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1994 Master Index 1996

1995 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

January 1995

  • January 11 — Intercontinental de Aviación Flight 256 crashes near Cartagena, Colombia with 51 fatalities. A 9-year old girl is the only survivor. [1]

  • January 19 — Lightning strikes Bristow Flight 56C, a Eurocopter “Super Puma” helicopter, forcing its pilot to autorotate and ditch in heavy seas in the North Sea near the Brae oilfield's Brae Alpha oil rig. All 18 people on board escape unharmed in a life raft and are rescued. [1]

  • January 26 — The Cenepa War breaks out between Peru and Ecuador. Peruvian Mil Mi-8 “Hip” and Mil Mi-25 “Hind D”, as well as Ecuadorian Aérospatiale “Gizelle” helicopters begin ground-attack operations. [1]

February 1995

  • February 9-12 — Heavy fighting continues between Peru and Ecuador. The Peruvian and Ecuadorian Air Forces step up their activities. [1]

  • February 10 — The prototype Antonov An-70 collides with an Antonov An-72 “Coaler” chase plane over Kiev Oblast in Russia during a test flight. The An-72 “Coaler” lands safely at Gostomel Airport, but the Antonov An-70 crashes, killing all seven people on board. [1]

  • February 10 — A pair of Ecuadorian Air Force Dassault “Mirage F.1JA” fighters shoot down two Peruvian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22M “Fitters”. Almost simultaneously, an Ecuadorian IAI “Kifir C.2” shoots down a Peruvian Cessna A-37B. [1]

  • February 13 — A violent thunderstorm hits Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, causing US$5 million in damage. Four airliners and nine jetways are seriously damaged. [1]

March 1995

  • March 14 — An Aeroflot Antonov An-12 “Cub” crashes near Baku, Azerbaijan, after running out of fuel. Crew negligence is blamed, and it is suggested that the flight crew were drunk. [1]

  • March 31 — The TAROM A310-324 “Muntenia”, operating as Flight 371, crashes near Balotesti, Romania, shortly after takeoff from Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest, killing all 60 people on board. [1]

April 1995

  • April 4 — Russian Federation Air Force warplanes are deployed to support the movement of Russian Army troops into Chechnia. [1]

May 1995

  • May 16 — A RAF BAe “Nimrod” is forced to ditch in Moray Firth. [1]

  • May 24 — Knight Air Flight 816 bound for Aberdeen crashes in a field near Dunkeswick shortly after departure from Leeds-Bradford airport. All 9 passengers and 3 crew members were killed. [1]

  • May 25-26 — A combined force of NATO aircraft attack a Bosnian Serb ammunition depot near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina. [1]

  • May 28 — Bosnian Serb forces shoot down a Mil Mi-8 “Hip” helicopter carrying the foreign minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina foreign minister. They also shoot down a USAF General Dynamics F-16 “Fighting Falcon”. [1]

June 1985

  • June 2 — While on an “Operation Deny Flight” patrol over Bosnia and Herzegovina, a USAF Lockheed F-16 “Fighting Falcon” is shot down by a Bosnian Serb 2K12 “Kub” (NATO reporting name Grumman A-6 “Gainful”) surface-to-air missile. Its pilot, Captain Scott O'Grady, ejects and evades capture for six days until he is rescued on 8 June by United States Marines of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit based on the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge (LHD-3) in what will come to be known as the Mrkonjic Grad incident. [1]

  • June 9 — During an instrument approach to Palmerston North International Airport in Palmerston North, New Zealand, in bad weather, Ansett New Zealand Flight 703, a de Havilland Canada DHC-8-102, crashes west of the Tararua Ranges, killing four of the 21 people on board and injuring all 17 survivors. [1]

July 1995

  • July 11 — NATO aircraft attack Bosnian Serb targets in the Srebrenica area of Bosnia and Herzegovina. the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) calls off the airstrikes after Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic threatens to kill 50 UNPROFOR personnel seized as hostages and to shell the Bosniak Muslim population in Srebrenica if NATO air strikes continue. The Srebrenica massacre ensues. [1]

  • July 11 — A Cubana de Aviación Antonov An-24 “Coke” crashes into the Caribbean off southeast Cuba killing 44 people. [1]

  • July 25 — The North Atlantic Council authorizes military planning aimed at deterring an attack on the safe area of Goražde in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and threatens the use of NATO air power if the safe area is threatened or attacked. [1]

August 1995

  • August 1 — The North Atlantic Council authorizes military planning aimed at deterring attacks on the safe areas of Sarajevo, Bihac, and Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and threatens the use of NATO air power if the safe areas are threatened or attacked. [1]

  • August 3 — A Taliban-controlled Afghan Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 “Fishbed” forces an Airstan Ilyushin Il-76 “Candid” carrying cargo to President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani to land at Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Taliban will hold the aircraft and the seven Russian men on board for over a year until they escape in the aircraft on August 16, 1996. [1]

  • August 4 — NATO aircraft conduct air strikes against Croatian Serb air defense radars in Croatia near Udbina airfield and Knin. [1]

  • August 9 — While on approach to land at El Salvador International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, during a thunderstorm, Aviateca Flight 901, a Boeing 737-200, crashes into San Vicente volcano, killing all 65 people on board. [1]

  • August 10 — The commanders of Allied Forces Southern Europe and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) conclude a memorandum of understanding on the execution of airstrikes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [1]

  • August 16 — A “Concorde” sets a new speed record for a round-the-world flight. It returns to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, after a journey lasting 31 hours 27 minutes, passing through Toulouse, France; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Bangkok, Thailand; Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Acapulco, Mexico. [1]

  • August 21 — Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 “Brasilia”, crashes due to a faulty propeller blade. A post-crash fire kills nine passengers and the captain. [1]

  • August 30 — The NATO launches “Operation Deliberate Force” against Bosnian Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, employing aircraft based at Aviano Air Base in Italy and aboard the USN aircraft carriers USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and USS America (CV-66) in the Adriatic Sea. NATO aircraft fly 200 sorties during the first 24 hours, including the first combat missions flown by the German Luftwaffe since the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945. During the day, a Bosnian Serb shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile shoots down a French Air Force Dassault “Mirage 2000” near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Raids will continue until September 14. [1]

September 1995

  • September 1 — The NATO ceases airstrikes in Bosnia and Herzegovina as NATO and the United Nations demand that the Bosnian Serbs lift the Siege of Sarajevo, remove their heavy weapons from the heavy weapons exclusion zone around Sarajevo, and make no further moves to endanger the complete security of other United Nations safe areas in Bosnia and Herzegovina. NATO threatens to resume air strikes if the Bosnian Serbs do not meet these demands by September 4. [1]

  • September 5 — The Bosnian Serbs having failed to comply with its demands of September 1, NATO resumes air attacks on their positions around Sarajevo and near the Bosnian Serb headquarters at Pale. During the day, the USN's Grumman F-14 “Tomcat” fighter is used as an attack aircraft for the first time when an Grumman F-14A “Tomcat” operating from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) in the Adriatic Sea drops two 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs on Bosnian Serb positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [1]

  • September 10 — USAF McDonnell-Douglas F-15E “Strike Eagles” and USN McDonald-Douglas F/A-18 “Hornet” employing about a dozen precision-guided bombs and USAF Lockheed F-16 “Fighting Falcon”s using Maverick missiles join the USN guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60), which launches a General Dynamics BGM-109 “Tomahawk” cruise missile strike from the central Adriatic Sea, in a night attack on a key Yugoslav air defense radio relay tower at Lisina in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. [1]

  • September 11 — The NASA “Pathfinder” unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sets an unofficial world altitude record for solar-powered aircraft of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) during a 12-hour flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, California. [1]

  • September 14 — NATO suspends its air campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina for 72 hours - later extended to 114 hours - to allow the Bosnian Serbs to implement an agreement with NATO requiring them to withdraw their heavy weapons from the Sarajevo exclusion zone in Bosnia and Herzegovina. [1]

  • September 19 — Flight attendant Reza Jabari hijacks Kish Air Flight 707, a Tupolev Tu-154M “Careless” carrying 174 people, during a flight from Tehran, Iran, to Kish Island, Iran, and demands that it fly to Europe. Lacking the fuel to do so, the plane instead lands at the military base at Ovda Airport in Israel, where Jabari is arrested. The airliner's passengers are flown to Iran the next day. [1]

  • September 20 — The commanders of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) and Allied Forces Southern Europe agree that the resumption of “Operation Deliberate Force” airstrikes is not necessary, as Bosnian Serbs had complied with the conditions set out by the United Nations. The NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina comes to an end. During the 22-day campaign, NATO aircraft have flown 3,515 sorties against 338 individual targets, losing only one aircraft, with its two-man crew captured. [1]

November 1995

  • November 12 — American Airlines Flight 1572, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-83 with 78 people on board, lands short of the runway at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Only one person is injured. [1]

  • November 17 — The rollout of the first HAL Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) technology demonstrator, TD-1, takes place. [1]

December 1995

  • December 3 — Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701, a Boeing 737-200, loses power in one engine while on approach to Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, and crashes short of the runway into a mangrove swamp, killing 71 of the 76 people on board and injuring all five survivors. [1]

  • December 7 — An Air Saint Martin Beechcraft 1900D chartered by the Government of France to return illegal immigrants from French territory to Haiti drifts off course and crashes into a mountain near Bell-Anse, Haiti, while on approach to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing all 20 people on board. [1]

  • December 9 — Idaho National Guard McDonnell-Douglas F-4G “Wild Weasel”s finish their tour of duty in “Operation Provide Comfort II” at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. It concludes the final USAF operational use of the McDonnell-Douglas F-4 “Phantom II”. [1]

  • December 12 — The Bosnian Serbs release two French airmen who on 30 August had become the only NATO personnel captured during NATO's “Operation Deliberate Force” bombing campaign when a Bosnian Serb shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile shot down their Dassault-Breguet Dassault “Mirage 2000” near Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina. They report that the Bosnian Serbs had treated them well during their captivity. [1]

  • December 13 — Overloaded and suffering from icing on its wings, Banat Air Flight 166, a chartered Antonov An-24B “Coke”, crashes at Sommacampagna, Italy, on takeoff from Verona Airport, Verona, during a snowstorm. All 49 people on board die. [1]

  • December 18 — A badly overloaded Trans Service Airlift Lockheed L-188C “Electra” on a special charter flight for UNITA crashes at Cahangula, Angola, on takeoff from Jamba Airport, killing 141 of the 144 people on board and injuring all three survivors. The deadliest aircraft crash of 1995 at the time, its death toll will be exceeded two days later. [1]

  • December 20 — An American Airlines Boeing 757 operating as Flight 965 crashes on a mountainside near Cali, Colombia, minutes before beginning its landing approach. Four people and a dog on board the aircraft survive, but 159 people die in the deadliest aviation accident of 1995. [1]

1995 Aircraft First Flights

  • 1995 — Cirrus SR20. [1]

  • March 31 — Grob “Strato 2C”. [1]

  • June 9 — Eurocopter “Colibri”. [1]

  • August 17 — Embraer ERJ 145 family. [1]

  • August 25 — Airbus A319. [1]

  • September 18 — Lambach HL II. [1]

  • October 7 — Learjet 45. [1]

  • October 7 — Mitsubishi F-2. [1]

  • November 2 — Fokker F60. [1]

  • November 28 — “Gulfstream V”. [1]

  • November 29 — Boeing McDonald-Douglas F/A-18E/F“Super Hornet”. [1]

  • December 1 — Air Tractor AT-602. [1]

Works Cited

  1. Timeline and History: Wikipedia. 1995 in Aviation

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