1978 In Aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1978:

Events

January

• January 1
  • The Boeing 747-237B Emperor Ashoka, operating as Air India Flight 855, crashes into the Arabian Sea just off Bombay, India, immediately after takeoff from Sahar International Airport, killing all 213 people on board.
  • British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley, and Scottish Aviation are absorbed into British Aerospace
• January 18 – After its nose wheel locks in the up position, Eastern Air Lines Flight 274, a Boeing 727-25, makes a two-point landing at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, without injury to any of the 76 people on board and with only minor damage to the airliner.

February

• February 11 – To avoid a snow plow on the runway at Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, aborts its landing and attempts a go-around, but its thrust reversers do not retract fully and it crashes, killing 42 of the 49 people on board.
• February 22 – An arson fire destroys the San Diego Aerospace Museum in San Diego, California. Several one-of-a-kind aircraft are destroyed, including the Beecraft Wee Bee and Beecraft Honey Bee, as well as a reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis.

March

• March 11 – Flight Lieutenant David Cyster arrives in Darwin, Australia, completing a 32-day, 9,000-mile (14,493-km) flight from England in the de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth G-ANRF to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bert Hinkler‍ '​s first solo England-to-Australia flight in 1928.^[1][2][3]
• March 16 – A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing all 73 people on board.

April

• April 1 – The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.
• April 18 – The Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service.
• April 20 – Korean Airlines Flight 902, a Boeing 707-321B flying from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seoul, South Korea, with 109 people on board, veers drastically off course and violates Soviet airspace over the Kola Peninsula. A Soviet Air Defense Forces Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name "Flagon") fighter hits the airliner with an air-to-air missile, badly damaging the left wing and puncturing the fuselage, killing two passengers. The plane eventually makes a crash landing on a frozen lake near Loukhi, where Soviet helicopters rescue the 107 survivors.
• April 26 – Possibly due to engine trouble, a United States Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft (BuNo 152724) of Patrol Squadron 23 (VP-23) crashes in the Atlantic Ocean near Naval Air Facility Lajes in Lajes in the Azores, killing the crew of seven.

May

• National Airlines inaugurates nonstop service from Florida to both Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands.^[4]
• May 8 – The National Airlines Boeing 727-235 Donna, operating as Flight 193, crashes into Escambia Bay while on descent to Pensacola, Florida, killing three of the 58 people on board and injuring 11 of the 55 survivors.
• May 16–27 – Eighteen U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifters fly 32 missions to transport 850 short tons (771 metric tons) of cargo and 125 passengers to Zaire in support of French Foreign Legion troops and Belgian paratroopers deploying there to oppose the Shaba II invasion of the Zairian province of Shaba by a separatist movement.^[5]
• May 19
  • A Belgian force of 1,171 paratroopers arrives at Kamina, Zaire, in Belgian aircraft to intervene in the Shaba II crisis.^[6]
  • Paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion jump into [6]
• May 20
  • Belgian troops land unopposed the airfield at Kolwezi after Zairian ground forces have seized it. Additional French Foreign Legion paratroopers jump over Kolwezi later in the day.^[6]
  • McDonnell Douglas delivers its 5,000th F-4 Phantom II aircraft, 20 years after the first flight of the prototype.
• May 23 – Tu-144D experienced an in-flight failure during a pre-delivery test flight, and crash-landed with crew fatalities.
• May 24 – Barbara Ann Oswald hijacks a St. Louis, Missouri-based charter helicopter and orders its pilot, Allen Barklage, to fly it to United States Penitentiary, Marion, in Marion, Illinois, so that her husband, Garrett B. Trapnell – imprisoned there for a 1972 airliner hijacking – can escape. Barklage wrestles Oswald‍ '​s gun from her as he lands the helicopter in the prison yard and shoots her to death. In December, her daughter Robin Oswald will hijack an airliner in an unsuccessful attempt to get Trapnell released.
• May 31 – U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter aircraft begin to transport French and Belgian troops as they withdraw from their intervention in the Shaba II affair in Zaire. Simultaneously, the C-141s begin airlift support for troops from Gabon, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Senegal, and Togo as they deploy into Shaba on peacekeeping duties.^[6]

June

• June 9 – Inaugural flight of the Airlink helicopter shuttle service between London Gatwick and London Heathrow Airports.^[7]
• June 26 – Air Canada Flight 189, a Douglas DC-9-32, crashes on takeoff at Toronto International Airport, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, killing two passengers and injuring most of the other 105 people on board.

July

• July 1–19 – Frank Haile Jr. and William Wisner fly two Beechcraft Bonanzas around the world in formation.
• July 11 – The Government of the United Kingdom agrees to fund development of the British Aerospace BAe 146 airliner.
• July 14 – After receiving orders from United Airlines, Boeing begins full-scale development of the Boeing 767.
• July 24 – McDonnell Douglas completes the 5,000th F-4 Phantom II.^[8]

August

• August 12–17 – Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman make the first transatlantic crossing by balloon, taking 5 days 17 hours to travel from Presque Isle, Maine, to Evreux, France in the Double Eagle II
• August 30 – Two East Germans hijack LOT Flight 165, a Tupolev Tu-134 with 63 passengers on board, during a flight from Gdańsk, Poland, to East Berlin, taking a flight attendant hostage. They force the plane to fly to Tempelhof Airport in West Berlin, where all aboard the plane are released unharmed and the two hijackers and six other East German passengers on the plane claim sanctuary.

September

• September 3 – Members of the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) shoot down Air Rhodesia Flight 825, the Vickers Viscount Hunyani, with a Strela 2 (NATO reporting name "SA-7 Grail") surface-to-air missile west of Karoi, Rhodesia. Of the 56 people on board, 38 die in the crash and ZIPRA guerrillas shoot 10 more to death on the ground, leaving only eight survivors.
• September 25 – Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182, a Boeing 727 airliner, collides with a Cessna 172 over San Diego, California. There were no survivors on either plane, and with the seven fatalities on the ground the total number of lives lost was 144, making it the worst air disaster in California history to date.
• September 30 – Aarno Lamminparras, an unemployed home building contractor, hijacks Finnair Flight 405, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle with 47 other people on board flying from Oulu to Helsinki, Finland. At Helsinki, he allows 34 passengers off the plane, which he then forces to fly back to Oulu, where he receives a ransom payment from Finnair, then back to Helsinki, where he receives more money from a Finnish newspaper and releases the remaining 11 passengers. The aircraft then flies to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, refuels, and returns to Helsinki for more ransom money from the newspaper before flying on to Oulu, where he releases his final three hostages in exchange for a chauffeured limousine ride home and 24 hours alone with his wife. Police storm his house and arrest him.

October

• Continental Airlines begins service from airports in the New York City area to Houston, Texas, and Denver, Colorado; from Denver to Phoenix, Arizona; and from Los Angeles, California, to Taipei, Taiwan, via Honolulu, Hawaii, and Guam.
• October 24 – President Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation Act into law. The act is intended to allow commercial aviation to be guided by market forces by removing United States Government control over air fares, air routes, and the entry of new airlines into markets. It requires the complete elimination of government restrictions on U.S. domestic routes and new services by December 31, 1981, the end of all U.S. domestic air fare regulation by January 1, 1983, the dissolution of the Civil Aeronautics Board by the end of 1984, the cessation of some air mail subsidies by January 1, 1986, and the termination of Essential Air Service subsidies ten years after enactment.
• October 30 – The Government of India approves the purchase of the SEPECAT Jaguar for the Indian Air Force

November

• November 15 – Icelandic Airlines Flight LL 001, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes at Katunayake, Sri Lanka, just short of the runway while on approach to land at Colombo International Airport in Colombo, Sri Lanka, killing 183 of the 262 people on board and injuring 32 of the 79 survivors. It remains the deadliest accident in the history of Icelandic aviation.
• November 20 – The United States Air Force orders development of the McDonnell Douglas KC-10 Extender aerial tanker.

December

• The retirement of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal leaves the Royal Navy without a ship capable of operating high-performance fixed-wing aircraft for the first time since 1918.^[9]
• National Airlines introduces service between New York City and Amsterdam.^[4]
• December 11 – Masked men rob the Lufthansa cargo handling area at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, of $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels newly flown in from West Germany in the largest cash robbery ever committed in the United States at the time.^[10] The robbery will be dramatized in the 1990 movie Goodfellas.^[11] The cash is never recovered, but five men finally will be indicted for the crime on January 23, 2014.^[11]
• December 21 – Seventeen-year-old Robin Oswald hijacks Trans World Airlines Flight 541, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 with 87 people on board, threatening to blow up the airliner if her father is not released from prison. The aircraft makes an emergency landing at Williamson County Regional Airport in Marion, Illinois, where authorities talk her into surrendering without further incident. Her father, Garrett B. Trapnell, had been imprisoned for a 1972 airliner hijacking and her mother, Barbara Ann Oswald, Trapnell‍ '​s wife, had been killed when she hijacked a helicopter in May 1978 in order to help him escape from prison.
• December 23 – On approach to a landing in Palermo, Sicily, Alitalia Flight 4128, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, crashes into the Tyrrhenian Sea about 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Palermo, killing 108 of the 129 on board and injuring all 21 survivors.
• December 28 – United Airlines Flight 173, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, crashes in Portland, Oregon, killing 10 and injuring 28 of the 189 aboard. The aircraft had run out of fuel while the crew was troubleshooting landing gear indicator problems.
• December 29 – Freddie To makes the first flight of a solar-powered aircraft, the Solar One

First flights

January

• January 11 - American Jet Industries Hustler Model 400 N400AJ, prototype of the Gulfstream American Hustler^[12]

February

• February 14 - Cessna 303

March

• March 10 - Dassault Mirage 2000 2000-01

April

• April 10 - Sikorsky S-72 NASA545 (2nd aircraft)

June

• June 30 - Rutan Defiant

July

• July 6 - NASA QSRA NASA715

August

• August 12 – Pilatus PC-7 HB-HAO
• August 20 – Aerospatiale Fouga 90 F-WZJB
• August 20 – British Aerospace Sea Harrier XZ450
• August 29 – Mistubishi MU-300 Diamond

September

• September 13 - Aérospatiale Super Puma F-WZJA

November

• November 8 - Canadair CL-600 Challenger C-GCGR-X
• November 9 - AV-8B Harrier II
• November 18 - McDonnell Douglas YF-18A Hornet 160775, prototype of the F/A-18 Hornet^[13]

December

• December 19 - Beriev A-50
• December 30 - General Avia Canguro I-KANG

Entered service

January

• January 26 – Westland Lynx with No. 702 Squadron FAA

April

• HU-25 Guardian with United States Coast Guard
• Mitsubishi F-1 with Japan Air Self-Defense Force

June

• June 28 - Dassault Super Étendard with the Aéronavale

August

• August 20 – BAe Sea Harrier

Retirements

• Convair F-102 Delta Dagger by the United States Air National Guard^[14]

June

• Boeing KC-97 Stratotanker by the Texas Air National Guard and Utah Air National Guard^[15]
• Douglas TF-10B Skyknight (known as Douglas F3D Skynight before September 1962) by the United States Marine Corps^[16]

References

1. ^ Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World‍ '​s Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1983, ISBN 0-89009-771-2, p. 27.
2. ^ Flickr: Tiger Moth
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ ^{a b} Organization of Former Stewardesses and Flight Attendants with the Original National Airlines.National Airlines history, at Nationalsundowners.com, the
5. ^ Mets, David R., Land-Based Air Power in Third World Crises, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, July 1986, no ISBN number, pp. 133-134.
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Mets, David R., Land-Based Air Power in Third World Crises, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, July 1986, no ISBN number, p. 134.
7. ^ Holland, Douglas (16 August 2006). "The Air Links between Gatwick and Heathrow" (PDF). p. 4. Retrieved 28 December 2012. 
8. ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 314.
9. ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 27.
10. ^ McCabe, Scott, "Crime History: 'Goodfellas' Make Off With $5.8M in Lufthansa Heist", Washington Examiner, Sunday, December 11, 2011, Page 6.
11. ^ ^{a b} Associated Press, "," washingtonpost.com, January 24, 2014, 6:47 a.m.
12. ^ Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World‍ '​s Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN 0-89009-771-2, p. 76.
13. ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 321.
14. ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 102.
15. ^ Bach, Martin, Boeing 367 Stratofreighter, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, Aero Spacelines Guppies, NARA Verlag, Allershausen 1996, ISBN 3-925671-18-8, p. 31.
16. ^ Knott, Robert C., Attack From the Sky: Naval Air Operations in the Korean War, Washington, D.C.: Department of the Navy Naval Historical Center, 2004, ISBN 0-945274-52-1, p. 188.