2003 in aviation
Encyclopedia
This is a list of aviation
-related events from 2003:
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
-related events from 2003:
January
- January 8 – The Turkish AirlinesTurkish AirlinesTurkish Airlines is the national flag carrier airline of Turkey, headquartered in the Turkish Airlines General Management Building on the grounds of Atatürk Airport in Yeşilköy, Bakirköy district, Istanbul...
Avro RJ100BAe 146The British Aerospace 146 is a medium-sized commercial airliner formerly manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2002. Manufacture of an improved version known as the Avro RJ began in 1992...
Konya, operating as Flight 634Turkish Airlines Flight 634- Aircraft :The aircraft, an Avro RJ100 with four Lycoming LF507-1F turbofan engines, was built by British Aerospace with manufacturer serial number E.3241, and made its first flight on March 4, 1994. It was owned by Trident Jet Limited....
, crashes in thick fog while on final approachFinal approach (aviation)A final approach is the last leg in an aircraft's approach to landing. In aviation radio terminology, it is often shortened to "final".In a standard airport landing pattern, which is usually used under visual meteorological conditions , aircraft turn from base leg to final within one to two miles...
to land at Diyarbakır AirportDiyarbakir AirportDiyarbakır Airport is a military airbase and public airport located in Diyarbakır, Turkey.Diyarbakır Airport is home to the 8th Air Wing of the 2nd Air Force Command of the Turkish Air Force...
in DiyarbakırDiyarbakırDiyarbakır is one of the largest cities in southeastern Turkey...
, TurkeyTurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The plane breaks into three pieces and catches fire, killing 75 of the 80 people on board and seriously injuring all five survivors. - January 8 – Air Midwest Flight 5481Air Midwest Flight 5481Air Midwest Flight 5481 operating as US Airways Express Flight 5481, was a flight from Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States to Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport near the cities of Greenville, South Carolina and Spartanburg, South Carolina;...
, a Beechcraft 1900D operating as a US Airways ExpressUS Airways ExpressUS Airways Express is an airline brand name, rather than a fully certified airline, and as such, the US Airways Express name is used by several individually owned airlines or airline holding companies which provide regional airline and commuter service for US Airways.Operations are conducted from...
flight, crashes into a US AirwaysUS AirwaysUS Airways, Inc. is a major airline based in the U.S. city of Tempe, Arizona. The airline is an operating unit of US Airways Group and is the sixth largest airline by traffic and eighth largest by market value in the country....
hangar on takeoff from Charlotte/Douglas International AirportCharlotte/Douglas International AirportCharlotte Douglas International Airport is a joint civil-military public international airport located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Established in 1935 as Charlotte Municipal Airport, in 1954 the airport was renamed Douglas Municipal Airport after former Charlotte mayor Ben Elbert Douglas, Sr...
at CharlotteCharlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, North CarolinaNorth CarolinaNorth Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
, killing all 21 people on board and injuring one person on the ground. The accident investigation determines that the crash resulted from improper maintenance and because the aircraft was overweight, Air Midwest having used Federal Aviation AdministrationFederal Aviation AdministrationThe Federal Aviation Administration is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S...
-approved estimated passenger weight tables that had not been updated since 1936, when the average weight of an American passenger was 20 pounds (9 kg) lighter than in 2003.
February
- February 1 - The Space Shuttle ColumbiaSpace Shuttle ColumbiaSpace Shuttle Columbia was the first spaceworthy Space Shuttle in NASA's orbital fleet. First launched on the STS-1 mission, the first of the Space Shuttle program, it completed 27 missions before being destroyed during re-entry on February 1, 2003 near the end of its 28th, STS-107. All seven crew...
disintegrates, killing all seven occupants. - February 5 - 9 - Aero-India show is held at BangaloreBangaloreBengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
- Fina AirFina AirFina Air was an airline based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It operated charter flights to the Dominican Republic from Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in San Juan, Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla and Eugenio María de Hostos Airport in Mayagüez. The airline has now ceased...
begins services.
May
- May 25 – Boeing 727-223Boeing 727The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
tail number N844AAN844AAOn May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727-223 registered as N844AA was stolen from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola. Its disappearance prompted a world-wide search by the FBI and the CIA.- The 727-aircraft :...
is stolen from Quatro de Fevereiro AirportQuatro de Fevereiro AirportQuatro de Fevereiro International Airport is located in Luanda, a city in the Luanda Province and the capital of Angola. Quatro de Fevereiro is Portuguese for February 4th, a national holiday in Angola marking the start of the armed struggle against the Portuguese colonial regime on 4 February...
in LuandaLuandaLuanda, formerly named São Paulo da Assunção de Loanda, is the capital and largest city of Angola. Located on Angola's coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Luanda is both Angola's chief seaport and its administrative center. It has a population of at least 5 million...
, AngolaAngolaAngola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
, along with Ben Charles Padilla, who is suspected of having been at the controls. Despite a worldwide serach by police and intelligence agencies, neither the plane nor Padilla are ever found. - May 29 – A man attempts to hijackAircraft hijackingAircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
Qantas Flight 1737Qantas Flight 1737Qantas Flight 1737 was an afternoon Australian domestic flight from Melbourne Airport to Launceston Airport, which was subject to an attempted hijacking on 29 May 2003.-Hijack attempt:Flight 1737 left Melbourne Airport at 2.50pm on 29 May...
, a Boeing 717-200Boeing 717The Boeing 717 is a twin-engine, single-aisle jet airliner, developed for the 100-seat market. The airliner was designed and marketed by McDonnell Douglas as the MD-95, a third-generation derivative of the DC-9. Capable of seating of up to 117 passengers, the 717 has maximum range of...
with 52 other people on board, shortly after taking off from Melbourne AirportMelbourne AirportMelbourne Airport , also known as Tullamarine Airport, is the primary airport serving the city of Melbourne and the second busiest in Australia. It was opened in 1970 to replace the nearby Essendon Airport. Melbourne Airport is the sole international airport of the four airports serving the...
in MelbourneMelbourneMelbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, hoping to crash the plane into Australias Walls of Jerusalem National ParkWalls of Jerusalem National ParkWalls Of Jerusalem is a national park in Tasmania, Australia, 144 km northwest of Hobart. It forms part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area....
in TasmaniaTasmaniaTasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...
, which he believes will release the DevilDevilThe Devil is believed in many religions and cultures to be a powerful, supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the enemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly...
from his lair and bring about ArmageddonArmageddonArmageddon is, according to the Bible, the site of a battle during the end times, variously interpreted as either a literal or symbolic location...
. He injures two flight attendantFlight attendantFlight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
s before being subdued by other passengers. - May 30 – The final commercial flight of an Air FranceAir FranceAir France , stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the French flag carrier headquartered in Tremblay-en-France, , and is one of the world's largest airlines. It is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airline alliance...
ConcordeConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
takes place.
July
- July 8 – Sudan Airways Flight 139, a Boeing 737-200Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
, crashes at Port SudanPort SudanPort Sudan is the capital of Red Sea State, Sudan; it has 489,725 residents . Located on the Red Sea, it is the Republic of Sudan's main port city.-History:...
, SudanSudanSudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
, killing 116 of the 117 people on board. A two-year-old boy is the only survivor.
August
- July 26-August 3 – The 13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship took place between July 26 - August 3, 2003 in Rustenburg in South Africa.There were 51 crews from 14 countries: South Africa , Poland , France , Czech Republic , Austria , United Kingdom , Germany , Russia , Spain , Chile , Greece , Hungary , Cyprus ,...
takes place in in Rustenburg, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. the individual winners are 1. Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk (South Africa), 2. Janusz Darocha and Zbigniew Chrząszcz (PolandPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
), 3. Nathalie Strube and P. Sicard (FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
); the team winners are 1. South Africa, 2. France, 3. Poland. - August 11 – The Spirit of Butts FarmThe Spirit of Butts FarmThe Spirit of Butts Farm became the first model aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean on August 11, 2003. The aircraft was launched from Cape Spear near St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, and landed at Mannin Beach near Clifden, Ireland 38.5 hours later...
completes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled model aircraftModel aircraftModel aircraft are flying or non-flying models of existing or imaginary aircraft using a variety of materials including plastic, diecast metal, polystyrene, balsa wood, foam and fibreglass...
. The flight also sets two world records for a model aircraft, for duration (38 hours 53 minutes) and for non-stop distance (1,883 statute miles/3,038 km). - August 26 – Colgan Air Flight 9446Colgan Air Flight 9446Colgan Air Flight 9446 was a repositioning flight operated by Colgan Air for US Airways Express. On August 26, 2003 a Beech 1900D on the route hit the water 100 yards off of the shore of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, United States shortly after taking off from Barnstable Municipal Airport in Yarmouth....
, a US Airways ExpressUS Airways ExpressUS Airways Express is an airline brand name, rather than a fully certified airline, and as such, the US Airways Express name is used by several individually owned airlines or airline holding companies which provide regional airline and commuter service for US Airways.Operations are conducted from...
Beechcraft 1900D on a repositioning flight with no passengers aboard, crashes in the water off YarmouthYarmouth, MassachusettsYarmouth is a New England town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, Barnstable County being coextensive with Cape Cod. The population was 24,807 at the 2000 census....
, MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, immediately after takeoff from Barnstable Municipal AirportBarnstable Municipal AirportBarnstable Municipal Airport , also known as Boardman/Polando Field, is a public airport located on Cape Cod, one mile north of the central business district of Hyannis, in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States. This airport is publicly owned by Town of Barnstable...
in Barnstable CountyBarnstable County, MassachusettsBarnstable County is a county located in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, consisting of Cape Cod and associated islands. As of the 2010 census, the population was 216,902...
, Massachusetts, due to a maintenance error. The two-man crew dies.
September
- September 14 - USAFUnited States Air ForceThe United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...
ThunderbirdsU.S. Air Force ThunderbirdsThe Thunderbirds are the air demonstration squadron of the U.S. Air Force , based at Nellis AFB in Las Vegas, Nevada. The squadron tours the United States and much of the world, performing aerobatic formation and solo flying in specially marked USAF jet aircraft...
#6 solo crashes into the tarmac at Mountain Home AFB, IdahoIdahoIdaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
, while attempting its initial maneuver at the Gunfighter Skies 2003 air show. The pilot safely ejected just moments before impact. Pilot error (insufficient altitude) is determined as the cause and the pilot is reassigned to the PentagonThe PentagonThe Pentagon is the headquarters of the United States Department of Defense, located in Arlington County, Virginia. As a symbol of the U.S. military, "the Pentagon" is often used metonymically to refer to the Department of Defense rather than the building itself.Designed by the American architect...
. Although the desert terrain is similar, the ground elevation at Mountain Home AFB is over 1000 feet higher than the Thunderbirds' home base at Nellis AFB.
- Skip HolmSkip HolmSkip James Holm is a retired pilot who lives on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada.Holm claims to hold the world record for combat flight hours: 1,172. He retired from the U.S. Air Force Reserve in 1992, with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He logged his combat hours flying F-105s and F-4s in...
, flying the modified P-51DP-51 MustangThe North American Aviation P-51 Mustang was an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II, the Korean War and in several other conflicts...
'Dago Red', sets a new closed-course piston-engine speed record of 507 mph at the Reno Air RacesReno Air RacesThe Reno Air Races, also known as the National Championship Air Races, take place each September at the Reno Stead Airport a few miles north of Reno, Nevada, USA...
.
October
- October 15 - Yang LiweiYang LiweiYáng Lìwěi is a Chinese major general and military pilot and a CNSA astronaut. He was the first man sent into space by the Chinese space program and his mission, Shenzhou 5, made China the third country to independently send people into space.-Background:...
becomes the People's Republic of ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's first man in space. - October 24, ConcordeConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
makes its last scheduled commercial flight.
November
- November 22, the DHL shootdown incident in BaghdadDHL shootdown incident in BaghdadOn 22 November 2003, shortly after takeoff from Baghdad, Iraq, an Airbus A300 cargo plane owned by European Air Transport was struck on the left wing tip by a surface-to-air missile. Severe wing damage resulted in a fire and complete loss of hydraulic flight control systems. Because outboard left...
. - November 26, the last "retirement" ConcordeConcordeAérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport . It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation...
flight.
December
- December 17 – The 100th anniversary of the first flight of the Wright BrothersWright brothersThe Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
in the Wright FlyerWright FlyerThe Wright Flyer was the first powered aircraft, designed and built by the Wright brothers. They flew it four times on December 17, 1903 near the Kill Devil Hills, about four miles south of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, U.S.The U.S...
is celebrated as the 100th birthday of aviation. - December 17 – SpaceShipOne becomes the first privately built, manned aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound,
- December 25 – UTA Flight 141UTA Flight 141UTA Flight 141 was a charter flight operated by Union des Transports Aériens de Guinée.On 25 December 2003 the airplane crashed in the Bight of Benin, killing 151 of the 163 occupants, most of them Lebanese....
, a severely overloaded chartered Boeing 727-223Boeing 727The Boeing 727 is a mid-size, narrow-body, three-engine, T-tailed commercial jet airliner, manufactured by Boeing. The Boeing 727 first flew in 1963, and for over a decade more were built per year than any other jet airliner. When production ended in 1984 a total of 1,832 aircraft had been produced...
, fails to become airborne during its takeoff attempt from Cadjehoun AirportCadjehoun AirportCotonou Cadjehoun Airport is an airport located in Cotonou, the biggest city in Benin in West Africa.In 2004, the airport served 301,493 passengers.-Airlines and destinations:-Incidents and accidents:...
in CotonouCotonou-Demographics:*1979: 320,348 *1992: 536,827 *2002: 665,100 *2005: 690,584 The main languages spoken in Cotonou include the Fon language, Aja language, Yoruba language and French.-Transport:...
, BeninBeninBenin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...
. It runs off the end of the runway and crashes on a beach along the Bight of BeninBight of BeninThe Bight of Benin is a bight on the western African coast that extends eastward for about 400 miles from Cape St. Paul to the Nun outlet of the Niger River. To the east it is continued by the Bight of Bonny . The bight is part of the Gulf of Guinea...
, killing 151 of the 163 people on board. All 12 survivors as well as two people on the ground are injured. Newspaper reports create rumors that the Boeing 727 involved is N844AAN844AAOn May 25, 2003, a Boeing 727-223 registered as N844AA was stolen from Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Luanda, Angola. Its disappearance prompted a world-wide search by the FBI and the CIA.- The 727-aircraft :...
, which had disappeared after being stolen in May, but the rumors prove unfounded; the accident aircraft is 3X-GDO.
March
- March 6 - Bell/Agusta BA609Bell/Agusta BA609The AgustaWestland AW609, formerly the Bell/Agusta BA609, is a civil twin-engined tiltrotor VTOL aircraft with a configuration similar to the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey.-Design and development:...
- March 7 - HAL HJT-36HAL HJT-36The HAL HJT-36 Sitara is a subsonic intermediate jet trainer aircraft developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy...
. - March 29 - Ullmann 2000 PantherUllmann 2000 PantherThe Ullmann 2000 Panther is an American four-seat high-wing cabin monoplane designed by Ullmann Aircraft Company of Wichita, Kansas to be sold as kits for Amateur construction.-Design and development:...
prototype N202KT
May
- May 20 - SpaceShipOne (first captive flight, unmanned)
- May 29 - Van's Aircraft RV-10Van's Aircraft RV-10-See also:-References:* -External links:*...
prototype N410RV
August
- August 1 - First successful supersonic flight of the HALHindustan Aeronautics LimitedHindustan Aeronautics Limited based in Bangalore, India, is one of Asia's largest aerospace companies. Under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence, this state-owned company is mainly involved in aerospace industry, which includes manufacturing and assembling aircraft, navigation and...
Light Combat Aircraft'sHAL TejasThe HAL Tejas is a lightweight multirole fighter developed by India. It is a tailless, compound delta-wing design powered by a single engine. It came from the Light Combat Aircraft programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India's ageing MiG-21 fighters...
(LCA's) first technology demonstrator, TD-1. - August 7 - SpaceShipOne (first free-flight)