This is a list of aviation-related events from 1975.
Events
January A specially modified McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle sets eight time to climb records, including one of 3 minutes 27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of . January 3 – A lone hijacker boards a National Airlines Boeing 727 parked at Pensacola Regional Airport in Pensacola, Florida. Only a small crew of cleaners is aboard the airliner, and they overpower the hijacker.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 6 – An Argentine Army de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 (registration AE-259) on a reconnaissance flight in poor weather crashes into the side of the mountain Nuñorco Chico in Argentina's Sierra del Aconquija at an altitude of , killing all 12 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 7 – A male passenger hijacks a British Airways BAC One-Eleven shortly after it lands at London′s Heathrow Airport after a domestic flight from Manchester, England. He initially demands a ransom of US$230,000 and a parachute, then changes hs mind and instead demands to be flown to Paris, where he says he will surrender 48 hours after arriving, giving him time to fulfill a purpose he does not reveal. The flight crew tricks him into letting them fly him to London Stansted Airport, and he is arrested there.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 8 – A SATENA Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration FAC-688) crashes into a hill near El Doncello, Colombia, killing all 23 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 9 British Airways begins Europe′s first no-booking shuttle service, between London, England, and Glasgow, Scotland. Golden West Airlines Flight 261, a de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter, collides with a Cessnair Aviation, Inc., Cessna 150 over Whittier, California. Both aircraft crash, killing all 12 people aboard the Twin Otter and both people in the Cessna. There are no injuries on the ground, although the Twin Otters fuselage crashes on the grounds of Katherine Edwards Middle School, where 300 people are watching an outdoor basketball game. January 13 – As Eastern Airlines Flight 140 – a Boeing 727 with 60 people on board flying from Atlanta, Georgia to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – passes over Lynchburg, Virginia, 46-year-old Laughlin Wright begins to bang on the cockpit door, demanding to be flown to San Juan, Puerto Rico. He agrees to allow the airliner to land at Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. During the final descent to the airport, an off-duty Philadelphia police officer aboard as a passenger grabs Wright, shoves him into a lavatory, and holds the door closed until the plane lands and all passengers have escaped. Airport security officers then board the plane and arrest Wright.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Descriptionskyjackeroftheday.tumblr.com "Skyjacker of the Day #56: Laughlin Wright," April 8, 2013. January 14 – The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is announced as the winner of the LWF (Light Weight Fighter) competition. January 16 – United States Air Force Major D. W. Petersen sets a new world absolute time-to-height speed record, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle to in 77.02 seconds.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 318. January 20 – Terrorists hijack an Air France Boeing 707 and have it flown to Baghdad, Iraq. January 22 – A lone hijacker commandeers a VASP Boeing 737-200 during a domestic flight in Brazil from Goiânia to Brasília, demanding ransom money and the release of prisoners. Security forces storm the airliner and arrest the hijacker.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 30 – While the Turkish Airlines Fokker F28-1000 Fellowship Bursa, operating as Flight 345, is on approach to Istanbul Yeşilköy Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, the runway goes dark when the airport suffers a power failure. The flight crew initiates a missed approach but crashes into the Sea of Marmara while maneuvering for a second landing attempt, killing all 42 people on board.
February February 1 – U.S. Air Force Major R. Smith sets a new world absolute time-to-height speed record, flying a McDonnell Douglas F-15A Eagle to in 207.80 seconds. February 3 – An engine fire breaks out aboard a Philippine Air Lines Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (registration RP-C1028) two minutes after takeoff from Manila International Airport in Manila, the Philippines. While attempting to return to the airport it crashes in a rice field, killing all 33 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 8 – Hastily developed Larnaca International Airport opens just outside Larnaca, Cyprus, as Cyprus's only commercial airport; it replaces Nicosia International Airport, permanently closed and abandoned during the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in July 1974. Cyprus Airways, which had suspended flight operations in July 1974 when Nicosia International closed and all five of its aircraft were stranded there, resumes flight operations the same day. Cyprus Airways and Olympic Airways are the first airlines to serve the new airport; its runways are not yet long enough to accommodate jet aircraft, so Cyprus Airways uses Vickers Viscount 800 airliners there, while Olympic uses NAMC YS-11s. February 9 – A German Air Force Transall C-160D carrying 37 West German soldiers from Hohn Air Base in West Germany to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) missile base on Crete crashes in stormy weather at an altitude of about in snow-covered mountains from Crete's Chania-Soúda Airport, killing all 42 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 14 – Jerry Pettis, a member of the United States House of Representatives representing California's 37th Congressional District dies when the Beechcraft Model V35B Bonanza he is piloting crashes near Cherry Valley, California, after he encounters adverse weather conditions.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s February 20 – A Cessna 182 Skylane piloted by American professional wrestler Buddy Colt and also carrying wrestlers Gary Hart, Austin Idol, and Bobby Shane, stalls while attempting a go-around in clouds and darkness at Peter O. Knight Airport in Tampa, Florida, and crashes into Tampa Bay. Colt, Idol, and Hart survive, but Shane drowns in the plane's back seat. February 22 – A lone hijacker commandeers a VASP Boeing 737-2A1 (registration PP-SMU) during a domestic flight in Brazil from Goiânia to Brasília, demanding ransom money. The hijacker is taken down.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description February 27 – A VASP Embraer EMB 110C Bandeirante crashes just after takeoff from São Paulo–Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, killing all 15 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
March March 1 – Three hijackers commandeer an Iraqi Airways Boeing 737-200 during a domestic flight in Iraq from Mosul to Baghdad. They surrender to authorities, but one person is killed during the incident.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 2 – A hijacker aboard Air New England Flight 911 – a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter bound from Hyannis to Nantucket, Massachusetts – demands to be flown to New Haven, Connecticut. Police storm the plane at Hyannis Airport and arrest the hijacker.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 12 – An Air Vietnam Douglas C-54D-5-DC Skymaster (registration XV-NUJ) flying from Vientiane, Laos, to Saigon, South Vietnam, crashes southwest of Pleiku, South Vietnam, killing all 26 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 16 – A LADE Fokker F27 Friendship 400M (registration TC-72) crashes into the mountain Cerro López west of San Carlos de Bariloche International Airport in San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, while descending for an instrument approach to the airport, killing all 52 people on board. Most of the 47 passengers are soldiers and police officers who took part in flood relief operations in Argentina's Neuquen Province.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 21 – Because of confusion about air traffic control instructions, a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141A-20-LM Starlifter flying from Yokota Air Base in Japan to McChord Field in Pierce County, Washington, crashes into Mount Constance in Washington's Olympic National Park, striking a ridge below its summit. The crash kills all 16 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 31 – Western Airlines Flight 470, a Boeing 737-200, overruns the runway while landing at Casper/Natrona County International Airport near Casper, Wyoming, injuring four of the 99 people on board and damaging the aircraft beyond repair.
April U.S. Navy Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighters fly combat missions for the first time, when F-14As of Fighter Squadrons 1 (VF-1) and 2 (VF-2) aboard the aircraft carrier fly air patrols over South Vietnam during the evacuation of Saigon.Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: A Premier Fighter," Naval History, April 2012, p. 14. Royal Air Maroc becomes the first Arab airline to provide service to New York City, using a Boeing 707-320B leased from Air France. April 1 – The Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed. April 4 – The cargo door of a U.S. Air Force C-5A Galaxy making the first flight of Operation Babylift opens explosively while the plane is flying over the South China Sea off Vũng Tàu, South Vietnam. The plane crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon, South Vietnam, killing 153 of the 328 people on board. Seventy-six of the dead are South Vietnamese orphans being airlifted to join caregivers in the United States. It remains the deadliest accident involving a U.S. military aircraft. April 9 – A lone hijacker demands ransom money aboard Japan Air Lines Flight 514 – a Boeing 747SR-46 with 215 people on board – during a domestic flight in Japan from Sapporo to Tokyo′s Haneda Airport. Security forces storm the airliner at Tokyo and arrest the hijacker.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 12 – United States Marine Corps helicopters conduct Operation Eagle Pull, the evacuation of Embassy personnel, US citizens and designated Cambodians from Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 172-173. April 16 – Evergreen International Airlines is founded. April 19 – Making the last flight by a fixed-wing aircraft out of Saigon, a Republic of Vietnam Air Force C-130 Hercules normally configured to seat 92 passengers and a crew of five carries a record load for a C-130 of 452 passengers – South Vietnamese and Americans fleeing the North Vietnamese – and the pilot. Thirty-two of the passengers ride on the flight deck.Wilkinson, Stephan, "The Perfect Airlifter," Aviation History, January 2013, p. 28. April 25 – After drinking heavily aboard United Airlines Flight 344 – a Boeing 727 with 67 people on board flying from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Newark, New Jersey – 44-year-old Frank Page Covey announces that he is carrying explosives and demands that the airliner fly him to Cuba because he "wanted to see Castro." After the plane lands in Atlanta, Georgia, Covey releases all the passengers and flight attendants. While he is negotiating with United Airlines officials over the radio, the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer sneak out the plane's rear exit, leaving Covey alone on the plane. Agents of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation then board the airliner and arrest Covey.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Descriptionskyjackeroftheday.tumblr.com "Skyjacker of the Day #47: Frank Page Covey," May 3, 2013. April 30