This is a list of aviation-related events from 1973.
Events Don Taylor attempts round-the-world trip in his homebuilt Thorp T-18, ended by a spate of really bad weather between northern Japan and the Aleutian Islands. His next attempt in the summer of 1976 is successful.
January January 2 Attempting to land at Edmonton International Airport in Canada in blowing snow, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 3801, a Boeing 707-321C freighter carrying 86 head of cattle and a crew of five, strikes trees and power lines and then breaks apart as it crashes into a ridge. The cattle are thrown through an opening in the front of the fuselage, landing up to away. The entire crew dies in the crash and ensuing fire.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description Released from a psychiatric hospital days earlier, Charles Wenige hides in a lavatory aboard Piedmont Airlines Flight 928, a NAMC YS-11, on arrival at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after a flight from Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington, D.C. After the other passengers disembark, he emerges and points a stolen pistol at a crew member and demands to be flown to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. After two hours of negotiations, he agrees to release the flight attendants in exchange for a meeting with Cardinal Lawrence Shehan and a psychiatrist. As U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Thomas Farrow escorts Wenige onto the airport apron for the meeting, he advises Wenige to tuck the pistol away in the cardinal's presence, and after Wenige does so, Farrow overpowers and arrests him. This was the last U.S. hijacking before mandatory security screening of airline passengers began.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Descriptionskyjackeroftheday.tumblr.com "Skyjacker of the Day #61: Charles Wenige," April 19, 2013. January 4 – As a Pacific Western Airlines Convair turboprop airliner prepares to take off from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with 18 people on board, passenger Christopher Kenneth Nielson draws a gun and demands $2 million in cash and to be flown to North Vietnam, threatening to blow up the airliner if his demands are not met. During negotiations, he releases everyone on board the aircraft except three crew members. Police then storm the aircraft and arrest him, finding that he is armed only with two toy guns.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking DescriptionArstard, Steve, "Adventures in Penticton commercial air service," infotel.ca, November 1, 2016, 9:00 PM. January 5 – The mandatory security screening of all airline passengers begins at all airports in the United States.Naftali, Timothy, Blind Spot: The Secret History of American Counterterrorism, New York: Basic Books, 2005, , p. 66. January 7 In the United Kingdom, Cameron Balloons flies the worlds first airship lifted by hot air.Mondey, David. ed., The Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc, 1978, , p. 61. Police in a borrowed United States Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter exchange fire for several hours with spree killer Mark Essex, who is on the roof of a Howard Johnson's motel in downtown New Orleans. Essex eventually is killed by automatic weapons fire from the helicopter and police sniper fire from nearby rooftops. January 9 – In the Vietnam War, President Richard Nixon's administration permits American fighter aircraft to pursue North Vietnamese aircraft north of the 20th Parallel.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 161. January 12 – Flying a United States Navy F-4 Phantom II fighter of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) off , Lieutenants V. T. Kovaleski (pilot) and J. A. Wise (radar intercept officer) score the 197th and final American air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War. It is the 61st kill of the war for American carrier-based aircraft.Elward, Brad, and Peter Davies, U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973, Oxford, U.K.: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2002, , p. 90. January 14 A U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) off flown by Lieutenant V. T. Kovaleski (pilot) and Ensign D. H. Plautz (radar intercept officer) becomes the last American aircraft lost over North Vietnam when it is shot down by antiaircraft artillery near Thanh Hoa while escorting an Operation Blue Tree reconnaissance mission. A CAAC Airlines Ilyushin Il-14 crashes into a mountain near Guiyang in the People's Republic of China, killing all 29 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 15 – President Richard Nixons administration orders a halt to all bombing and shelling of North Vietnam and all mining of North Vietnamese harbors. January 17 – The Government of Togo establishes the Direction de l’Aviation Civile ("Directorate of Civil Aviation") as Togo′s national civil aviation authority. It is the predecessor of the Agence Nationale de l'Aviation Civile du Togo ("National Agency of Civil Aviation of Togo"). January 18 – Results of the U.S. Air Force A-X fly-off are announced, with the Fairchild YA-10 selected over the Northrop YA-9. January 21 – Aeroflot Flight 6263, an Antonov An-24B (registration CCCP-46276) on a domestic flight in the Soviet Union from Kazan to Perm, suddenly banks heavily right and then left at an altitude of , then spirals downward, reaching a speed of . At an altitude of it begins an upward loop, breaks up, and falls to earth near Petukhovo in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic's Bolshesosnovsky District. The crash kills 35 of the 39 people on board; the other four freeze to death in the temperature at the crash site before rescuers can arrive.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 22 An Alia Boeing 707-3D3C chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly Muslim pilgrims home to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia crashes after the right main landing gear leg collapses while the plane is attempting to land in high winds at Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria. The plane skids off the runway and catches fire, killing 176 of the 202 people on board and injuring all 26 survivors. It is the deadliest aviation accident in history at the time and will be the deadliest of 1973. American businessman Alexander Onassis, the son of Aristotle Onassis and Athina Livanos and brother of Christina Onassis, and the other two men on board suffer serious injuries when his personal Piaggio P.136L-2 amphibian crashes immediately after takeoff from Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, Greece. Onassis dies the following day; the other two men survive.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s January 27 A U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II from piloted by Lieutenant Commander Harley Hall is shot down over South Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone. It is the last American fixed-wing aircraft lost in the Vietnam War. The United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam agree in Paris to a ceasefire in the Vietnam War, scheduling it to take effect on January 29.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , pp. 163, 167–168.Haulman, Daniel L., One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903–2002, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 2003, no ISBN, p. 112. January 28 – A United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress conducts the last Operation Arc Light strike of the Vietnam War. Arc Light had begun in 1965. January 29 A ceasefire agreement between the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam takes effect, ending U.S. participation in the Vietnam War. Since January 1962, the United States Armed Forces have lost 3,339 fixed-wing aircraft in Southeast Asia, 2,430 of them in combat. American aircraft have shot down 200 enemy aircraft in exchange for 76 of their own lost in air-to-air combat. The United States has also lost 4,870 helicopters in Southeast Asia, 2,588 of them in combat.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 179.Haulman, Daniel L., One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903–2002, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 2003, no ISBN, p. 111. An EgyptAir Ilyushin Il-18 crashes in the Kyrenia Mountains in Cyprus while on descent to land at Nicosia International Airport in Nicosia, Cyprus, killing all 37 people on board. Frontier Airlines hires the first female pilot for any modern-day U.S. airline, Emily Howell Warner. On the same day, the airline also hires its first African-American pilot, Bob Ashby; Ashby is the only Tuskegee Airman to become a commercial airline pilot. January 31 – U.S. Air Force and Royal Lao Air Force aircraft have flown a combined 8,000 sorties against Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces in Laos since January 1.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 169.
February Belgian International Air Services (BIAS) ends long-haul passenger service as its majority stakeholder, Compagnie Maritime Belge, decides to integrate BIAS's fleet of Douglas DC-8 airliners into the fleet of Delta Air Transport. BIAS becomes a commuter airline. February 15 – Cuba and the United States sign the "Memorandum of Understanding on Hijacking of Aircraft and Vessels and Other Offenses," which goes into force immediately. Under the agreement, both countries agree to either prosecute or extradite any person who seizes or otherwise takes possession of an aircraft or oceangoing vessel and brings it illegally into the other country's territory, to treat airline hijacking as a crime, and to return any money taken illegally to its original owner. They also agree that a hijacker may be granted political asylum if the hijacker has no other means of escape and commits no other serious crime during the commission of the hijacking. Cuba and Canada sign a similar agreement the same day. February 19 – Making an instrument approach to Prague Ruzyně International Airport in Prague, Czechoslovakia, Aeroflot Flight 141, a Tupolev Tu-154 (registration CCCP-85023), crashes northeast of the airport from the runway, killing 66 of the 100 people on board. At the time, it is both the deadliest accident involving a Tu-154 and the deadliest aviation accident in what would later become the Czech Republic.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 21 Two Israeli Air Force F-4 Phantom II fighters shoot down Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114, a Boeing 727-224, after it strays off course over the Israeli-occupied Sinai Peninsula, killing 108 of the 113 people on board and injuring all five survivors. On approach to Changuinola "Capitán Manuel Niño" International Airport in Changuinola, Panama, an Aerovias Urraca Douglas C-47A-70-DL Skytrain (registration HP-560) crashes into Cerro Horqueta mountain, killing 22 of the 28 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 22 – A ceasefire in Laos immediately ends all U.S. Air Force strikes there by tactical aircraft. B-52 Stratofortress strikes will end two months later.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 163. February 24 United States Marine Corps helicopters begin Operation End Sweep to clear naval mines from North Vietnamese harbors.