1991 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1991.

Events

January

Air Dolomiti begins flight operations, offering service between Genoa and Trieste, Italy.
January 8 – At a substantial financial loss, Midway Airlines sells its hub at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to USAir. The sale leaves Midway Airlines with only its original hub, at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.
January 9 – L'Express Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to increasing fuel costs. It continues to fly, however, operating 80 daily flights by the summer of 1991
January 16 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental Airlines.
January 17 – Operation Desert Storm begins as U.S.-led forces attack Iraq in a massive air assault after a United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from occupied Kuwait passes unheeded. United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, French Air Force, and other Coalition aircraft participate. The F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter makes its first successful combat sortie, destroying an Iraqi telecommunications facility. U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, fly a non-stop 35-hour, round-trip mission to strike Iraqi targets, the longest combat mission in history up to that time, and employ the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile in combat for the first time. The Iraqi national integrated air defense system collapses within the first two hours after shooting down only one Coalition aircraft (a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet), and the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has its commander executed. During the first 14 hours of the bombardment, the attacking aircraft fly more than 1,000 sorties and drop 18,000 tons (16,329,493 kg) of explosives; they lose three of their number – one American, one British, and one Kuwaiti plane – during the day, all to Iraqi ground fire. Iraq loses 10 aircraft in air-to-air combat during the day.
January 21 – The Soviet Union commissions the "heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser" Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. A hybrid ship combining the capability of a Western aircraft carrier to operate high-performance fighters for fleet air defense with the heavy shipboard anti-ship missile armament of Soviet guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight deck similar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
January 21 – An Iraqi surface-to-air missile shoots down a U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and a United States Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes in the Gulf War. Coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties against Iraqi forces since Operation Desert Storm began, targeting command-and-control centers, airfields, and Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers. They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.
January 22 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U.S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes. Four U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.
January 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II and a U.S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes. U.S. Navy aircraft attack Iraqi Navy ships; A-6Es sink a Zhuk-class patrol boat and Spasilac-class minelayer and cause a minesweeper taking evasive action to strike an Iraqi mine and sink, and a force of A-6Es and F/A-18 Hornets hit four ships in an attack on Umm Qasr naval base.
January 26 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles. U.S. Navy A-6Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning. Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses.
January 28 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II over Faylakah Island, and a U.S. Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes.
January 30 – Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters (employing Sea Skuas), Royal Air Force Jaguars, and U.S. Navy A-6Es (using Rockeye cluster bombs) attack an Iraqi naval convoy made up of a minesweeper, three fast-attack craft, and three landing craft carrying troops and ammunition, breaking up the second and final seaborne component of Iraqi forces in the Battle of Khafji. The Coalition reports that thus far in the Gulf War it has destroyed or disabled 46 Iraqi naval vessels, although another report at about this time claims the total is about 60.

February

February 1
In the Gulf War, a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder hits an Iraqi Navy patrol boat near Min-al-Bakr oil terminal, leaving it burning.
USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300 with 89 people on board, collides with Skywest Flight 5569, a Fairchild Metro III carrying 12 people, on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California, killing 22 people on the USAir plane and everyone aboard the Skywest aircraft. Thirty people on the USAir plane are injured, 13 of them seriously.
February 2 – Coalition aircraft attack Iraqi Navy vessels at the Al Kalia naval facility, hitting a missile boat with two laser-guided bombs and straddling another with twelve 500-pound (227-kg) bombs; helicopters from the American guided-missile frigate engage four Iraqi patrol boats near Maradim Island, destroying one and damaging two; and U.S. Navy A-6Es destroy an Iraqi patrol boat in Kuwait Harbor with two laser-guided bombs.
February 3
Returning from a strike against Iraqi forces, a U.S. Air Force B-52G Stratofortress attempting to land at Diego Garcia crashes on final approach. A U.S. Navy Grumman F-14 Tomcat of Fighter Squadron 1 (VF-1) aboard the aircraft carrier shoots down an Iraqi Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter, the last of the five kills F-14s score during the Tomcats career in U.S. Navy service.
A Boeing KC-135E Stratotanker was involved in an accident when two engines on the left wing detached from the aircraft. The pilots managed to execute an emergency landing saving all four crew members onboard. The aircraft was later repair and returned to service.
February 7
U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles use AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missiles to shoot down three Iraqi Air Force Sukhoi Su-22s (NATO reporting name "Fitter") flying to Iran, as well as an Iraqi Mil Mi-24 (NATO reporting name "Hind") helicopter in northern Iraq; a U.S. Navy F-14A Tomcat of Fighter Squadron 1 uses an AIM-9 Sidewinder missile to down an Iraqi Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter; and a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II of the 926th Tactical Fighter Group uses 30-mm cannon fire to shoot down an Iraqi Bo 105 helicopter.
February 10 - Two parked Iraqi Airways Tupulevs are destroyed by Coalition jet fighters at Baghdad Saddam Hussein Int'l airport.
February 11 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing use AIM-7 Sparrow missiles to shoot down two Iraqi helicopters. Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Saudi Air Force F-5E Tiger II fighter over southwestern Iraq. The United States reports that Coalition airstrikes against Iraqi military forces in Kuwait have destroyed 1,300 of Iraq's 4,280 tanks, 850 of its 2,870 armored personnel carriers, and 1,100 of its 3,110 artillery pieces there.
February 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II near Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait.
February 25 – 63 U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopters lift the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) 155 miles (250 km) behind Iraqi ground forces attempting to retreat from Kuwait, cutting them off. This will allow Coalition aircraft and ground forces to annihilate the trapped Iraqi units on Highway 8 between Basra and Baghdad.
An American OV-10D Bronco becomes the last Coalition aircraft lost in combat during the Gulf War.
United Airlines Flight 585, a Boeing 737-291, experiences a rudder hardover on final approach to Colorado Springs Municipal Airport at Colorado Springs, Colorado, and dives into the ground, killing all 25 people on board. First Officer Patricia Eidson becomes the first female pilot to die in an accident involving an American pure-jet airliner.
March 5
Aeropostal Alas de Venezuela Flight 108, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes into a mountain shrouded in fog near La Valesa, Venezuela, killing all 45 people on board.
Blackhawk International Airways is incorporated.
March 9 – Retired American baseball player Jim Hardin is killed when the propeller of his Beechcraft 35-C-33A Bonanza fails due to metal fatigue just after takeoff from Key West International Airport in Key West, Florida, and the plane crashes while he is attempting to return to the airport to make an emergency landing.
March 16 – While American singer Reba McEntire and her husband sleep in a nearby hotel, eight members of her band along with the pilot and copilot are killed when a chartered Hawker Siddeley DH.125-1A/522 crashes into Otay Mountain 10 minutes after takeoff from Brown Field Municipal Airport in San Diego, California.
March 26 – Four armed men claiming to be members of the Pakistan Peoples Party hijack Singapore Airlines Flight 117, an Airbus A310-300 with 123 other people on board, during a flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Singapore. After the aircraft lands at Singapore Changi Airport, they demand the release of Asif Ali Zardari and other members of their party from jail. The following morning, they push two stewards from the plane onto the tarmac, injuring them, and threaten to begin killing passengers, after which the Singapore Armed Forces Commando Formation storms the plane and kills all four hijackers without further injury to anyone else on board.

April

KLM Cityhopper commences operations after NLM CityHopper and NetherLines merged.
With negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa underway since the previous year, Air Zaïre begins service to Johannesburg, South Africa.
April 4 – United States Senator H. John Heinz III and six others are killed when his Piper Aerostar and a Bell 412 helicopter collide over Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and crash.
April 5 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 2311, an Embraer 120RT Brasilia, crashes on approach to Brunswick, Georgia, killing all 23 people on board. Among the dead are former United States Senator John Tower, his daughter Marian, astronaut Manley "Sonny" Carter, American College of Physicians president-elect Dr. Nicholas Davies, and professional golfer Davis Love, Jr., the father of golfer Davis Love III.
April 30 – Interflug, formerly the national airline of East Germany, makes its last flight, a Tupolev Tu-134 flying the Berlin-Vienna-Berlin route. Interflug subsequently is dissolved and its assets liquidated.

May

Iraqi Airways, which has not flown since the Gulf War earlier in the year, attempts to resume service. The United Nations grants it permission to operate a domestic service only, and only using helicopters.
May 3 – After merging with Universair, Alisarda is renamed Meridiana.
May 24–25 – Over a 36-hour period, Israel conducts Operation Solomon, a secret operation to airlift almost the entire Jewish population of Ethiopia 1,500 miles (2,415 km) to Israel. The operation involves 35 aircraft – Israeli Air Force C-130 Hercules, El Al airliners, and a single Ethiopian airliner – making 40 flights, with 28 aircraft in the air simultaneously at one point overnight. Five babies are born aboard the planes during the flights. On May 24, an El Al Boeing 747 cargo plane participating in the operation sets the record for the largest number of people transported in one flight by any single aircraft of any type in history, carrying 1,087 people; three babies are born aboard the 747 during the flight.
May 26 – Minutes after takeoff from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, a thrust reverser deploys in flight aboard Lauda Air Flight 004, the Boeing 767-3Z9ER Mozart, causing it to stall, dive, and disintegrate at 4,000 feet (1,219 m). Its wreckage falls over a wide area in what is now Phu Toei National Park in Uthai Thani province, Thailand. All 223 people on board die.

June

June 14 – Julie Ann Gibson becomes the first woman to qualify as a pilot with the Royal Air Force.
June 17 – Alaska Airlines commences services to the Soviet Union.

July

July 1 – Trans World Airlines chairman Carl Icahn sells the airline's route authorities to London from Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City to American Airlines for $445 million.
July 8 – A U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet fighter is forced to shoot down an E-2 Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft after its crew abandons it following an engine fire.
July 10 – Attempting an instrument approach to Birmingham Municipal Airport (now Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport) in severe thunderstorms, L'Express Airlines Flight 508, a Beechcraft C99, crashes in the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama, killing 13 of the 15 people on board and injuring the two survivors and four people on the ground. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in Alabamas history.
July 11 – An under-inflated tire overheats and starts a fire on board Nigeria Airways Flight 2120, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8-61, shortly after takeoff from King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The flight crew attempts to return to the airport, but the airliner crashes short of the runway, killing all 261 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident involving a DC-8.
July 17 – Death of Arthur Raymond Brooks, age 95, at his home in Summit, New Jersey; he is the last surviving American World War I ace to have served in a U.S. Squadron.
July 24 – Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq ends and is succeeded immediately by Operation Provide Comfort II, a more straightforwardly military operation to prevent Iraqi forces from attacking Iraqi Kurds. It includes a no-fly zone for Iraqi military aircraft over Iraq north of the 36th parallel enforced by American, British, and French aircraft.
July 31 – American race car driver Al Loquasto and his passenger are killed when the wings of a Piper PA-28-236 Cherokee he is piloting separate from its fuselage in flight in a violent thunderstorm and it crashes.
August 16 – Indian Airlines Flight 257, a Boeing 737-2A8, crashes on descent into Imphal, India, killing all 69 people on board.

September

September 8–12 – The 35th Annual Tailhook Association Symposium – an annual gathering of U.S. naval aviators – takes place at the Las Vegas Hilton in Las Vegas, Nevada. During the symposium, over 100 U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps officers are alleged to have sexually assaulted 83 women and seven men in what becomes known as the Tailhook scandal. Resulting investigations conducted by the Department of the Navy, the Inspector General of the Department of Defense, and others lead to the resignation of Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett III, the early retirement of Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Frank B. Kelso II, and a total of 14 admirals and almost 300 other officers having their careers ended or damaged. The Department of the Navy severs its ties to the Tailhook Association from October 1991 until January 1999.
September 11 – Continental Express Flight 2574, an Embraer EMB 120RT Brasilia operated by Britt Airways, crashes near Eagle Lake, Texas, while on approach to George Bush International Airport in Houston, Texas, killing all 14 people on board.
September 20 – Lithuanian Airlines – the future FlyLAL-Lithuanian Airlines – is founded as the flag carrier of Lithuania.
September 27 – Trans European Airways goes out of business.

October

October 25 – American impresario and rock concert promoter Bill Graham, another passenger, and the pilot die when their Bell 206B helicopter, off course and flying too low in high winds and rain, strikes a 223-foot (68-meter) transmission tower and explodes west of Vallejo, California.
January 16 - Terzi T30 Katana
April 27 – Eurocopter Tiger
May 31 – Pilatus PC-12
October 25 – Airbus A340
Westland 30

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was Nigeria Airways Flight 2120, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 which crashed near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on 11 July, killing all 261 people on board.

References

Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1991–92. Coulsdon, UK: Jane's Defence Data, 1991. .
Lambert, Mark (ed.) Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1992–93. Coulsdon, Surry, UK: Jane's Data Division, 1992. .