This is a list of aviation-related events from 2013.
Events
January
1 January
The rebel Kachin Independence Army reports that Myanmar Air Force aircraft attacking its positions in northern Myanmar have overflown the People's Republic of China during the day, penetrating as far as one kilometer (0.6-mile) into Chinese airspace.[1]
2 January
The Government of Myanmar admits for the first time that Myanmar Air Force jets and attack helicopters conducted air strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar on 30 December 2012, but claims that all of its other air operations in the area since late December 2012 have focused only on flying in supplies to Myanmar Army forces fighting Kachin rebels.[2]
Press observers report that the Myanmar Air Force has conducted daily strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar since 28 December 2012.[4]
In the Syrian Civil War, the Syrian Air Force conducts two air strikes on the rebel stronghold of Douma, Syria, killing 12 people.[6] Syrian rebels claim to have killed the commander of the Syrian government air base at Taftanaz.[6]
4 January
Syrian Air Force aircraft strike various suburbs around Damascus, including Douma.[6]
Syrian rebel forces continue attacks on the Syrian government air base at Taftanaz and Aleppo International Airport in Aleppo as part of a campaign to reduce government air capabilities by capturing air bases. Syrian Air Force aircraft strike rebel forces at Taftanaz.[6]
After a Japan Air Self-Defense ForceMitsubishi F-15 fighter intercepts a People's Republic of ChinaShaanxi Y-8 patrol aircraft operating near the disputed Senkaku (known in China as Diaoyu) Islands, two Chinese Chengdu J-10 fighters arrive and monitor the F-15. Japanese officials state that Japan has scrambled fighters to protect the islands 150 times in the previous year.[citation needed]
11 January
Helicopter-borne French commandos conduct a raid in Somalia to rescue the French intelligence agent Denis Allex from al-Shabaab, supported by U.S. Air Force combat aircraft. Allex dies during the raid, most likely killed by his captors. One French commando is killed in action, another is missing in action, and 17 al-Shabaab members are killed.[8][9]
Syrian rebels capture the government air base at Taftanaz.[10]
French Mirage 2000Ds strike Islamist positions around Konna, Mali.[11]
13 January
Syrian Air Force jets bomb the suburbs of Damascus and a marketplace in the town of Azaz, killing at least 20 people and injuring 99 in Azaz.[13][14]
French Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers hit Islamist targets in northern Mali, including attacks around Léré and Douentza and a strike on an Islamist rear headquarters in Gao, where they inflict dozens of casualties. French military transport aircraft bring several planeloads of French troops into Bamako.[11][12]
14 January
A Syrian government airstrike hits a house south of Damascus, killing at least five adults and eight children.[14]
Rafales join Mirage 200D jets and Gazelle attack helicopters as the French air campaign in Mali expands to strike Islamist forces in the central part of the country.[12]
16 January
During a domestic flight from Yamaguchi, Japan, to Haneda Airport in Tokyo, All Nippon Airways Flight 692, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, makes an emergency landing at Takamatsu Airport in Takamatsu after cockpit warning lights indicate a battery failure and the presence of smoke; one passenger is injured during the evacuation of the plane. Because of this incident and several others in recent days involving fuel leaks, a battery fire, a wiring problem, a glitch in the computer controlling the brakes, and a cracked cockpit window in various Boeing 787s around the world, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines both ground their Dreamliner fleets.[15] Later in the day, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration grounds all Boeing 787s in the United States.[16]
The European Aviation Safety Agency endorses the Federal Aviation Administration's grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliners.[19] By the end of the day, Dreamliners have been grounded worldwide pending investigation of the possibility of a fire hazard posed by their lithium-ion batteries.[20]
19 January
The Syrian Air Force strikes a mosque and a school building sheltering Syrian refugees in Salqin, Syria, killing and wounding dozens.[21]
Two American unmanned aerial vehicle strikes during the evening kill a total of eight people in Yemen'Ma'rib province, including at least two members of al-Qaeda.[22]
20 January
A Syrian Air Force strike against rebel-held areas in al-Barika reportedly kills seven people.[23]
Islamist rebel forces withdraw from Diabaly, Mali, to avoid further airstrikes after days of bombing by French aircraft. French aircraft have flown 140 bombing sorties since the French intervention in Mali began.[24]
22 January
An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Yemen's Al Jawf Governorate, killing three suspected al-Qaeda members.[25]
The United States announces that the United States Air Force has begun airlifting French military personnel and materiel into Mali, having made five flights thus far.[26]
An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Al-Masna`Ah, Yemen, killing six Islamic militants, including two senior al-Qaeda commanders.[30]
At the request of the United States, Niger agrees to allow the basing of American unmanned aerial vehicles on its territory, allowing the United States a greater surveillance capability over northern Mali and more broadly over the Sahara Desert.[37]
Israeli Air Force aircraft strike a target in Syria for the first time since 2007. The United States claims that the target was a truck convoy carrying antiaircraft weapons, but the Syrian government claims it was a nearby defense research facility in Jamraya, just north of Damascus.[38][39]
31 January
The bankrupt Indonesian airline Batavia Air ceases operations and goes into liquidation.
American Airlines and US Airways announce an $11,000,000,000 deal to merge, creating the world's largest airline, with 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights, and 95,000 employees. Under the deal, former US Airways management will dominate the merged airline, but the "US Airways" brand will disappear.[46]
After cutting a hole in a perimeter fence at Brussels Airport outside Brussels, Belgium, eight armed and masked men dressed as police officers drive in two vehicles displaying flashing blue lights onto the tarmac and confront guards loading a cargo of diamonds onto Helvetic Airways Flight LX789, a Fokker 100 passenger jet packed with passengers and preparing for departure for a flight to Zurich, Switzerland. They steal 120 small packages containing a combined $50,000,000 (£32,000,000) worth of diamonds in a three-minute robbery and escape via the same hole in the fence without firing a shot.[48]
20 February
A Russian crew of three completes a three-month flight of over 20,000 kilometres (12,000 miles; 11,000 nautical miles) from Kyiv, Ukraine, to Cape Town, South Africa, in an Antonov An-2 donated by Utair Aviation for humanitarian work in South Africa. Their route has taken them over northern Europe and across the Strait of Gibraltar, flying over 15 countries, including Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Nigeria, and Gabon, with fuel and visa problems forcing them to spend several weeks on the ground at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and Cabinda, Angola. They have used 85 kilograms (187 pounds) of aviation charts and maps along the way. Tracey Curtis-Taylor flies with them to prepare for her own South Africa-to-England flight planned for November–December 2013.[49]
A fire starts aboard the Ultramagic N-425 hot-air balloonSU-283 while it is attempting to land near Luxor, Egypt, carrying 19 tourists, a tour guide, and its pilot. The pilot and one tourist leap from the balloon and suffer serious injuries before the balloon, with the other 19 people still aboard, rises rapidly to an altitude of about 300 metres (980 feet), experiences an explosion heard several kilometers away, collapses, crashes to the ground, and suffers another explosion. The 19 people still aboard, seven of whom jump to their deaths to escape the fire, are killed.[51] It is the deadliest hot-air balloon accident in history, exceeding the death toll in a 1989 accident in Australia.
28 February
The United States Department of Defense announces that its F-35 Lightning II fleet, grounded since 22 February, will resume flying after an investigation determines that a cracked engine blade found in a U.S. Air Force F-35A was due to unique circumstances and is not a fleetwide problem.[52]
March
The United States Border Patrol launches a new program during March using MQ-9 Reaperunmanned aerial vehicles to take videos of remote areas along the border between the United States and Mexico to detect signs of illegal border crossings. Reapers collect video of an area, then return no more than three days later to collect new video, allowing analysts to compare the videos for signs of border crossings during the intervening period. By November 2014, the Reapers will monitor about half of the border regularly.[53]
Lion Air and Airbus sign the most valuable commercial order in history, a $23,800,000,000 Lion Air order for 234 Airbus A320 airliners. It exceeds the previous most valuable order, a $22,400,000,000 order by Lion Air for 230 airliners from Boeing in 2011.[54]
Two inmates at a prison in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada, escape by climbing a rope lowered from a helicopter. They are arrested later the same day.[62]
18 March
Syrian Air Force aircraft attack targets in Lebanon for the first time, firing rockets at Syrian rebel positions around Arsai.[63]
21 March
Late in the evening, two missiles fired by American unmanned aerial vehicles strike a ground vehicle moving through Data Khel in North Waziristan, Pakistan, killing all four men in the vehicle.[64]
Boeing makes the first of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flights to show that modifications to the 787's lithium-ion battery system have solved the problem of battery overheating experienced by Dreamliners earlier in the year. The aircraft, bearing the livery of LOT Polish Airlines, departs from Paine Field in Everett, Washington, flies south down the coast of Washington and halfway down the coast of Oregon, and makes a low-altitude, low-speed circle over the Strait of Juan de Fuca before returning without incident.[66]
28 March
Two United States Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers make the first nonstop B-2 flight to and from the Korean Peninsula, departing Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, bombing a target range on a South Korean island, and returning in a 371⁄2-hour flight. The flight, part of the annual Foal Eagle field training exercise, is intended to signal American support to South Korea in the face of belligerent North Korean rhetoric.[67]
Boeing makes the second of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flights to show that modifications to the 787's lithium-ion battery system have solved the problem of battery overheating experienced by Dreamliners earlier in the year. The aircraft, bearing the livery of LOT Polish Airlines, makes a 755-mile (1,216-kilometer) flight along the West Coast of the United States in just under two hours without incident. The completion of two successful test flights is a major step toward ending the worldwide grounding of 787s.[69]
6 April
A Syrian Air Force strike against anti-government Kurdish militia forces in Aleppo, Syria, kills at least 15 people, nine of them children.[70]
The Syrian Air Force strikes Saraqib, Syria, reportedly killing 20 people.[74]
14 April
The Syrian Air Force strikes the Qaboun neighborhood of Damascus, reportedly killing nine children. A Syrian jet also strikes the Kurdish village of Hadad in northeastern Syria, killing at least 16 people.[75]
25 April
The Israeli Air Force scrambles an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter to intercept an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it approaches Israel from the coast of Lebanon. The F-16 shoots down the UAV, which Israel suspects belonged to Hezbollah, over the Mediterranean Sea at an altitude of 6,000 feet (1,800 meters) six miles (9.7 km) from Haifa, Israel.[76]
27 April
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its first passenger-carrying flight since the worldwide grounding of Dreamliners in January 2013, when a packed Ethiopian Airlines 787 flies from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to Nairobi, Kenya. Boeing vice president Randy Tinseth is among the passengers.[77]
29 April
National Airlines Flight 102, a Boeing 747-428BCF cargo aircraft, crashes just after takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Bagram, Afghanistan, after its crew reported that its cargo of five heavy military vehicles had shifted and caused the aircraft to stall. Its entire crew of seven dies in the crash.
A Nordwind AirlinesAirbus A320 airliner on a charter flight from Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, to Kazan, Russia, with 159 passengers on board, takes evasive action to avoid two surface-to-air missiles fired at it from Syrian territory. The missiles explode near the A320, but it is undamaged and continues its flight to Kazan without further incident.[citation needed] The same day, the Russian air transport agency Rosaviation bans Russian civilian aircraft from flying in Syrian airspace until further notice.[78]
Virgin Galactic's commercial spacecraft SpaceShipTwo makes its first powered flight. Released by its jet-powered mothership White Knight Two after a 45-minute climb at an altitude of 48,000 feet (15,000 meters) over the Mojave Desert, SpaceShipTwo burns its engine for 16 seconds, climbing to 55,000 feet (17,000 meters) and reaching a speed of Mach 1.2 before gliding to a landing at Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, after 10 minutes of independent flight. Mark Stuckey is the pilot and Mike Alsbury the co-pilot for the flight.[79]
A Boeing X-51A WaveRider unmanned scramjet demonstration aircraft detaches from a Boeing B-52H Stratofortress and reaches Mach 4.8 (3,200 mph or 5,100 km/h) powered by a booster rocket. It then separates cleanly from the booster, ignites its own engine, accelerates to Mach 5.1 (3,400 mph or 5,500 km/h), and flies for 240 seconds – setting the record for the longest air-breathing hypersonic flight in history – before running out of fuel and plunging into the Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu, California, after transmitting 370 seconds of telemetry. The flight – the fourth and last planned X-51A test flight and the first successful one – completes the X-51 program.[81][82][83]
3 May
Batik Air, a full-service airline owned by Lion Air, makes its first flight.
The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the world's first solar powered aircraft capable of operating day and night, completes the first leg of its attempt to become the solar-powered aircraft to fly across the continental United States, landing at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, at 12:30 a.m. PDT after departing Moffett Field in Mountain View, California, at dawn on 3 May and covering 1,203 kilometres (748 miles) in 18 hours 18 minutes at an average speed-over-ground of 65.5 km/h (40.7 mph). Plans call for the aircraft, which requires no fuel because it uses photovoltaic cells in its wings to supply it with power and charge its batteries for use at night, to make a series of five flights of 19 to 25 hours each, flying at about 40 mph (64 km/h), with a stopover of approximately 10 days in each city it visits, culminating in an arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York.[89][90]
Israeli aircraft strike Mount Qassioun, which overlooks Damascus, Syria, targeting surface-to-surface missiles sent from Iran to Hezbollah.[87][88] The Syrian government claims the strike targeted a scientific research facility.[86]
11 May
After an Israeli Air Force Heron-1 unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the Mediterranean Sea malfunctions, the Israeli Army shoots it down to prevent it from crashing in a populated area.[92] The following day Israel grounds its fleet of Heron-1 unmanned aerial vehicles.[92]
Passenger-carrying flights of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner resume in the United States as United Airlines Flight 1 flies from Houston, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois. United, which plans to resume international 787 service on 10 June, becomes the fourth airline to resume Dreamliner flights, after Ethiopian Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Air India.[96]
23 May
Solar Impulse aircraft HB-SIA completes the second and longest leg of its trip across the continental United States, arriving at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Texas after a 957-mile (1,541-km) flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, at an average speed-over-ground of 52 mph (84 km/h), reaching an altitude of 27,000 feet (8,200 meters). The flight, which takes 18 hours 21 minutes, sets a new world distance record for a solar-powered flight, exceeding the previous record, also established by HB-SIA, in a flight from Switzerland to Spain on 25 May 2012.[97][98]
A British airways plane took off from Heathrow airport with its engine doors open; the doors broke up leaving a mess on the runway which was spotted by another aircraft. The engine leaks oil and fuel and then causes a fire, forcing the pilots to take the plane back to Heathrow. The plane lands safely.[101]
Braving unsettled weather in the Midwestern United States, Solar Impulse aircraft HB-SIA completes the third leg of its trip across the continental United States, arriving at Lambert–St. Louis International Airport outside St. Louis, Missouri, where it is housed in an inflatable temporary hangar – the conventional hangar originally earmarked for it had been destroyed by a powerful storm on 31 May – in the first real-world test of an inflatable hangar. During the flight, the aircraft flies under cirrus clouds for the first time, and, to the surprise of its designers, its batteries continue to charge at 30 to 50 percent despite the diminished sunlight. The 1,040-km (646-mile) flight from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in Texas, which takes 21 hours 22 minutes at an average speed of 49 km/h (30 mph) and reaches a maximum altitude of 24,000 feet (7,300 meters), is the second-longest in terms of duration ever made in a solar-powered aircraft, exceeded only a flight of over 26 hours HB-SIA itself made in July 2010.[104][105]
7 June
Missiles fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle strike a house in the village of Mangroti in the Shawal area of North Waziristan in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least seven people described by officials as Islamic militants and seriously injuring four others.[106][107]
11 June
Air traffic controllers in France begin a strike to protest European Union plans to reorganize and privatize air traffic control over Europe.[108]
12 June
In response to a call for industrial action by the European Transport Workers' Federation, air traffic controllers in 11 other countries engage in lower-key industrial actions in sympathy with the French strike, although flights are not disrupted in other countries.[109]
The French air traffic controller strike ends, having forced the cancellation of over 2,000 flights, without resolution of the issues which prompted it. Industrial actions in other countries related to the French strike are also ended.[111]
14 June
Solar Impulse aircraft HB-SIA begins the fourth leg of its flight across the continental United States, flying a 678-kilometer (421-mile) segment from Lambert–St. Louis International Airport outside St. Louis, Missouri, to Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 15 hours 14 minutes at an average speed of 44.5 km/h (27.7 mph) and reaching a maximum altitude of 3,048 metres (10,000 feet). The 11-hour stop at Cincinnati during the trip to Washington Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C., is inserted into the itinerary because of strong cross- and headwinds forecast for the flight and a legal requirement that the aircraft's pilot not exceed 24 hours continuously in the air; it also affords the Solar Impulse ground crew an opportunity to practice supporting the aircraft during stops planned on short notice.[112][113]
15 June
Google reveals its previously secret Project Loon with the first public launch of a maneuverable unmanned balloon designed to operate in the stratosphere at an altitude of about 12 miles (19 km) and bring broadband wirelessInternet access to remote regions and areas affected by natural disasters. Google has launched 30 such balloons during the week from a field near Lake Tekapo on New Zealand's South Island to test the system over the cities of Christchurch and Canterbury.[114][115]
Solar Impulse aircraft HB-SIA completes the fourth leg of its flight across the continental United States, completing the fourth leg's second segment, a 702-kilometer (436-mile) trip from Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio – from which it had departed on 15 June after an 11-hour stopover – to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia outside Washington, D.C. The flight takes 14 hours 4 minutes at an average speed of 50 km/h (31 mph) and reaches a maximum altitude of 3,048 metres (10,000 feet). During its stay, the aircraft is placed on temporary display at the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center adjacent to the airport.[118]
18 June
A tornado passes between Runways 34R and 34L at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, passing 5,000 feet (1,500 meters) east of the airport's A gates, causing thousands of people to take cover in stairwells, restrooms, and other safe areas. The anemometer at the airport's weather station records a peak wind gust of 97 mph (156 km/h) before breaking. Nine flights are diverted to other airports during the 40-minute tornado warning.[119][120]
European countries force the Bolivian Presidents plane to land, because of Edward Snowden. The US had asked European countries to help with the capture of Snowden.[122]
United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement begins a program of twice-weekly flights involuntarily carrying up to 136 illegal immigrants at a time from El Paso, Texas, to Mexico City, Mexico. The program is intended to deter illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States by flying such immigrants deep into Mexico before releasing them. A two-month trial of the program in 2012 had returned 2,300 Mexicans to Mexico.[131]
American unmanned aerial vehicles fire two missiles at a group of men just after they cross the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan, killing at least six Islamic militants – reportedly including a senior Pakistani Taliban commander – and injuring four.[133]
August
1 August
The Government of Serbia and Etihad Airways formalize an agreement under which Jat Airways will be reorganized and rebranded as Air Serbia, with Serbia owning 51% of the airline and Etihad owning 49%. Etihad Airways is granted management rights over Air Serbia for an initial five-year period. The name change to Air Serbia will take place in October.
French aviators Gérard Felzer and Pierre Chabert fly across the English Channel from Cap Gris Nez, France, to Littlestone-on-Sea, England, in 2 hours 23 minutes in the electric-powered hot-air balloonIris Challenger II (nicknamed the "Flying Fish" by the French media). The flight is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of aviation using environmentally friendly renewable energy.[140]
An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike in the Dargamandi area of North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills at least three Islamic militants.[146]
30 September
An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike against a compound in the Boya area of North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills three Islamic militants.[146]
Japan Airlines announces that it will purchase 31 A350 airliners from Airbus for $9,500,000,000 to replace its fleet of Boeing 777s. The announcement ends Boeing's decades-long dominance of the Japanese market; before the Japan Airlines deal with Airbus, Boeing and Airbus had competed head-to-head in almost every market worldwide except for Japan.[148]
World View, an offshoot of the Paragon Space Development Corporation, announces plans to carry tourists into the stratosphere at an altitude of 30 kilometers (19 miles) employing 1,100,000-cubic-meter (40,000,000-cubic-foot) helium balloons. Each flight is to carry six passengers and a crew of two, requiring an ascent of between 90 minutes and two hours to peak altitude, followed by two hours at altitude and a 25-to-40-minute descent. A ticket is to cost $75,000. World View's plans call for a demonstration flight by the end of 2013 and the first operational flight by 2016.[150]
The first incarnation of AirAsia Japan ceases operations following the June departure of AirAsia from its investment in the airline, which had left it as a wholly owned subsidiary of All Nippon Airways.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces that airline passengers will be allowed to use their personal electronic devices during all phases of flight, ending the years-long prohibition of their use during takeoff and landing, although a Federal Communications Commission ban on the use of cellphones to make calls or send texts or data in flight is to remain in force. The FAA states that pilots may still require personal electronic devices to be turned off under certain conditions, but that it expects airlines to implement new procedures to accommodate the gate-to-gate use of such devices by the end of 2013.[154]
After leaving a note stating that he wanted to kill U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, Paul Ciancia opens fire with an assault rifle at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, killing TSA screener Gerardo I. Hernandez, who becomes the first TSA employee to die in the line of duty. Ciancia also wounds three other people, including two TSA employees, before police shoot and critically wound him and take him into custody. Panicked bystanders stampede, and some of them escape onto the tarmac and take refuge underneath parked airliners. Hundreds of departing flights are grounded or delayed for hours, and many arriving flights are diverted to other Southern California airports;[158][159] an estimated 1,550 scheduled flights and 167,000 passengers are affected during the day, as are another 40 flights and 4,000 passengers on 2 November.[160]
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announces plans to conduct testing at six sites of the integration of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights into the general air traffic control scheme over the United States, and to develop policies, regulations, and procedures to integrate UAVs into the planned new air traffic control system, the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The FAA projects years of testing that will not be complete in time to meet the September 2015 deadline set by the United States Congress for the general integration of UAVs into the U.S. air traffic control system.[163]
10 November
The world's first flying dress, Volantis does its first flight
Seconds after the crew of Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, the Boeing 737-53AVQ-BBN, initiates a go-around due to an unstable approach while attempting to land at Kazan International Airport in Kazan, Russia, the aircraft noses down, crashes almost vertically, and disintegrates in an explosion, killing all 50 people on board. It the greatest loss of life in a single aviation accident in 2013.
20 November
Thinking they are on approach to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, the crew of Atlas AirBoeing 747-400 Dreamlifter cargo aircraft N780BA mistakenly lands nine miles (14.5 km) away at Colonel James Jabara Airport. The plane lands safely, although the airport's 6,100-foot (1,859-meter) runway is too short for Boeing 747 operations.[166] Although it normally requires a runway at least 2,780 metres (9,120 feet) in length for takeoff, the Dreamlifter takes off safely the next day and flies to McConnell Air Force Base.[167]
China announces a new air defense information zone over a large portion of the East China Sea – including the Senkaku (or Diaoyu) Islands, which Japan claims as its territory – in which non-commercial aircraft must identify themselves or face "defensive emergency measures" by the Chinese armed forces. Japan and the United States protest the establishment of the new zone. Later in the day, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force conducts its first patrol of the zone.[169]
Syrian Air Force aircraft strike rebel-held areas in northern Syria, killing 22 people in al-Bab and seven in the Karam el-Beik district. In a strike on Aleppo, the aircraft miss their target and hit a crowded vegetable market instead, killing 15 people.[170]
25 November
The Pakistan Armed Forces unveil Pakistan's first domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles, the NESCOM Burraq and the GIDS Shahpar, which Pakistan refers to as the "Strategic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles". Pakistani military officials say that both are unarmed and that Pakistan will use them only for surveillance.[171]
26 November
Two unarmed Guam-based United States Air ForceB-52H Stratofortress bombers operate within the newly declared Chinese air defense information zone over the East China Sea on a long-planned training flight, ignoring China's new requirement that they receive approval for the flight and demonstrating that the United States does not recognize the zone.[172]
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines announce that at the request of the Japanese government they will cease filing flight plans informing China of their flights through China's new East China Sea air defense information zone.[173]
27 November
South Korea challenges the new Chinese air defense identification zone for the first time, flying military aircraft into the zone without notifying China.[174]
28 November
The Japanese government announces that its aircraft have flown into the new Chinese air defense information zone daily on routine flights without seeking approval from China since the Chinese announced the zone.[174]
South Korea announces that China has rejected its request that China redraw its new air defense information zone so that it does not overlap with South Korea's. South Korea adds that it will consider expanding its own zone.[174]
An American air-launched missile fired at an insurgent riding s bicycle in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, instead hits a house, killing a two-year-old boy. A second airstrike in the area kills an insurgent.[175]
29 November
For the first time, Chinese military aircraft intercept foreign aircraft operating over the East China Sea in the new Chinese air defense information zone, but limit their actions to visual identification of the foreign aircraft. China claims to have identified two American military reconnaissance aircraft and 10 Japanese military aircraft of various types operating within the zone during the day. The United States Government advises American civilian aircraft to comply with the Chinese requirement to identify themselves to Chinese authorities for flights through the zone.[176]
The Police ScotlandEurocopter EC135 T2+ helicopter G-SPAOcrashes onto the roof of The Clutha, a crowded pub in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland, at 10:30 p.m., killing all three people on board and six people on the ground.[178]
Syrian government helicopters bombing a rebel compound at al-Bab kill 24 people.[180]
On CBS television's 60 Minutes, Amazon chairman, president, and chief executive officerJeff Bezos unveils a plan to use unmanned eight-rotor drone helicopters ("octocopters") to deliver packages to the homes of customers in as little as 30 minutes. He displays a working model of such an octocopter, and says that he hopes to put the octocopters into practical use by 2018.[181]
South Korea announces that it will expand its air defense information zone (ADIZ) for the first time in 62 years, extending it 300 kilometers (186 statute miles; 162 nautical miles) to the south, overlapping with Japan's ADIZ and with the expanded ADIZ the People's Republic of China declared over the East China Sea on 23 November. The expanded South Korean ADIZ is scheduled to go into effect on 15 December.[184][185]
11 December
NAM Air, regional airline subsidiary of Sriwijaya Air in Indonesia takes its first flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang.
12 December
A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle on a convoy of ground vehicles in Radda, Yemen kills at least 13 people. The vehicles had been bound for a wedding party. Conflicting reports state that the UAV struck the convoy by mistake and that the UAV targeted the convoy to kill Islamic militants riding in it, although reports also disagree as to whether any militants were present.[186]
Syrian government helicopters drop barrels filled with explosives and fuel on rebel-held areas in northern Aleppo, Syria, destroying cars and buildings and killing at least 37 people.[188]
16 December
Syrian helicopters continue to pound Aleppo in northern Syria, where the death toll exceeds 100 during the two days of barrel-bomb attacks on densely crowded neighborhoods. Syrian aircraft also strike the villages of Inkhil and Jassem in southern Syria, killing two women and two children.[188][189]
Hours after the French wine entrepreneur James Gregoire sells his luxury Bordeaux chateau, Chateau de La Riviere, to billionaire Chinese hotel magnate Lam Kok, owner of the Brilliant hotel chain, the two men and Kok's 12-year-old son and an interpreter die when the helicopter Gregoire is piloting on an aerial tour of the property crashes into the river Dordogne near Lugon-et-l'Île-du-Carnay, France. Eyewitnesses report two people struggling in the water after the crash, but they apparently drown in the rushing water. A previous owner of the property had died in a 2002 aircraft crash.[191]
21 December
Syrian helicopters drop barrel bombs on opposition-held portions of Aleppo, killing at least six people.[192]
Rebel ground fire damages three United States Air ForceCV-22 Osprey aircraft as they approach Bor, South Sudan, to evacuate American citizens threatened by combat between rebel and government forces, wounding four American military personnel. The Ospreys abort their mission and fly the wounded to Entebbe, Uganda, from which a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transports the injured personnel to Nairobi, Kenya, for hospitalization.[193]
22 December
For an eighth straight day, Syrian helicopters attack rebel-held areas in and near Aleppo with barrel bombs, killing at least 32 people. Syrian aircraft also strike the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing on the northern border with Turkey, killing or wounding several people.[194] Estimates of the combined death toll in the day's attacks on Aleppo and the border crossing later rise to at least 45.[195]
23 December
In a ninth day of barrel-bomb attacks on Aleppo and its suburbs, and in strikes on three other towns in the Aleppo Governorate including Azaz on the Turkish border, Syrian helicopters kill at least 45 more people. Since beginning on 15 December, the daily airstrikes have killed an estimated 364 people.[195]
24 December
Syrian helicopters attack rebel-controlled portions of Aleppo for the tenth straight day, killing at least 15 people. One estimate places the death toll at at least 33, with another 150 injured.[196]
After sniper fire from the Gaza Strip mortally wounds an Israeli civilian maintenance worker as he performs repairs on the Israeli side of the border fence, Israeli Air Force aircraft join Israeli tanks and infantry in a retaliatory cross-border attack, killing two Palestinians.[197]
25 December
Activists place the number of people killed by Syrian helicopters dropping barrel bombs on rebel-held areas of Aleppo at 401 over the eleven days of attacks which began on 15 December.[198]
26 December
A Russian Antonov An-12 cargo aircraft crashes into warehouses at a military facility in Siberia, killing all nine people on board.[199]
A Syrian airstrike on a vegetable market in the Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo kills at least 21, and perhaps as many as 25, people.[201]
30 December
Lebaneseantiaircraft guns fire at Syrian Air Force helicopters which the gunners claim have violated Lebanese airspace. It is the first time that the Lebanese armed forces have fired at Syrian forces since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in March 2011.[202]
Followers of evangelical preacher Joseph Mukungubila, known as "The Prophet", attack N'djili Airport and other targets in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sixteen people who die in an exchange of gunfire at the airport are among 40 people killed in the attacks. Flights approaching the airport for a landing are forced to divert elsewhere.[203]
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration announces that after considering proposals from 25 teams in 24 states, it has selected six teams to test various aspects of the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the airspace of the United States: the University of Alaska in Alaska, which will examine standards for unmanned aircraft categories, state monitoring, and navigation, including testing in Hawaii and Oregon; the State of Nevada, which will study UAV standards and operations, UAV operator standards and certification requirements, and air traffic control procedures; Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York, which will develop test, evaluation, verification, and validation processes and study UAV sense-and-avoid technologies; the Commerce Department of the State of North Dakota, which will develop UAV airworthiness essential data, validate high reliability link technology, and research human factors; Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, which will develop safety requirements for UAVs and UAV operations; and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, which will examine UAV failures and their associated technical and operational risks and consequences, using test ranges in Virginia and New Jersey. Test sites are to remain active through at least 13 February 2017.[204][205]
For the first time in more than 50 years, a commercial flight takes place between Key West, Florida, and Cuba, when a Cessna 441 Conquest II with nine paying passengers aboard flies from Key West International Airport to Havana. Key West had received approval to conduct flights to and from Cuba in October 2011, but it had taken over two years for charter airline operators to receive all the necessary permissions to make the first flight. Key West International Airport director Peter Horton describes the flight as "test run", and regular Key West-Cuba commercial air service remains a distant prospect.[206]
