This is a list of aviation-related events from 1963.
Events Violating a 1959 requirement that all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais - which never has operated aircraft - belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy establishes an air group of its own for the carrier and smuggles aircraft purchased abroad into the country for the air group. Air force reconnaissance aircraft discover the naval carrier aircraft, causing tension between the two services.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 197. The North Vietnamese Air Force and Air Defense Force merge to form a unified Air and Air Defense Force.
January January 2 – The Battle of Ap Bac in South Vietnam is the first time that Viet Cong forces stand and fight against a major South Vietnamese attack. At the outset, Viet Cong ground fire shoots down a United States Army UH-1 attack helicopter and four U.S. Army CH-21 transport helicopters as they arrive at their landing zone. Republic of Vietnam Air Force C-123 Provider transport planes drop about 300 South Vietnamese paratroopers later in the day.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 17. January 7 – Aeroflot launches service from Moscow to Havana, Cuba, using Tupolev Tu-114 turboprop airliners. January 24 – A United States Air Force B-52C Stratofortress loses its vertical stabilizer in turbulence and crashes on Elephant Mountain, in Piscataquis County, Maine, killing seven of the nine-man crew.
February The rules of engagement for American armed helicopter crews in South Vietnam are relaxed to allow them to fire at clearly identified Viet Cong forces who are threatening American helicopters without waiting for the Viet Cong to fire first. Previously, they had been permitted to open fire on Viet Cong forces only if the Viet Cong fired first.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 13. Commercial airline flights between the United States and Cuba are "temporarily" suspended. They will not resume until August 2016. February 1 Descending to land at Esenboğa International Airport in Ankara, Turkey, Middle East Airlines Flight 265 – a Vickers 754D Viscount (registration OD-ADE) flying to Ankara from Nicosia, Cyprus – collides with a Turkish Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain, slicing off the C-47's left horizontal stabilizer with its No. 3 propeller. The collision tears the Viscount's right side open, and some passengers aboard the Viscount are sucked out of the aircraft. Both planes crash in a residential area of Ankara, killing all 14 people on the Viscount, all three people aboard the C-47, and 87 people on the ground.Aviation Safety Network Accident DescriptionSafety Network Accident Description The United States Army activates the 11th Air Assault Division (Test) to test the concept of helicopter assault by ground forces. February 3 – A Slick Airways Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation (N9740Z) on a ferry flight with a limited complement of avionics due to maintenance issues, hits runway approach lights at San Francisco International Airport southeast of San Francisco, California during an instrument approach. It crashes, causing killing two of its three crew members and two of its five non-revenue passengers. The accident investigation finds that the crew continued an instrument approach "after adequate visual reference was lost below authorized minimums" and that inadequate safety briefings likely contributed to the number of injuries and deaths. February 8 – The Royal Navy conducts the worlds first experimental trials of a vertical take-off and landing fixed-wing aircraft aboard an aircraft carrier, testing the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 prototype aboard HMS Ark Royal.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 216. February 12 – Northwest Airlines Flight 705, a Boeing 720-051B, breaks up in mid-air during a severe thunderstorm and crashes into the Florida Everglades west of Miami, Florida, shortly after takeoff from Miami International Airport, killing all 43 people on board. February 14 – The Indian Air Force receives its first batch of Soviet fighters, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s (NATO reporting name "Fishbed").
March The U.S. Army completes a six-month test of the Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter (the "Huey") in an armed escort role, evaluating the operations of the Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter Companys operations escorting CH-21C Shawnee transport helicopters in South Vietnam, concluding that the value of attack helicopters in suppressing enemy fire during the landing phase of a helicopter operation justified the fielding of attack helicopter units.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 14. March 5 - Country music performers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins are among four people killed in the crash of a Piper PA-24 Comanche near Camden, Tennessee."Today in History," The Washington Post Express, March 5, 2014, p. 22. March 18 - The Dassault Balzac makes its first transitions from vertical to horizontal flight and back March 29 – Alisarda is founded. It operates initially as an air taxi and general charter airline.
April Air Djibouti is founded. It will begin flight operations in April 1964. April 13 United States Marine Corps UH-34 Seahorse transport helicopters based at Da Nang, South Vietnam, airlift 435 South Vietnamese troops to attack a suspected Viet Cong stronghold in mountains along the Thu Bồn River. For the first time, Marine Corps helicopters receive attack helicopter escort in the form of United States Army UH-1B gunships.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 19. Americans Don Piccard and Ed Yost become the first people to cross the English Channel in a hot-air balloon. The 3¾-hour flight from Rye, England, to Gravelines, France, reaches an altitude of .Associated Press. "Record Balloon Flight Made By Americans". Gadsden Times, April 14, 1963, p. 1. Retrieved on May 29, 2013. April 22 – The United States Supreme Court rules in Colorado Anti-Discrimination Commission v. Continental Airlines that Continental Airlines unlawfully discriminated against African-American pilot Marlon Green when it rejected him for employment in 1957 and hired five less-qualified white applicants. The ruling paves the way for the hiring of ethnic minority members as commercial airline pilots in the United States. Continental eventually hires Green in 1965. April 27-May 20 - U.S. Marine Corps transport helicopters are heavily involved in airlifting South Vietnamese troops during Operation Bach Phuong XI, a South Vietnamese offensive against Viet Cong forces near Do Xa, South Vietnam.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 20. April 27 - The U.S. Marine Corps loses its first aircraft to enemy action in Vietnam, a UH-34D transport helicopter shot down by Viet Cong ground fire near Do Xa, South Vietnam. April 30 – Delayed since her planned departure on April 25 by bad weather, Betty Miller, a flight instructor dubbed "the flying housewife" by the press, takes off from Oakland, California, in a Piper PA-23-160 Apache H, beginning a flight across the Pacific Ocean to deliver the plane to its owner in Australia. She completes the first leg of the flight later in the day, arriving at Honolulu, Hawaii, after a flight of about in 17 hours 3 minutes. She becomes the first woman to make a solo flight from Oakland to Honolulu.
May The Israeli Air Force acquires its first 25 Dassault Mirage IIICJ fighters.Hammel, Eric, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992, , p. 129. May 13 – Delivering a Piper PA-23-160 Apache H to its owner, Betty Miller arrives at Eagle Farm Airport in Brisbane, Australia, completing a flight from Oakland, California, begun on April 30. She becomes both the first woman to complete a solo transpacific flight and the first pilot to fly across the Pacific Ocean without a navigator. During her trip — in addition to her flight on April 30 of about in 17 hours 3 minutes to Honolulu, Hawaii, where she is delayed for four days by radio repairs — she has made a flight from Honolulu to Canton Island in 13 hours 6 minutes and a flight from Canton Island to Fiji in 8 hours 27 minutes. During her planned final leg from Fiji to Brisbane, she had diverted to Nouméa, New Caledonia, to avoid severe weather before completing the journey with a Nouméa–Brisbane flight. During her 13-day trip she has flown about , spending 51 hours 38 minutes in the air and averaging . May 28 – Standard Airways Flight 388C, Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation registration N189S on a military charter flight, impacted the ground short of the runway at Manhattan Municipal Airport in manhattan, Kansas, United States when, just before landing, reverse pitch engaged on the number three engine, dipping the right wing which made contact with the ground. The aircraft was destroyed by fire but only after the six crew and 64 passengers safely evacuated. No crew and only one passenger were seriously injured. The cause was traced to "improper maintenance practices and inspection procedures."
June June 3 – Northwest Airlines Flight 293, a Douglas DC-7C, crashes in the Pacific Ocean west-southwest of Annette Island, Alaska, off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, killing all 101 people on board. June 5 – President John F. Kennedy announces during a speech at the United States Air Force Academy that the United States Government would team with private industry to quickly develop "the prototype of a commercially successful supersonic transport superior to that being built in any other country," a reference to the British-French Concorde and the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 (NATO reporting name "Charger"). His statement gives rise to the Boeing 2707 ("SST") project.Bedwell, Don, "Extremes: Supersonic Gamble", Aviation History, May 2012, p. 14. June 7 – Middle East Airlines merges with Air Liban, giving Air France a 30 percent ownership stake in the merged airline, which becomes known as Middle East Airlines–Air Liban. June 8 – The National Museum of Naval Aviation opens at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Pensacola, Florida.Goodspeed, Hill, "Where Naval Aviation History is Manifest," Naval History, June 2011, p. 33. June 14 – Flying a Dassault Mirage IIIR, French aviator Jacqueline Auriol sets a women's world speed record of . It is her fifth women's world speed record since 1951 and her final one.Handleman, Philip, "Discovering Purpose in the Sky," Aviation History, July 2017, p. 13. June 21 – After his F-8 Crusader fighter catches fire during in-flight refueling from a U.S. Air Force KC-97 Stratofreighter tanker aircraft over the Pacific Ocean during a flight from California to Hawaii, United States Marine Corps First Lieutenant Cliff Judkins ejects. His main parachute fails to open, and he falls into the ocean. Although he suffers several serious injuries, he survives and is rescued.Wilkinson, Stephan, "Amazing But True Stories," Aviation History, May 2014, pp. 30–31. June 23 – Piloted by United States Air Force Major Robert A. Rushworth, a North American X-15-3 reaches the threshold of space, achieving an altitude of .Guttman, Jon, Review of North American -15 by Peter E. Davies, Aviation History, November 2017, p. 66.
July July 2 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 121, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes on takeoff into a heavy thunderstorm at Rochester, New York, in the United States, killing seven of the 43 people on board and injuring all 36 survivors. July 3