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2007 Master Index 2009

2008 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

January 2008

  • 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. [1]

  • 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. [1]

  • 11 January — Airbus delivers its second A380 (MSN005) to Singapore Airlines. [1]

  • 12 January — A Macedonian Army Mil Mi-17 “Hip” helicopter crashes in thick fog southeast of Skopje, killing all 11 military personnel on board. [1]

  • 13 January — Suspended under 600 brightly colored helium-filled party balloons, Brazilian priest Adelir Antonio de Carli lifts off from Ampere, Brazil, and reaches an altitude of 5,300 m (17,390 ft) before landing safely at San Antonio, Argentina, after a four-hour flight. [1]

  • 17 January — British Airways Flight 38, a Boeing 777-236ER with 152 people on board, lands short of the runway at London Heathrow Airport in the United Kingdom. Forty-seven people - of which nine receive medical treatment - suffer minor injuries, but there are no fatalities. The aircraft becomes the first Boeing 777 to be written off. [1]

  • 23 January — A Polish Air Force EADS CASA C-295M crashes near Miroslawiec, killing 20 Polish Air Force officers aboard, including Brigadier General Andrzej Andrzejewski. [1]

  • 29 January — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle in North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills 13 people. Al-Qaeda senior leader Abu Laith al-Libi is among the dead. [1]

February 2008

  • 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, 18 m, 15 m, and Standard Class, and Carlos Adrover becomes South American Club Class Champion. [1]

  • 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. [1]

  • 6 February — First flight of the New Zealand-designed Falcomposite “Furio” carbon-fibre kit aircraft. [1]

  • 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 people on board survive the incident. [1]

  • 14 February — Belavia Flight 1834, a Bombardier CRJ200, hits its left wing on the runway while taking off from Yerevan, Armenia. All 21 people on board escape the aircraft before it erupts into flames. [1]

  • 21 February — Santa Bárbara Airlines Flight 518, an ATR 42-300, crashes shortly after taking off from Mérida, Venezuela, killing all 46 people on board. [1]

  • 23 February — A USAF Northrop-Grumman B-2A “Spirit” stealth bomber crashes shortly after takeoff from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam. Both pilots eject from the plane before it crashes. [1]

  • 27 February — A missile hits a house near Kaloosha in South Waziristan, Pakistan, killing 12 people, many of them Islamic militants, and injuring several others. A Pakistani security official claims an American unmanned aerial vehicle operating over Afghanistan fired the missile. [1]

  • 28 February — Boston-Maine Airways, operating as Pan Am Clipper Connection, ceases operations. [1]

March 2008

  • 16 March — Missiles reportedly fired by American unmanned aerial vehicles strike the house of a Taliban sympathizer in South Waziristan, Pakistan, killing at least 20 people and injuring seven, and another house nearby, killing an additional eight to ten people. [1]

  • 31 March — Aloha Airlines ceases operations and declares bankruptcy. It halts all passenger operations and transfers all of its cargo operations to Aloha Air Cargo. [1]

April 2008

  • 3 April — An Antonov An-28 “Cash” operated by Blue Wing Airlines crashes near Benzdorp in Suriname. All nineteen on board are killed. [1]

  • 3 April — ATA Airlines ceases operations due to bankruptcy. [1]

  • 5 April — Skybus Airlines ceases operations, citing the poor economy and rising fuel prices. [1]

  • 8 April — An Antonov An-26 “Curl” operated by the Vietnam People's Air Force's 918th Air Transport Regiment crashes near Hanoi. All five people on board die. [1]

  • 15 April — A Hewa Bora Airways Douglas DC-9 commercial airplane crashes into a residential area of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. [1]

  • 20 April — An unarmed Georgian unmanned aerial vehicle is shot down over Abkhazia. The United Nations later agrees with Georgia's claim that a Russian Mikoyan MiG-29 “Fulcrum” fighter shot it down, but Russia denies involvement. [1]

  • 20 April — In an effort to raise money for a spiritual rest stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil, and to break the existing 19-hour record for a flight suspended by helium balloons, Brazilian priest Adelir Antonio de Carli lifts off from Paranagua for a flight inland to Dourados, over 725 km (450 mi) to the northwest, suspended under 1,000 brightly colored party balloons. Rising to as high as 20,000 feet (6,096 m), he is swept Backward out over the Atlantic Ocean and disappears about eight hours after takeoff. Some of his balloons are found floating intact in the sea two days later, and his body will be found floating in the Atlantic 700 km (435 mi) northeast of Paranagua near Maricá, Brazil, on 4 July. [1]

  • 27 April — Eos Airlines files for bankruptcy and ceases operations. [1]

May 2008

  • 5 May — Facing dramatically increased prices for jet fuel, United Airlines becomes the first airline to charge passengers for a second checked bag; traditionally, airlines had allowed passengers to check two bags at no additional charge. Other airlines soon join United in charging for a second checked bag. [1]

  • 14 May — An American General Atomics RQ-1 “Predator” unmanned aerial vehicle fires a missile at a house in Damadola, Pakistan, killing senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Sulayman Al-Jazairi and at least 15 other people. [1]

  • 15 May — Aloha Air Cargo commences operations as an independent airline after Aloha Airlines has ceased operations. [1]

  • 21 May — Serbian Air Force Soko J-22 “Orao” (s/n 25114) attack aircraft from the 241st Fighter-Bomber Aviation Squadron of the 98th Air Base crashes near Baranda, Serbia. The pilot, Major Tomas Janik, ejects before the plane crashes. [1]

  • 30 May — TACA Flight 390, an Airbus A320-233, crashed in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with 5 casualties (two on the ground) and 65 injuries. [1]

  • 30 May — The British all-business-class airline Silverjet ceases operations. It was the last all-business-class airline in service. [1]

  • 31 May — Champion Air ceases operations, citing high fuel prices and fuel inefficiency as the two mean reasons it is going out of business. [1]

June 2008

  • 2 June — Aeroméxico Travel, operated by Aeromexico, commences operations. [1]

  • 10 June — Fire engulfs Sudan Airways Flight 109, an Airbus A310-300 carrying 214 people, after it crashes and breaks apart on landing at Khartoum International Airport in Khartoum, Sudan. Thirty of those on board die, and six are unaccounted for. [1]

  • 14 June — In attempt to kill Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan leader Baitullah Mehsud, American unmanned aerial vehicles fire three missiles at a house in Makeen, South Waziristan, Pakistan, missing him but killing at least one person. [1]

July 2008

  • 9 July — Four Russian jet fighters fly into Georgian airspace to dissuade Georgia from flying reconnaissance flights over South Ossetia. The next day, Russian authorities release an official statement saying that the flight was made to prevent Georgia from launching an operation to free four Georgian soldiers detained by separatist forces in South Ossetia. [1]

  • 11 July — United Airlines becomes the first airline to charge a fee for any checked bag, replacing the policy it placed in effect on 5 May of allowing one free checked bag and charging for a second checked bag. American Airlines begins to charge for all checked bags two days later, and other major airlines (except for Southwest Airlines) quickly follow suit. Checked baggage fees become a major source of revenue for airlines, which had faced severe economic trouble in the face of rapidly rising jet fuel prices. As recently as early May, airlines traditionally had allowed each passenger two free checked bags. [1]

  • 13-19 July — The 18th FAI World Precision Flying Championship takes place in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. [1]

  • 20-26 July — The 16th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in Ried im Innkreis, Austria. [1]

  • 28 July — A missile strike in South Waziristan, Pakistan, by an American unmanned aerial vehicle kills al-Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert Midhat Mursi. [1]

August 2008

  • 8 August — In the 2008 South Ossetia War - which has broken out the previous evening - President of North Ossetia-Alania Taimuraz Mamsurov claims that he has witnessed an early-morning attack by a number of Georgian Air Force Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot” ground-attack aircraft on what he describes as a humanitarian aid convoy he is accompanying from Vladikavkaz, Russia, to South Ossetia. [1]

  • 8 August — Later in the morning, Georgian sources report that three Russian Sukhoi Su-24 “Fencer” attack aircraft have dropped two bombs close to a police station near Kareli, Georgia, and that the nearby city of Gori has suffered a brief Russian air strike, with no casualties. Russian authorities reject these reports, but Russian media report that Russian Su-24 “Fencer” bombers and Sukhoi Su-27 “Flanker” fighters have gained complete control of the airspace above Tskhinvali, Georgia, during the Battle of Tskhinvali. In addition, a Russian fighter drops two bombs on Georgia's Vaziani Military Base, killing three Georgian soldiers, and Russian fighters also bomb a Georgian military airfield in Marneuli, killing at least four people were killed and wounding another five. [1]

  • 9 August — In a predawn attack, Russian planes bombed the Georgian military base at Senaki, killing 13 Georgian soldiers, wounding another 13, and destroying most of the base. Later, two Russian fighters bomb Georgian artillery encampments near Gori; the Georgian government reports that 60 civilians have been killed when at least one of the bombs hits an apartment building, but the Russian military claims that three bombs hit an ammunition depot and that the façade of one of the adjacent apartment buildings has suffered damage as a result of exploding ammunition at the depot. Reportedly, Russian aircraft also bomb Poti, Georgia, and have started to bomb Georgia's civilian and economic infrastructure. The Georgian government claims its forces have downed 10 Russian jets and captured three of their pilots, but the Russian General Staff confirms the loss of only two Russian jets, a Sukhoi Su-25 “Frogfoot” and a Tupolev Tu-22M “Backfire”. [1]

  • 9 August — Russia cuts off all air connections between Russia and Georgia. [1]

  • 9 August — Abkhazia begins aerial attacks on Georgian forces in the eastern part of the Kodori Valley. [1]

  • 10 August — Georgia reports that Russian aircraft have struck Tbilisi International Airport in Tbilisi, Georgia, just a few hours before the scheduled arrival there of French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner. The Russian Ministry of Defence dismisses the report, as does Georgian State Minister for Reintegration Temur Iakobashvili, who says, “a factory that produces combat airplanes” was attacked rather than the airport. [1]

  • 11 August — Russia claims that the Russian Federation Air Force has shot down two Georgian Air Force helicopters - a Mil Mi-8 “Hip” and a Mil Mi-24 “Hind” - at the Georgian air base at Senaki, and confirms that Russia has lost another two Su-25 “Frogfoot” jets. [1]

  • 11 August — The Russian General Staff claims that eight U.S. military transport flights have moved 800 Georgian troops and 11 tons of cargo were moved from Iraq to Georgia. The Israeli newspaper Maariv reports that the United States is supplying Georgia with arms, hiring Russian-made cargo planes belonging to UTI Worldwide Inc. to transport arms and ammunition redirected from Iraq to Tbilisi, Georgia. [1]

  • 12 August — The Foreign Minister of Abkhazia, Sergei Shamba, says that the Abkhazian Air Force has joined and Abkhaziam artillery in delivering missile and bomb strikes against Georgian forces in the upper part of the Kodori Gorge. [1]

  • 13 August — An American unmanned aerial vehicle-launched missile strike on a compound in South Waziristan, Pakistan, serving as a Hezb-i-Islami training camp and headquarters kills up to 25 Islamic militants. [1]

  • 12 August — President George W. Bush orders U.S. military aircraft and ships to deliver humanitarian and medical supplies to Georgia. Later in the day, the first U.S. supplies arrive when a USAF Boeing C-17 “Globemaster III” lands at Tbilisi International Airport. [1]

  • 12 August — President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko signs a decree requiring that Russia seek the permission of Ukraine's armed forces at least 72 hours prior to Russian aircraft crossing the Ukrainian border. [1]

  • 15 August — A senior Russian military official said that five USAF Boeing C-17 “Globemaster III”s have landed at Tbilisi Interational Airport, bringing unknown cargo to Georgia. [1]

  • 16 August — A cease fire brings the South Ossetia War to an end. [1]

  • 17 August — All five crew and passengers are killed aboard two light aircraft that collide in mid-air while on final approach to Coventry Airport in England. [1]

  • 20 August — A cross-border missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle flying over Afghanistan against an Islamic militant hideout in Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan, kills at least eight people. [1]

  • 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. [1]

  • 24 August Iran — Aseman Airlines Flight 6895 crashes upon takeoff near Manas International Airport in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killing 68. [1]

  • 24 August — An aircraft crashes in Guatemala, killing 10 people, including four Americans on a humanitarian mission. [1]

  • 27 August — A Georgian unmanned aerial vehicle is shot down. [1]

  • 28 August — Zoom Airlines ceases operations due to financial struggles. [1]

  • 30 August — An American unmanned aerial vehicle-launched missile strike against a terrorist training camp in South Waziristan, Pakistan, kills two trainees holding Canadian passports. Another strike destroys a house in Tappi in North Waziristan, killing six and injuring eight. [1]

September 2008

  • 2 September — ExpressJet Airlines ends operations as an independent carrier. [1]

  • 3 September — Helicopter-borne American special operations forces make the first known U.S. incursion into Pakistan, attacking Islamic militants in South Waziristan. Pakistani officials report that 20 Pakistanis die in the raid. [1]

  • 4 September — Firing from over Afghanistan, an American unmanned aerial vehicle conducts a missile strike against an Islamic militant hideout in Char Khel in North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing four people. [1]

  • 5 September — An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike against a group of houses in southern Afghanistan kills between six and 12 people. [1]

  • 8 September — An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike in North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills Abu Haris, the al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan, while he is visiting the home of a Haqqani network commander. [1]

  • 8 September — A USAF unmanned aerial vehicle targeting Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Sirajuddin Haqqani strikes a former madrassa in Dande Darpa Khel, North Waziristan, Pakistan. They are not present, but 23 other people die. [1]

  • 12 September — An American unmanned aerial vehicle conducts a missile strike against a house rented by the Al-Badr organization on the outskirts of Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing 12 people and injuring 14. [1]

  • 12 September — The British charter airline XL Airways UK, a subsidiary of the XL Leisure Group, ceases operations with immediate effect, due to a deteriorating financial position. 90,000 Britons vacationing abroad are left stranded. It had been the 3rd largest package holiday group in the UK. XL Airways France and Germany are sold and continue operations. [1]

  • 14 September — Aeroflot Flight 821, operated by Aeroflot Nord, crashes on approach to Perm Airport, killing all 82 passengers and six crew members. Following the accident and concerns about safety procedures, Aeroflot chief executive Valery Okulov announces Aeroflot will be stripping Aeroflot-Nord of the right to use the brand name Aeroflot and would be severing all ties between the companies. [1]

  • 17 September — An American unmanned aerial vehicle attack in Baghar Cheena, South Waziristan, Pakistan, kills five Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda operative Abu Ubaidah al Tunisi. [1]

  • 23 September — A Pakistani security official claims than an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been shot down over Angoor Adda, South Waziristan, Pakistan, but the United States denies having lost any UAVs. [1]

  • 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. [1]

  • 30 September — An American unmanned aerial vehicle strikes the house of a local Pakistani Taliban leader near Mir Ali, North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing at least six people and injuring up to nine. [1]

October 2008

  • 3 October — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle against a house in Mohammed Khel, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills 21 people, many of them apparently Islamic militants. [1]

  • 8 October — Yeti Airlines Flight 103 crashes on final approach to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla, Nepal, killing 18 of the 19 people on board. [1]

  • 9 October — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle against a house outside Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills at least six people. [1]

  • 11 October — An American unmanned aerial vehicle conducts a missile strike against a compound in North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing five people and injuring two. [1]

  • 16 October — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle against Taparghai, South Waziristan, Pakistan, kills senior al-Qaeda operative Khalid Habib and three other people. [1]

  • 22 October — A suspected American unmanned aerial vehicle-launched missile strikes a village near Miranshah, Pakistan, apparently targeting Jalaluddin Haqqani misses him but kills four people. [1]

  • 23 October — A missile fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle kills seven students at a religious school in Dande Darpakhel, North Waziristan, Pakistan. [1]

  • 26 October — A missile fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle destroys a house in Mandatta, South Waziristan, Pakistan, owned by senior Taliban leader Mohammed Omar, killing 20 people. [1]

  • 31 October — A missile strike by one or more American unmanned aerial vehicles destroys a house in Wana, South Waziristan, Pakistan, killing seven people including six Islamic militants. [1]

  • 31 October — Four missiles fired by American unmanned aerial vehicles kill 20 people in North Waziristan, Pakistan, including al-Qaeda operative Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim, killed in a strike on his car. [1]

November 2008

  • 7 November — Four missiles fired by one or more American unmanned aerial vehicles strike an al-Qaeda training camp in Kumsham, North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing up to 14 people. [1]

  • 14 November — An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike near Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills 12 people. [1]

  • 19 November — Al-Qaeda operative Abdullah Azam al-Saudi is among five people killed in a missile strike by one or more American unmanned aerial vehicles in the Bannu District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. [1]

  • 22 November — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle on a house in Ali Khel outside Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills al-Qaeda operatives Rashid Rauf and Abu Zubair al-Masri and three other people. [1]

  • 29 November — An American unmanned aerial vehicle-launched missile strike on a village near Miranshah, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills three people. [1]

December 2008

  • 11 December — A missile fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle strikes a house in a madrassa in Azam Warzak, South Waziristan, Pakistan, killing seven Islamic militants. [1]

  • 15 December — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle against a house in Tapi Tool, North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills two people. [1]

  • 20 December — After hearing a bumping or rattling sound near the end of their takeoff roll at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, the flight crew of Continental Airlines Flight 1404, a Boeing 737-524 with 115 people on board, aborts their takeoff. The plane veers off the runway and crashes. There are no fatalities, but 38 people on board are injured, two of them critically, and the aircraft is written off. [1]

  • 22 December — A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle in South Waziristan, Pakistan, kills at least eight people. [1]

2008 Deaths

  • 18 January — Bertram James, 92, British veteran of the RAF who survived the “Great Escape” from Stalag Luft III. [1]

  • 23 January — Andrzej Andrzejewski, 46, Polish Air Force general, in the crash of an EADS CASA C-295. [1]

  • 11 February — Frank Piasecki, 88, creator and pilot of America's second successful helicopter, the PV-2, and creator of the tandem-rotor helicopter design. [1]

  • 3 March — Donald S. Lopez, Sr., 84, United States Army Air Forces and USAF fighter and test pilot and deputy director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. [1]

  • 3 March — Norman “Hurricane” Smith, 85, English musician, record producer, and audio engineer who served as a RAF glider pilot during World War II. [1]

  • 6 March — Albert William Baker, 89, Canadian aviator and aeronautical engineer. [1]

  • 15 March — Vicki Van Meter, 26, American pilot, youngest-pilot distance-flying record setter; committed suicide. [1]

  • 20 March — Ann Baumgartner, 89, first American woman to fly a jet. [1]

  • 25 March — Jimmy Dell, 83, British test pilot. [1]

  • 26 March — Wally Phillips, 82, World War II United States Army Air Forces veteran who later became a radio personality. [1]

  • 7 April — Joe Shell, 89, California politician who was a World War II USN pilot. [1]

  • 8 April — Diana Barnato Walker, 90, English aviatrix and horse rider, the first British woman to break the sound barrier. [1]

  • 11 April — Harry Goonatilake, 78, Sri Lankan Air Chief Marshal, Commander of the Air Force from 1976 to 1981. [1]

  • 3 June — Tadeusz Kotz, 94, World War II Polish fighter ace. [1]

  • 5 June — Frank Blackmore, 92, British traffic engineer who was a RAF veteran. [1]

  • 8 June — Gene Damschroder, 86, American politician and World War II pilot, in a plane crash. [1]

  • 16 June — Bert Shepard, 87, American Major League Baseball player who served as a World War II United States Army Air Forces fighter pilot. [1]

  • 23 July — Dick Johnson, 85, American glider pilot and aeronautical engineer, in a plane crash. [1]

  • 28 July — Margaret Ringenberg, 87, American aviator who logged more than 40,000 hours of flight time, of natural causes. [1]

  • 3 September — Donald Blakeslee, 90, World War II United States Army Air Forces fighter ace. [1]

  • 16 September — John Fancy, 95, British World War II RAF airman. [1]

  • 3 October — Edsel Dunford, 73, American aerospace engineer, of cancer. [1]

  • 6 October — Richard Heyser, 81, American Lockheed U-2 pilot during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. [1]

2008 Aircraft First Flights

  • 19 May — Sukhoi Superjet 100's maiden flight. [1]

  • 18 December — Schweizer 434. [1]

Works Cited

  1. Timeline and History: Wikipedia. 2008 in Aviation

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