This is a list of
aviation-related events from 1992.
Events
The
European Commission approves three new regulations to liberalize air travel within the
European Union. EU airlines are gradually given unlimited rights to serve airports in other member states, with the final round of reforms complete by April
1997.
The operations of Australia's two government airlines,
Australian Airlines and
Qantas, are merged in preparations for Qantas's privatisation, which will happen in 1995. Australian Airlines ceases to exist as a separate airline until 2002, when it will re-emerge as a
low-cost airline flying to destinations in Southeast Asia.
Iraqi Airways resumes
fixed-wing aircraft service for the first time since the
Gulf War in 1991, flying a domestic route between
Baghdad and
Basra. Flights soon cease, however, because of a
United Nations ruling that they are not permitted under the terms of the ceasefire that ended the war.
January 20 –
Air Inter Flight 148, an
Airbus A320-111, crashes in the
Vosges Mountains near
Barr, France, while circling to land at
Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board. Facing tough competition from French high-speed
TGV trains,
Air Inter had encouraged its pilots to fly at high speeds at low altitudes, and had not installed
ground proximity warning systems on its airliners because such systems generated too many nuisance alarms during high-speed, low-altitude flight. It is the deadliest accident in
Air Inter's history.
February 15 –
L'Express Airlines is grounded, its nine aircraft repossessed by the finance company of their manufacturer,
Beechcraft, due to non-payment.[3][4]
February 28 – L'Express Airlines officially shuts down its operations.[4]
March 24 – The
United States Department of Transportation announces that it will sign "
open skies" treaties with any countries that wish to reciprocate. The first "open skies" treaty is signed between the United States and the
Netherlands later in the year.
May 8 – Excavations begin at
Devonport Naval Base, near
Auckland, in search of two
Boeingseaplanes – the first two aircraft built by that company – supposedly buried there in
1919. The search proves fruitless.
May 16 – The 2,000th
C-130 Hercules rolls off the production line.
June 6 – Following faulty instrument readings during a night flight, the crew of
Copa Airlines Flight 201, a
Boeing 737-204 Advanced, unwittingly dives the airliner into the ground in a
jungle area of the
Darién Gap in Panama. The plane strikes the ground at 400 knots (460 mph; 740 km/h), killing all 47 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident in the history of Panamanian aviation and the only fatal accident in the history of Copa Airlines.
September 4 – A U.S. Air Force
B-2 Spirit bomber drops a bomb for the first time.[9]
September 26 – A
Nigerian Air ForceLockheed C-130H Hercules aircraft crashes shortly after takeoff from
Lagos,
Nigeria after three of its four engines fail. All 158 people on board, including 8 foreign nationals, are killed. The crash remains the deadliest one involving a Lockheed C-130 Hercules to date.
October 15 – Russian police detain 60 Russian scientists and their families as they prepare to board a plane at
Sheremetyevo Airport in
Moscow. Under questioning, the scientists admit that they were attempting to travel to
North Korea to help the North Koreans develop a modern
ballistic missile force.[13]
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Hermes House, 2006,
ISBN9781846810008, p. 285.