he was not hurt.
1910 – The Antoinette Company builds a simulator at Mourmelon air school for pilots to practice the controls of an Antoinette monoplane.
1909 – The Royal Navy awards a contract to build its first rigid airship to Vickers.
