1988 in aviation

thumb|[[Universair Boeing 737-300 in 1988]]

This is a list of aviation-related events in 1988.

Events

January

During the first week of January, the Iraqi Air Force hits a Greek-owned commercial cargo ship with an Exocet missile in the Persian Gulf.
During early January, Iran experiments with the use of AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles in antishipping strikes in the Persian Gulf. The Mavericks warhead proves too small to inflict significant damage on merchant ships.
January 1 – The United States Government begins to track the on-time-arrival and baggage-handling performance of United States airlines.
January 15 – Since January 1, Iraq has conducted five airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and one against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out two air attacks against Persian Gulf shipping, but none against urban and economic targets in Iraq.
January 19 – Mid Pacific Air ceases all passenger service to Hawaii. It will cease all cargo service to Hawaii a month later.
January 26 – The French Ministry of Defense approves full-scale development of the Dassault Rafale.
January 27 – An Iraqi Air Force Mirage F-1 flies an attack profile against the United States Navy dock landing ship in the Persian Gulf, apparently not realizing the identity of its target. Another United States Navy ship establishes radio contact with the Mirage pilot and warns him off before he can fire at Portland.
During the month, the United States Navy withdraws the last of the eight RH-53D Sea Stallion minesweeping helicopters it had deployed to the Persian Gulf in August 1987 to assist in the clearing of Iraqi and Iranian naval mines.
In mid-February, an Iraqi Air Force Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name "Badger") bomber fires Silkworm missiles which come within eight nautical miles (15 km) of a convoy escorted by United States Navy ships.
February 27 – The Iraqi Air Force carries out a major raid against the Rey oil refinery in Tehran, badly damaging it and forcing Iran to resume rationing of petroleum products.
March 8
The Iraqi Air Force hits an Iranian ship for the first time since February 9, beginning a series of regular Iraqi attacks against shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iraq claims it has hit 23 ships in the Persian Gulf since January 1, but shipping companies confirm only nine ships damaged.
March 19 – The Iraqi Air Force conducts a major raid against Irans Kharg Island, setting two tankers ablaze and killing 46 crewmen.

April

The Mexican government-owned airline Aeroméxico is declared bankrupt and grounded. After privatization, it will resume operations in October with a new corporate identity but still marketed as Aeroméxico.
April 7 – The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force stages a raid against Baghdad, inflicting little damage and apparently losing one aircraft.
April 8 – Pacific Southwest Airlines shuts down operations and is integrated to US Air.
April 15 – Since April 1, Iraq has conducted two airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and 38 against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out one air attack against Persian Gulf shipping and 85 against urban or economic targets in Iraq.
April 18
The United States Navy conducts Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian forces and facilities in the Persian Gulf. A-6E Intruders from the aircraft carrier sink a speedboat, assist surface ships in sinking the frigate Sahand, and cripple the frigate Sabalan. Two Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-4 Phantom II fighters approach the guided-missile cruiser , which damages one of them with a surface-to-air missile.
Al-Faw falls to Iraqi forces, and Iran makes an unfounded claim that American attack helicopters have supported the Iraqi offensive.
April 23 – Kanellos Kanellopoulos recreates the mythical flight of Daedalus by flying a pedal-powered aircraft, the MIT Daedalus, from Crete to Santorini, covering the in 3 hours 54 minutes.
April 28 – Aloha Airlines Flight 243 suffers an explosive decompression in flight over the Hawaiian Islands, with the roof blowing off the Boeing 737-200 from the cockpit to just in front of the wings. All 90 passengers and four of the five crew survive; one flight attendant is swept out of the plane and falls to her death.
April 30 – Since April 16, Iraq has conducted two airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and seven against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out five air attacks against Persian Gulf shipping and 58 against urban or economic targets in Iraq.
May 10 – Airbus A300s are delivered to American Airlines and enter service with the airline.
May 14; An Iraqi airforce jet fires missiles at an oil tanker, the Jahre Viking ( at the time the biggest tanker in the world ). The ship is on fire and sinks, but it is refloated repaired and used for some more years.
May 15 – Since May 1, Iraq has conducted 12 airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and two against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out no airstrikes.
May 29 – Saudi Arabian investor and businessman Salem bin Laden, a half-brother and cousin of future al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, dies when the Spirit ultralight aircraft he is piloting near San Antonio, Texas, strikes overhead power lines and falls to the ground.
May 30 – The first aircraft carrier to be built in Spain, Principe de Asturias, is commissioned into the Spanish Navy.
May 31 – Since May 16, Iraq has conducted two airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and two against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out five air attacks against Persian Gulf shipping, but none against urban or economic targets in Iraq.
June 8 – Operating in the Persian Gulf, the United States Navy guided-missile frigate orders an airliner operating as British Airways Flight 147 to turn away or risk being fired upon, the airliner comes into a near-miss situation with another airliner, prompting the Dubai air traffic control center to lodge a formal protest.
June 15 – Since June 1, Iraq has conducted three airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf, but nine against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out no air attacks.
June 18 – The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran ground forces launch an offensive, recapturing the city of Mehran, Iran. The goal was to occupy the Iranian border city of Mehran to control its oil fields, as well as Kurdish villages in the region.
June 23 – The Iraqi Air Force launches its heaviest attack against urban and economic targets in Iran in two months, setting six crude oil production units in Ahwaz, two oil pumping stations in Bibi Hakemeh, and two oil installations at Kaj Saran ablaze.
June 26 – The first crash of an Airbus A320 occurs when Air France Flight 296, an Airbus A320-111 carrying 130 passengers and a crew of six, makes a low-altitude, low-speed flyby with landing gear down as part of an air show at Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport in France, strikes trees beyond the runway, and crashes. Three passengers die and 50 people on board are injured.
June 30 – The Iraqi Air Force strikes an Iranian natural gas facility and an Iranian offshore oil platform.
July 12 – Two United States Army helicopters exchange fire with two Iranian gunboats in the Persian Gulf east of Farsi Island, forcing the Iranian vessels to break off their attack on the tanker Universal Monarch.
July 13 – A British International Helicopters Sikorsky S-61N helicopter ditches in the North Sea northeast of Sumburgh Airport, Shetland, Scotland, without injury to any of the 21 people on board.
July 14 – Sichuan Airlines begins flight operations. Its first route is between Chengdu and Wanzhou, China.
July 15 – Since July 1, Iraq has conducted five airstrikes against shipping in the Persian Gulf and three against urban and economic targets in Iran, while Iran has carried out five air attacks against Persian Gulf shipping, but none against urban or economic targets in Iraq.
August 20
Since August 1, Iraq has conducted five airstrikes against urban and economic targets in Iran, but has not attacked Persian Gulf shipping, while Iran has carried out one air attack against Persian Gulf shipping but has not launched air attacks against urban or economic targets in Iraq.
August 28 – The Ramstein airshow disaster takes place during a performance by the Italian Air Force Frecce Tricolori aerobatic demonstration team at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany when three Aermacchi MB-339 PAN aircraft collide, killing all three pilots and 67 spectators on the ground and injuring 346 people. It is the worst air show accident in history.
August 31 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1141, a Boeing 727, crashes on takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Euless, Texas, killing 14 and injuring 76 of the 108 people on board.

September

September 7 – Trans World Airlines stockholders approve majority owner Carl Icahn's proposal to take the company private. The transaction earns $610.3 million for the stockholders – of which $469 million goes to Icahn – and adds $539.7 million to the airline's debt.
September 10 – Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force aircraft bomb the Iraqi nuclear reactor at Tuwaitha.
September 15 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 604, a Boeing 737-260, strikes a flock of speckled pigeons during takeoff from Bahir Dar Airport at Bahir Dar, Ethiopia. Both of its engines ingest birds and lose thrust as the aircraft returns to the airport, and the plane catches fire during a belly landing. Thirty-five of the 104 people on board die.
September 30 – American race car driver Al Holbert is fatally injured when the Piper PA-60-601P Aerostar he is piloting crashes near Columbus, Ohio, just after takeoff because its clamshell door is not closed.

October

October 1 – The privately owned airline Aerovias de Mexico SA de CV begins flight operations, using the remaining assets of its predecessor, the Mexican government-owned Aeroméxico, which had ceased operations in April due to bankruptcy. The new airline also operates as Aeroméxico.
October 5 – Donald Trump makes arrangements to purchase the Eastern Air Lines Shuttle. The deal will be completed in June 1989.
October 12 – A Bar Harbor Airlines ATR 42 loses the required separation between it and Air Force One while both are descending to land at Newark International Airport. The minimum distance between the two aircraft was vertically and horizontally.
October 17 – Uganda Airlines Flight 775, a Boeing 707-338C, crashed while trying to land at Rome Fiumicino Airport, Rome, Italy. Out of the 52 occupants on board, 19 survive.
October 19 – Indian Airlines Flight 113, a Boeing 737-2A8, strikes trees and a high-tension pylon while on approach in fog to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, and crashes, killing 130 of the 135 people on board and leaving all five survivors injured.

November

November 2 – LOT Flight 703, an Antonov An-24W, crash-lands at Białobrzegi, Poland, when its engines shut down due to atmospheric icing while the aircraft is on approach to Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport. One person is killed in the crash, but the other 28 people on board evacuate quickly, escaping before the plane bursts into flame; among the survivors is Polish radio presenter Tomasz Beksiński. As a result of the crash, LOT Polish Airlines replaces all of its An-24s with ATR 42 and ATR 72 aircraft.
November 10 – The United States Air Force publicly unveils the Lockheed F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter. It had been operational secretly since 1983.
November 18 – Malév Hungarian Airlines begins phasing out its Soviet-era planes with the introduction of its first Western-designed aircraft, a Boeing 737-200. It is the first airline in a Communist Eastern European country to acquire a Western-built aircraft.

December

Flying Tiger Line is sold to Federal Express. It will complete its merger with Federal Express in August 1989.
December 8 – A United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II on a low-level flying exercise crashes into the upper floor of an apartment complex in a residential area of Remscheid, West Germany, killing the pilot and five people on the ground and injuring 50 others.
December 16 – A Learjet 24B flying from Memphis International Airport in Memphis, Tennessee, to Addison, Texas, overshoots its destination. After air traffic controllers fail to contact its two-person crew – one of them National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut candidate Susan Reynolds – a United States Air Force T-38 Talon intercepts it and finds it flying with frost apparently inside its cockpit windows, but also cannot communicate with its crew. The Learjet flies into Mexico and crashes near Cuatro Ciénegas in Coahuila, Mexico, after it runs out of fuel, killing both crew members.
December 21 – Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 flying from London to New York City, and carrying many American passengers home for Christmas, explodes over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 on board and eleven on the ground. English rock musician Paul Jeffreys and his new wife, flying to their honeymoon, are among the dead.

First flights

February

February 11 – Cirrus VK-30
February 19 – Boeing 737-400
May 8 – Starr Bumble Bee II

June

June 14 – Schweizer 330 N330TT also first flight of the Williams International FJ44 turbofan engine.
July 14 – Socata TBM700 F-WTBM
July 19 – LoPresti Fury
August 25 – FFV Aerotech BA-14 Starling.
August 28 – Hoffmann H-40 D-EIOF.

September

September 28 – Ilyushin Il-96

October

October 15 – MBB Bo 108 D-HBOX.
October 27 – ATR 72 F-WWEY.

December

December 9 – JAS 39 Gripen.
December 12 – CMC Leopard G-BKRL.
December 21 – Antonov An-225 Mriya
December 28 – Let L-610 OK-130.

Entered service

April

April 29 – Airbus A320 with British Airways

May

May 9 – British Aerospace ATP with British Midland

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300 which was shot down over the Strait of Hormuz on 3 July, killing all 290 people on board. Later that year, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard Pan Am Flight 103, a Boeing 747 which then crashed into Lockerbie, Scotland on 21 December, killing all 259 people on board as well as 11 on the ground; this disaster may have been aided by Iran in reaction to the shootdown of Flight 655 not six months earlier.

References

Lambert, John. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1990–91. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1990. .
Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1988–89. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1988. .
Taylor, John W. R. (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1989–90. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1988. .