This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974. 1974 had been deemed as "the single worst year in airline history" although this has since been surpassed.
Events Japan creates its Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission, responsible for investigation aviation accidents in Japan. Spring 1974 – Under an international agreement to clear the Suez Canal of naval mines in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, United States Navy RH-53D Sea Stallion minesweeping helicopters of Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 12 (HM-12) operating from the amphibious assault ships and use Mark 105 hydrofoil minesweeping sleds to sweep 120 square miles of water between Port Said and Suez, Egypt, in Operation Nimbus Star.Melia, Tamara, Moser, "Damn the Torpedoes": A Short History of U.S. Naval Mine Countermeasures, 1777–1991, Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1991, , p. 111.
January January 1 Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Oman, and Qatar sign the Foundation Treaty, which gives each state a 25 percent ownership stake in Gulf Aviation. Gulf Aviation becomes a holding company, and its airline flight operations are transferred to a new airline branded as Gulf Air, which becomes the flag carrier of the four states. Itavia Flight 897, a Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000 (registration I-TIDE) on final approach to Turin Airport in Turin, Italy, in fog and poor weather, strikes a tree and a building under construction, loses its tail and wings, and crashes inverted into a farm building, killing 38 of the 42 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 3 – A hijacker aboard an Air Jamaica Douglas DC-9-32 bound from Kingston, Jamaica, to Detroit, Michigan, demands to be flown to Miami, Florida. The hijacker is disarmed and arrested at Kingston.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 6 Diverted from Uzhgorod International Airport in Uzhgorod in the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, an Aeroflot Antonov An-24B (registration CCCP-46357) descends through clouds in icing conditions with its de-icing system switched off while on approach to the military air base at Mukachevo. Icing of its control surface causes it to go out of control, and it crashes short of the runway and burns out, killing all 24 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description Air East Flight 317, a Beechcraft Model 99A (registration N125AE) on final approach to Johnstown–Cambria County Airport in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, strikes an Instrument Landing System tower and crashes short of the runway, killing 12 of the 17 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 9 – A SATENA Hawker Siddeley HS 748 260 Series 2A (registration FAC-1103) crashes into Gabinete Peak in the Andes, northwest of Florencia, Colombia, killing all 31 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 10 – A TAM Douglas DC-4 (registration TAM-52) disappears during a domestic flight in Bolivia from Santa Rosa to La Paz with the loss of all 24 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 13 – Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) opens in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in Texas; in accordance with agreements establishing the new regional airport, all commercial carriers except Southwest Airlines vacate Dallas Love Field and move to DFW, while nearby Greater Southwest International Airport in Fort Worth is permanently closed. January 17 – A Cessnyca Douglas DC-3A-191 (registration HK-1216) goes out of control at its cruising altitude of and crashes inverted near Chigorodó, Colombia, killing all 12 people on board. January 21 – A male passenger hijacks an Aeropesca Colombia Vickers 745D Viscount with 52 people on board shortly after it takes off from Pasto, Colombia, for a domestic flight to Popayán, demanding to be flown to Cuba. The airliner makes two refueling stops in Colombia – at Cali and Barranquilla – before proceeding to Havana, Cuba.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 24 – A Togolese Air Force Douglas C-47 Skytrain carrying several notable political figures including President of Togo Gnassingbé Eyadéma crashes at an isolated location near the village of Sarakawa in northern Togo. Eyadéma survives, but the French pilot and three passengers die. January 26 – The Turkish Airlines Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship Van stalls shortly after takeoff from İzmir Cumaovası Airport in İzmir, Turkey, crashes, and catches fire, killing 66 of the 73 people on board. January 30 – The Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B Clipper Radiant, operating as Flight 806, crashes during a heavy rainstorm on approach to Pago Pago International Airport in Pago Pago, American Samoa, killing 97 of the 101 people on board and injuring all four survivors.
February February 9 – After a United States Air Force T-39A Sabreliner reports landing gear problems while taking off from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a U.S. Air Force Boeing NKC-135 flying from Seattle, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a cargo of equipment for observing Comet Kohoutek meets it to conduct an airborne visual inspection of its landing gear at an altitude of . The T-39 strikes the NKC-135's tail and crashes near Colorado Springs, killing all seven people aboard. The NKC-135 suffers only minor damage and lands safely at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.Aviation Safety Network Accident DescriptionAviation Safety Network Accident Description February 17 – Upset at failing in helicopter training and wanting to show his piloting skills, United States Army Private First Class Robert K. Preston steals a U.S. Army UH-1 Iroquois helicopter at Fort Meade, Maryland, and hovers it over the White House in Washington, D.C. before landing on the White Houses South Lawn. He later takes off, is pursued by two Maryland State Police helicopters, uses maneuvering to force one of them down, then returns to the White House, where police gunfire induces him to land and surrender. February 20 – A hijacker threatens to detonate a bomb aboard an Air Vietnam Douglas C-54A-5-DO Skymaster (registration XV-NUM) carrying 51 other people during a flight in South Vietnam from Qui Nhơn to Da Nang, ordering it to divert to Đồng Hới, North Vietnam. The pilot tells him that the airliner must stop at Đông Hà, North Vietnam, before continuing to Đồng Hới, but instead lands the plane at Huế Airport in Huế, South Vietnam. Realizing after the plane lands that he has been tricked, the hijacker detonates his bomb, blowing a 2-by-3-meter (6.5-by-10-foot) hole in the left side of the fuselage, breaking three windows on the right side, and killing three people on the plane.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description February 22 Samuel Byck attempts to hijack Delta Air Lines Flight 523, a Douglas DC-9, before it leaves the gate at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, with a goal of crashing it into the White House in Washington, D.C. to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon. He kills two people and wounds a third before himself being killed, all without the plane ever leaving the gate. U.S. Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Barbara Ann Allen is designated a naval aviator, becoming the first female aviator in the United States Armed Forces.Wooldridge, E.T., Captain (ret.), USN, "Snapshots From the First Century of Naval Aviation", Proceedings, September 2011, p. 56.
March March 3 The Turkish Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10-10 Ankara, operating as Flight 981, crashes into the Ermenonville Forest and the commune of Fontaine-Chaalis, France, after a cargo door blows off, causing damage which cuts control cables. All 346 people on board die. At the time, it is the worst aviation disaster in history, and it remains the deadliest aviation accident in France, the deadliest DC-10 accident, and the deadliest single-plane crash with no survivors. Over Rhodes, two men hijack a British Overseas Airway Corporation (BOAC) Vickers VC-10 (registration G-ASGO) with 110 other people on board as it flies from Beirut, Lebanon, to London. The airliner diverts to Schiphol Airport outside Amsterdam, the Netherlands, where they release the passengers and crew, throw inflammable liquids around the cabin, and set the plane on fire. Security forces apprehend them as they flee the plane.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 8 – A Pathet Lao Airlines Antonov An-24 carrying 15 journalists covering a tour by Algeria's Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand crashes on approach to Hanoi, North Vietnam, killing all 18 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 12 – A hijacker demands ransom money aboard a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 with 425 people on board as it makes a domestic flight in Japan from Tokyo to Naha, Okinawa. After the airliner arrives at Okinawa's Naha Airport, security forces storm the plane and arrest the hijacker.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 13 – Sierra Pacific Airlines Flight 802, a Convair CV-440 (registration N4819C) chartered by Wolper Productions, crashes in darkness into a foothill of the White Mountains southeast of Bishop Airport in Bishop, California, shortly after takeoff from the airport, killing all 36 people on board. Among the dead are 31 cast and crew members of the television series Primal Man, including stunt performer Janos Prohaska.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description A segment the crew had filmed in the Sierra Nevada was recovered from the wreckage and broadcast in Primal Man. March 15 – The right landing gear of a Sterling Airways Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle 10B3 collapses while it is taxiing at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran. The airliner slides before becoming to rest and its right wing fuel tank ruptures, starting a fire that kills 15 of the 96 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 20 – Two men hijack an East African Airways Fokker F27 Friendship with 33 people on board during a domestic flight in Kenya from Nairobi to Malindi, demanding to be flown to Libya. The airliner diverts to Entebbe, Uganda, where the hijackers surrender.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 30 – A young man with a gun and two hostages tries to hijack an empty National Airlines Boeing 727 at Sarasota–Bradenton International Airport in Sarasota County, Florida. He flees after a flight engineer disarms him and the authorities later apprehend him.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 31 – British Airways commences operations after BOAC and BEA merge to create the new airline.
April April 2 – The United States Navy retires its last Douglas C-54 Skymaster. Entering service on March 24, 1945, the C-54Q, Bureau number 56501, had flown in almost 15,000 hours of flight time. April 4 – Using aviation gasoline contaminated by jet fuel, the engines of a Wenela Air Services Douglas DC-4 (registration A2-ZER) begin overheating as soon as it takes off from Francistown Airport in Francistown, Botswana. The airliner attempts to return to the airport but crash-lands short of the runway, strikes some trees, and bursts into flame. The crash and fire kill 78 of the 84 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description April 18 – During its takeoff roll at London Luton Airport in London, England, Court Line Flight 95, a BAC One-Eleven 518 carrying 91 people, collides with a McAlpine Aviation Piper PA-23 Aztec which has entered the runway without permission. The collision destroys the Aztec, kills its pilot, and injures his passenger, but Flight 95's flight crew manages to abort their takeoff successfully and all aboard the airliner evacuate without injury via evacuation slides. April 22 – Flight 812, a Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B, crashes in mountainous terrain on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, northwest of the airport. All 107 people on board die.