2008 in aviation.html



This is a list of aviation-related events from 2008:

Events

January

• 2 January – Asian Spirit Flight 321, an NAMC YS-11, overruns the runway while landing in Masbate City, Philippines. All 47 on board survive.¹
• 4 January – A Transaven Let L-410 Turbolet crashes near the Los Roques archipelago off Venezuela killing all 14 on board.²
• 10 January – Air Canada Flight 190, an Airbus A319 experiences severe turbulence over the Canadian Rocky Mountains, injuring ten (six seriously) of the 88 on board, and is forced to divert and make an emergency landing at Calgary International Airport.³
• 11 January - Airbus delivers its second A380 (MSN005) to Singapore Airlines.⁴
• 12 January - A Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board.⁵
• 17 January – British Airways Flight 38 a Boeing 777 lands short of the runway at London in the United Kingdom. Nine of the 152 people on board are treated for minor injuries, but there are no fatalities.⁶
• 23 January - A Polish Air Force EADS CASA C-295M crashes near Mirosławiec, killing 20 Polish Air Force officers aboard, including Brigadier General Andrzej Andrzejewski.⁷

February

• 1 February - Mauricio Delfabro wins the 1st FAI South American Gliding Championships and 55th National Gliding Championships of Argentina in Adolfo Gonzales Chaves in the mixed Open, 18m, 15m and Standard Class⁸, Carlos Adrover became South American Club Class Champion⁹.
• 3 February - Silver State Helicopters ceases operations and enters bankruptcy. At the time of closing Silver State operated 194 helicopters from its 34 flight schools.¹⁰
• 8 February – Eagle Airways Flight 2279, a BAe Jetstream 32 is hijacked ten minutes after taking off from Blenheim, New Zealand by a passenger who attacked both pilots. The hijacker is eventually restrained by the co-pilot and the flight lands safely at Christchurch. All nine on board survive the incident.¹¹
• 14 February – Belavia Flight 1834, a Bombardier CRJ200, hits its left wing on the runway while taking off from Yerevan, Armenia. All 21 on board escape the aircraft before it erupts into flames.¹²
• 21 February – Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518, an ATR 42-300, crashes shortly after taking off from Mérida, Venezuela killing all 46 on board.²
• 23 February - A B-2 Spirit crashed shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Both pilots ejected from the plane before it crashed.¹³

April

• 3 April - An Antonov An-28 operated by Blue Wing Airlines crashes near Benzdorp in Suriname. All nineteen on board are killed.
• 8 April - An Antonov An-26 operated by 918 Air Transport Regiment crashes near Hanoi in Northern Vietnam. All five military pilots on board are killed.
• 15 April 15 - A Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 commercial airplane crashes into a residential area of Goma, DR Congo.

May

• 21 May - Serbian Air Force J-22 Orao (serial number 25114) attack aircraft from 241.fighter-bomber aviation squadron of 98th Air Base crashed near the village of Baranda. The pilot major Tomas Janik ejected from the plane before it crashed.
• 30 May - TACA Flight 390, an Airbus A320-233, crashed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with 5 casualites (two on the ground) and 65 injuries.
• 30 May - British all-business class airline Silverjet ceases operations. It was the last business class airline in service.

June

• 10 June - Fire engulfs Sudan Airways Flight 109 after landing in Khartoum, killing 44.

August

• 20 August - Spanair Flight 5022, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashes shortly after takeoff from Madrid Barajas Airport. Of 172 on board, just 18 survive. It is the world's worst aviation accident in 2008 and Spain's worst in 25 years.
• 24 August - An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10, including 4 Americans on a humanitarian mission.¹⁴
• 24 August - Iran Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes upon takeoff near Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68.¹⁵
• 28 August - Zoom Airlines ceases operations due to financial struggles.

September

• 12 September - British charter airline XL Airways, a subsidiary of the XL Leisure Group, ceases operations with immediate effect, due to a deteriorating financial position. 90,000 Britons holidaying abroad are left stranded. It had been the 3rd largest package holiday group in the UK.
• 14 September - Aeroflot Flight 821, operated by Aeroflot Nord, crashed on approach to Perm Airport, killing all 82 passengers and 6 crew. Following the accident and concerns about safety procedures, Aeroflot chief executive Valery Okulov announced it would be stripping Aeroflot-Nord of the right to use the brand name Aeroflot and would be severing all ties between the companies.
• 26 September - Yves Rossy, Swiss airline pilot and former fighter pilot, crosses the English Channel with his homemade jet-powered wing strapped on his back.

October

• 8 October - Yeti Airlines Flight 103 crashes in the Everest region of Nepal killing 18 passengers. ¹⁶

Deaths

• 6 October - Richard Heyser, 81, American U-2 pilot during the Cuban missile crisis.¹⁷
• 3 October - Edsel Dunford, 73, American aerospace engineer, cancer.¹⁸
• 16 September - John Fancy, 95, British World War II RAF airman.¹⁹
• 28 July - Margaret Ringenberg, 87, an American aviator, who had logged more than 40,000 hours, natural causes.²⁰
• 23 July - Dick Johnson (glider pilot), 85, American glider pilot, aeronautical engineer, plane crash.²¹
• 8 June - Gene Damschroder, 86, American politician, WWII pilot, plane crash.²²
• 20 March - Ann Baumgartner, 89, first American woman to fly a jet.²³
• 15 March - Vicki Van Meter, 26, American pilot, youngest-pilot distance-flying record setter, suicide.²⁴
• 11 February - Frank Piasecki, creater and pilot of America's second successful helicopter the PV-2 and creater of the tandem rotor design.²⁵

• Diana Barnato Walker
• Donald Blakeslee
• Donald S. Lopez, Sr.
• Tadeusz Kotz
• Wally Phillips
• Joe Shell
• Bert Shepard
• Frank Blackmore (traffic engineer)
• Jimmy Dell
• Bertram James
• Norman Smith (record producer)
• Albert William Baker
• Andrzej Andrzejewski
• Harry Goonatilake
• Frank Piasecki

First flights

First flights

• 19 May – Sukhoi Superjet 100's maiden flight.

Planned first flights

• The Boeing 787's first flight has been delayed by six months to the second quarter of 2008, with initial deliveries to customers expected to begin in early 2009.²⁶²⁷²⁸

• The Airbus A400M is scheduled for July 2008. Flight tests that are due to begin in the spring of 2008.²⁹

• The Boeing 747-8 is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008.³⁰

Enter Into Service (EIS)

References