Aviation Events of 1997

COMPILED BY MELVIN ZANZA ROLL NO: 31 REG NO : 12320398

January

 January 9 – Comair Flight 3272, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia crashes nose down in
Monroe USA 29 km short of the runway due to atmospheric icing all 29 passengers
aboard died
 IMAGE
February

 February 4 – Two Sikorsky CH-53 Sea stallion Yas’ur 2000 helicopters collide over
She’ur Yashur in Israel killing 73 Israeli soldiers
 Image
 March

 March 2 – Sailplane and Sailboat designer Lars Bergstrom is killed in crash while testing the stall
characteristics of an experimental Windex 1200 home built motorised sail plane near Sarasota Florida in the
USA
 March 10 : Gulf Air plane goes the wall at Abu Dhabi international airport the landing gear falls apart during
take-off leading to the plane’s severe damage fortunately there are no casualties
 March 13 : Operation Silverwake commences in which US citizens and third country citizens are evacuated
from Albania during unrest with the US Army CH – 47 Chinook Helicopters
 March 17 : Linda Finch , pilot and aviation historian recreates Amelia Earhart’s circumnavigation of the
globe flight in a restored specially equipped 62 year old Lockheed Model 10
 March 18 : During a charter flight from Stavropol Russia to Trabzon Turkey an Antonov An-24 crashes near
Prigorodny because of a badly damaged tail section that sustained heavy corrosion during extensive service
in Congo
 March 27 – Operation Silverwake comes to an end
 Images

(Above) Linda Finch and her Lockheed Model 10 Electra

aircraft before her expedition March 17 1997

March 10 crash images at Abu Dhabi international airport in

Dubai

Antonov An 12 crash site on March 18 in Russia

May

 May 8: A China Southern Airlines flight 3456 a Boeing 737-31B suffers serious damage
while attempting to land at Shenzhen Hungnam Airport in China ,the airliner subsequently
crashes during its second landing attempt killing 35 of 74 people and injuring 9 of the 39
survivors
 May 11 : Continental Airlines Flight 1760 a Boeing 735-524 with 54 people aboard
mistakenly lands safely at Cabanis Field 9.3 km away from the intended location at
Corpus Christi International Airport due to low hanging clouds
 Images

May 8 China Southern Airlines before take off (left) and at

crash site (right)

Continental Airlines flight disaster of May 11(above)

June

 June 6 : American aviation author and pilot Jeffery Ethell is killed when an engine on the Lockheed P-38
Lightning he is piloting fails leading to a crash
 June 8 : Ansett Australia begins service to Shanghai
 June 9 : Air Malta Flight KM 830 a Boeing 737-2Y5 adv is hijacked by two men with 78 passengers aboard.
The flight is diverted to Cologne Germany where the hijackers later surrendered to police after 3 hours
 July 7 : The NASA pathfinder UAV sets an unofficial record for both self powered and propeller driven
aircraft reaching 71350 feet ( 21800m) during a flight from Hawaii
 July 26: At the Ostend Air show in Belgium a pilot of the Jordanian Air force display team loses control of
his Walter Extra EA300s crashing at the end I the runway resulting in an explosion that kills him and eight
other civilians on the ground and injuring and additional 40 others
 July 31 – FedEx Express Flight 14 , a Douglas Md-NF cargo aircraft crashes while landing at Newark
International Airport New Jersey USA all 5 members sustained mild injuries but fortunately survived
 Images

NASA Pathfinder UAV in flight

July 26 Ostend Air show accident caused by Jordanian pilot

losing control of his Walter Extra EA300s
 August

 August 1 – Boeing and McDonnell Douglas complete a merger forming the Boeing
Company
 August 6 – Korean Air Flight 801 a Boeing 747-300 crashes on Nimitz Hill in Asan
Maina, Guam on landing approach to Antonio B Wen Pat international airport killing 228
of 254 people on board
 August 10 – Canadian filmmaker Jean Claude Lauzon and his passenger Canadian actress
Marie –Soleil Tougas die when their Cessna 180 K is buffeted by strong winds resulting
in a mountainside crash near Kujjuaq in Quebec
September

 September 3: Vietnamese Airlines Flight 815 a Tupolov Tu 134 crashes short of runway in a dry rice
paddy while on final approach to Phnom Penh International Airport in Cambodia killing 65 of the 66
people on board
 September 6: Royal Brunei Airlines Flight 238 a Dornier 228 crashes on a hillside in Malaysia’s Lambir
Hills National Park while on approach to Miri Airport killing all 10 people aboard,the wreckage was
recovered the following day
 September 8 : The Boeing 777-300 is rolled out at 73 metres it becomes the longest airliner ever built till
that date
 September 14 : At the Chesapeake Airshow in Maryland USA a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk of the USAF
7th Fighter Squadron loses its port wing during a pass over Martin State Airport crashing into residential
area in Bounty Quarters. The pilot managed to eject and only 4 civilians are mildly injured on the ground
 September 26 : Garada Indonesia Flight 152 an Airbus A300B4 -220 crashes 29 km from the airport while
on approach in low visibility to Medan Sumatra killing all 234 passengers
October

 October 10 – Austral Linda’s Areas Flight 2553 a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashes at
Nuevo Berlin Uruguay after its pitot tube freezes over causing the flight crew to receive
false readings that the plane was flying much slower than it should have been resulting in
catastrophic damage when they mistakenly opened the wing slats at high speed . The
aircraft struck the ground almost vertically at about 1200 km/h killing all 74 passengers
aboard
 October 12 – During an Air show I’m Cambridgeshire England the last airworthy
Messerschmitt BF109 has a malfunction of it’s Benz DB 605 engine causing it to
overshoot the runway and come to rest upside down it’s pilot, Air chief Marshal Sir John
Allison is uninjured
 John Denver died when his Ritalin Long –E 2 crashes into the Pacific Ocean
 Images

A downed Messerschmitt Cambridgeshire air show on

McDonnell Douglas DC 10 on runway icyober12 1997 ( no fatalities )
 December

 December 6 – A Russian Air force RA -82005 Antonov An -124 -100 crashes into Irkutsk after multiple engine fails
during its initial climb after take off. The crash kills all 23 people on board as well as 49 people on the ground

 December 10- A Tupolov Tu -145 operating as Tajikstan Airline flight 3183 crashes into the ground a few
kilometres away from the airport killing most of the people on-board
 December 16 : Unable to land successfully at New Brunswick Canada because of poor visibility Air Canada flight
646 a Cl -600 –ZB19 regional jet attempts a go around and crashes
 December 17 : After missed approach at Thessaloniki Greece, Aerosuit Flight 241 a Yakovlev Yak 42 attempts a go
around during which it crashes on Mount Time killing all 70 people on board. During the search for wreckage a
Greek air Force Lockheed Hercules also crashes near Athens killing its entire 5 man crew
 December 19 : Silk Air Flight a Boeing 737-36 N suddenly dives nearly vertically from 35000 feet (11000m)
breaking up in mid-air during the dive killing and dismembering all 104 people aboard. Investigations strongly
suggest the incident as an intentional malicious suicide act on the pilots part
 December 28 : United Airlines Flight 826 , a Boeing 747-100 encounters severe clear air turbulence I we the Pacific
ocean two hours after take-off from Narita International Airport Tokyo Japan bound for Honolulu International