Eastern Air Lines Flight 274, a
Boeing 727-25, makes a two-point landing at
Miami International Airport in
Miami,
Florida, after its nose wheel locks in the up position. There are no injuries to any of the 76 people on board and only minor damage is sustained by the airliner.
A
SADELCADouglas DC-3D on a domestic flight in
Colombia crashes into the cloud-covered mountain
Cerro Granada at an altitude of 6,800 feet (2,100 meters), killing all 12 people on board.[3]
A hijacker seizes control of
Piedmont Airlines Flight 964 – a
NAMC YS-11 with 14 people on board flying from
Kinston to
Wilmington,
North Carolina – demanding to be flown to Cuba. The plane lands at Kinston and then flies to
New Bern, North Carolina. The hijacker is taken down.[4]
March 9 – A hijacker takes control of a
China AirlinesBoeing 737-281 (registration B-1870) bound from
Kaohsiung,
Taiwan, to
Hong Kong. The hijacker is taken down at Hong Kong. There is one fatality during the incident.[9]
March 13 – Clay Thomas hijacks
United Air Lines Flight 696 – a
Boeing 727 with 75 people on board – shortly after it takes off from
San Francisco,
California, for a flight to
Seattle,
Washington. He orders the airliner to stop at
Oakland, California, to take on fuel for a flight to
Cuba. At Oakland, he releases all of the passengers and cabin crew, then panics when he sees police vehicles and orders the plane to take off again immediately without taking aboard a full load of fuel. Once the plane is airborne, the pilot explains that the plane still lacks the fuel to reach Cuba, and Thomas agrees to let it land at
Denver,
Colorado, to take on more fuel. At Denver, the pilot, copilot, and
flight engineer all jump to safety from the
cockpit windows to the
tarmac. With no hostages and no one to fly the plane left aboard, Thomas quietly surrenders to the police five minutes later.[14]
March 25 – A
Burma AirwaysFokker F27 Friendship 200 (registration XY-ADK) loses height during its initial climb after takeoff from
Mingaladon Airport in
Rangoon,
Burma, strikes trees, crashes in a rice paddy about 16 kilometers (9.9 miles) north of the airport, and burns, killing all 48 people on board.[15]
May 8 – The National Airlines
Boeing 727-235Donna, 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 11 – Two 29-year-old male passengers hijack
Avianca Flight 163 – a
Boeing 727-59 (registration HK-727) with 119 people on board making a domestic flight in
Colombia from
Santa Marta to
Bogotá – and force the airliner to divert to
Cali, Colombia. After it refuels, they order it to fly to
Aruba, where they release several passengers and the plane again refuels. The plane then flies to
Curaçao, where the hijackers release more passengers before policemen dressed as mechanics overpower and arrest them.[21]
May 16 – Two hijackers commandeer
Aeroméxico Flight 201 – a
Douglas DC-9-32 with 99 people on board making a domestic flight in
Mexico from
Torreón to
Mexico City – demanding the release of prisoners. They surrender after the airliner lands at Mexico City.[22]
A Belgian force of 1,171 paratroopers arrives at
Kamina, Zaire, in Belgian aircraft to intervene in the Shaba II crisis.[26]
Paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion jump into
Kolwezi, Zaire, from three French
Transall C-160 and four Zairian
C-130 Hercules aircraft to intervene against separatists during the Shaba II crisis, meeting little organized resistance.[26]
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.[26]
May 21 – American lyricist, screenwriter, director, and television producer
Bruce Geller is one of the two people killed when the
Cessna 337 Skymaster he is piloting crashes in foggy conditions in Buena Vista Canyon near
Santa Barbara,
California.[17]
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 29 – A hijacker seizes control of a CSA Czech Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 making a domestic flight in Czechoslovakia from Brno to
Karlovy Vary, demanding to be flown to West Germany. The airliner diverts to Prague, Czechoslovakia, where the hijacker is taken down.[28]
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.[26]
June
June 1 – The
Tupolev Tu-144 supersonic transport makes its 55th and final passenger flight, an
Aeroflot flight on the
Soviet Union's domestic
Moscow-
Alma-Ata route. Tu-144s have carried a total of 3,194 passengers, an average of 58 passengers per flight. Although it never carries passengers again, the Tu-144 will resume cargo service in
June 1979.
August 14 – Flying in worsening weather conditions, an
Aeropesca ColombiaCurtiss C-46F-1-CU Commando (registration HK-1350) drifts off course and crashes into
Mount Paramo de Laura near
Tota,
Colombia, killing all 18 people in board. Certified to carry only six passengers, it has 15 passengers on board at the time of the crash.[33]
September 9 – A
Lineas Aéreas del Centro de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 100 (registration XA-BOP) crashes in mountainous terrain near a highway 65 kilometers (40 miles) west of
Mexico City,
Mexico, killing 18 of the 21 people on board.[38]
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
chauffeuredlimousine ride home and 24 hours alone with his wife. Police storm his house and arrest him.
October 3 – After one of its engines fails, a
Finnish Air ForceDouglas C-47A-1-DK Skytrain attempts to return to
Kuopio Airport in
Siilinjärvi,
Finland. On approach, the aircraft crashes into
Lake Juurusvesi, killing all 15 people on board. The accident leads to the Finnish Air Force improving its pilot training for emergency situations and accelerating the retirement of its fleet of C-47 aircraft.[39]
October 24 –
PresidentJimmy 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.
November 10 – A
hijacker attempts to commandeer an
AeroflotAntonov An-24B (registration CCCP-46789) during a domestic flight in the
Soviet Union from
Grozny to
Baku, intending to force it to fly to
Turkey. He injures the
flight engineer, but is killed by a ricochet from his own gun when he opens fire on the airliner's armored
cockpit door. The plane diverts to
Makhachkala, where it lands safely.[47]
November 19 – An
Indian Air ForceAntonov An-12 on approach to
Leh Airport in
Leh,
India, crashes into a hut in the
Himalayas 0.5 kilometers (0.31 miles) from the airport and bursts into flames, killing all 77 people on the plane and a woman in the hut.[49]
November 23 – As
North Central Airlines Flight 468 – a
Douglas DC-9 with 23 people on board – sits on a runway at
Dane County Regional Airport in
Madison,
Wisconsin, preparing to take off for a flight to
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a man armed with a knife and claiming to have a bomb hijacks it, saying he wants to be flown to an unintelligible destination. During negotiations with the authorities, he releases the passengers and crew and locks himself in the
cockpit. Police force the cockpit door open and disarm and arrest him; he turns out to have no bomb. The airliner then proceeds with its flight to Milwaukee and then on to
Chicago,
Illinois.[51][52]
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.[53]
December 20 – Claiming to have explosives, two men hijack
Indian Airlines Flight 410 – a
Boeing 737-200 with 132 people on board making a domestic flight in
India from
Calcutta to
Lucknow – and force it to fly to
Varanasi, India. They demand the release of
Indira Gandhi, but surrender after four hours of negotiations. They turn out to be armed only with toy guns and a
cricket ball.[58]
December 21 – Seventeen-year-old Robin Oswald
hijacksTrans 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.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1983,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 27.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 314.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 76.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 321.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 102.
^Bach, Martin, Boeing 367 Stratofreighter, Boeing 377 Stratocruiser, Aero Spacelines Guppies, NARA Verlag, Allershausen 1996,
ISBN3-925671-18-8, p. 31.
^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,
ISBN0-945274-52-1, p. 188.
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Taylor, John W. R., ed. (1979). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1979–80. New York: Franklin Watts Inc.
ISBN0-531-03915-3.
Taylor, John W. R., ed. (1980). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1980–81. London: Jane's Publishing Company.
ISBN0-7106-0705-9.