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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1989.

Events

  • Lauda Air initiates in first long-haul service, offering flights from between Vienna, Austria, and Melbourne and Sydney, Australia.

January

  • January 1 – Norway forms the Accident Investigation Board for Civil Aviation – the future Accident Investigation Board Norway – within its Ministry of Transport and Communications.
  • January 4
  • Two United States Navy F-14 Tomcats of Fighter Squadron 32 (VF-32) aboard the aircraft carrier shoot down two Libyan Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23s (NATO reporting name "Flogger") off the coast of Libya using AIM-7 Sparrow and AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles. They are the third and fourth of five kills scored by F-14s during the Tomcats career in U.S. Navy service.
  • Two French television journalists are arrested for trying to plant fake bombs – each consisting of a package containing molding clay, an alarm clock, wires, and the message "Congratulations! You have found our phony bomb!" – aboard three airliners at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City bound for Paris, France, as a test of airport security, planning that their colleagues will film the arrival of the packages in Paris. The charges ultimately will be dropped in 1994.
  • January 8 – Attempting to make an emergency landing at East Midlands Airport in Castle Donington in North West Leicestershire, England, British Midland Flight 092, a Boeing 737-4Y0 crashes just short of the runway on an embankment of the M1 motorway, killing 47 of the 126 people on board.

February

  • February 8 – On approach to Santa Maria Airport in the Azores, Independent Air Flight 1851, a chartered Boeing 707-331B, crashes into Pico Alto on Santa Maria Island after a misunderstanding between its crew and air traffic control. All 144 people on board died.
  • February 19 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 066, a Boeing 747-247F cargo aircraft, crashes near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, killing the entire crew of four.
  • February 24 – A cargo door failure causes a piece of fuselage to detach from United Airlines Flight 811, a Boeing 747-122, over the Pacific Ocean near Honolulu, Hawaii. Nine people are sucked from the plane by explosive decompression to their deaths. Another 38 people are injured. The plane lands safely at Honolulu International Airport.

March

  • March 10 – Unable to clear trees beyond the end of the runway due to ice and snow on its wings, Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F28-1000 Friendship, crashes 15 seconds after takeoff from Dryden Regional Airport in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, killing 24 of the 69 people on board and injuring all 45 survivors.
  • March 22 – An Antonov An-225 Mriya sets a total of 106 world and class records during a 3-hour, 30-minute flight. Its total weight at take-off is 508,200&nbsp;kg (1,129,370&nbsp;lb).
  • March 26 – The airline Binter Canarias, a subsidiary of Iberia, begins flight operations.

April

  • Vietnam Airlines is established as a state-owned enterprise of the Government of Vietnam. It becomes the national airline.
  • April 1 – Burma Airways is renamed Myanma Airways. It eventually will become Myanmar National Airlines.
  • April 12 – A British Airways Concorde loses a large piece of its rudder on a flight between Christchurch, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. The plane makes a safe landing at Sydney Airport and the plane is repaired.
  • April 21 – U.S. Air Force Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird 61–7974 Item 2025, outbound on an operational sortie from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, suffers an engine explosion and total hydraulic failure. The crew eject safely. It is the final Blackbird loss before the type is withdrawn from service.

May

  • May 13 – An Antonov An-225 Mriya carries the Soviet Buran orbiter for the first time.
  • June 23 – Trump Airlines begins operations.
  • June 26 – East Germany's national airline, Interflug, takes delivery of its first Western-built airliner, an Airbus A310.

July

  • July 4 – Crash of an unmanned MiG-23 in Kortrijk, Belgium. The pilot had believed he was experiencing an engine failure shortly after take-off from the Soviet airbase near Kołobrzeg, Poland and had ejected, while the aircraft continued on autopilot for 900&nbsp;km (559 miles), until running out of fuel. One 18-year-old teenager on the ground was killed in the crash.
  • July 16 – European air traffic is halted due to industrial action by French air traffic controllers.
  • July 19 – United Airlines Flight 232, a Douglas DC-10, suffers decompression in and catastrophic failure of its tail-mounted engine, knocking out all its flight controls. In what is considered a prime example of successful crew resource management, the planes crew manages to use engine throttles to fly the plane to Sioux City, Iowa, where it crashes on landing. Although 112 of the people on board die, the crew is credited with saving the other 184 by coaxing the aircraft to Sioux City.

August

  • 3 August 1989: an Olympic Aviation Short 330, operating as Olympic Aviation Flight 545, crashed on a hillside in Samos island, Greece, while attempting a landing approach in thick fog. All 3 crew members and 31 passengers were killed.
  • August 5 – Piedmont Airlines merges into USAir.
  • August 7
  • Mickey Leland, a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Texas's 18th Congressional District, and all of the other 15 people on board are killed when a de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter (registration ET-AIL) crashes into a mountain near Gambela, Ethiopia, while flying at low altitude in thunderstorms during a refugee relief inspection flight.
  • Flying Tiger Line merges into Federal Express.
  • August 9 – L'Express Airlines begins operations, offering 45 weekly flights to seven Louisiana cities: Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, New Orleans, and Shreveport.
  • August 13 – Larkin I. Smith, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing Mississippi's 5th Congressional District, and his pilot are killed when their Cessna 177 Cardinal crashes in a forest near Janice, Mississippi, while flying in hazy weather.

November

  • November 6 – Braniff Inc.—the second airline to use the Braniff name, operating under bankruptcy protection since late September 1989—ends scheduled commercial flights and lays off most employees.
  • November 8 – A McDonnell Douglas KC-10A Extender tanker aircraft refuels a Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit bomber in the air. It is the first aerial refueling of a B-2.
  • November 12 – California Polytechnic State University flies the first human-powered helicopter.
  • November 15 – Midway Airlines begins operating its second hub, located at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • November 25 - A Korean Air Fokker F28-4000 crashed on takeoff due to engine failure caused by icing, killing 1 passenger.
  • November 27 – Five minutes after takeoff from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia. a bomb planted by the Medellin drug cartel in an attempt to assassinate Colombian presidential candidate César Gaviria Trujillo explodes aboard Avianca Flight 203, a Boeing 727, while it is over Soacha, Colombia. All 107 people on board die in the resulting crash, as do three people on the ground. Gaviria is not on the plane.

December

  • December 10 – California Polytechnic State Universitys Da Vinci III makes the first flight by a human-powered helicopter, remaining airborne for 7.1 seconds and reaching an altitude of 20&nbsp;cm (8 inches).
  • December 15
  • All four engines of a KLM Boeing 747-400 operating KLM Flight 867 with 245 people on board, shut down when the plane flies through a volcanic ash cloud from Mount Redoubt during its descent to Anchorage International Airport. After descending more than 14,000 feet (4,267 m) without power, the crew successfully restart the engines and the plane lands safely. This incident is similar to British Airways Flight 9 that occurred in 1982.
  • Atlantic Coast Airlines begins flight operations. It operates as United Express for United Airlines.
  • December 20 – The United States invasion of Panama, Operation Just Cause, begins with over 300 U.S. military aircraft participating. The U.S. Air Forces F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter and the U.S. Armys AH-64 Apache attack helicopter make their combat debuts. One of the first U.S. operations is an air assault by the 1st Battalion (Airborne) of the U.S. Armys 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment which secures Fort Amador.
  • December 24 – Major combat operations in Operation Just Cause conclude.
  • December 26 – United Express Flight 2415, a BAe Jetstream 31 operated by North Pacific Airlines, crashes on approach to Tri-Cities Airport at Pasco, Washington, in the United States, killing all six people on board.
  • December 30 – Air Dolomiti is founded. Flight operations begin in January 1991.
  • December 31 – U.S. airlines complete their worst ever recorded year for baggage handling: nearly eight suitcases per 1,000 passengers are reported lost, damaged, or misdirected during 1989.

First flights

January

  • January 2 – Tupolev Tu-204 CCCP-64001
  • January 11 – AASI Jetcruzer 450 N5369M
  • January 12 - Aerostar AG-6 YR-BGX
  • January 25 – MAC Mamba

March

  • March 19 – Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey 163911

April

  • April 30 – SOCATA TB 31 Oméga
  • April - ENAER Ñamcú

May

  • May 28 – AIDC Ching-Kuo
  • December 31 – Sukhoi Su-30 (NATO reporting name "Flanker-C")

Entered service

  • February 9 – Boeing 747-400 with Northwest Airlines
  • October 27 – ATR-72 with Karair

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was Surinam Airways Flight 764, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 which crashed during approach to Paramaribo, Suriname, on 7 June killing 176 of the 187 people aboard.

References

  • Lambert, Mark. (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1990–1991. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1990. .
  • Lambert, Mark. (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1992–93. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Data Division, 1993. .