This is a list of aviation-related events from 1976.
Events The Vatican City Heliport, a helipad in the Vatican Gardens located in the westernmost bastion of the Leonine Wall, opens in Vatican City.
January January 1 A bomb explodes in the forward cargo compartment of Middle East Airlines Flight 438, a Boeing 720-023B, at an altitude of over Saudi Arabia. The airliner breaks up and crashes northwest of Al Qaysumah, killing all 81 people on board. Responsibility for the bombing has never been established. Bell Helicopter becomes Bell Helicopter Textron.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, , p. 95. January 3 – Aeroflot Flight 2003, a Tupolev Tu-124V (registration CCCP-45037) enters clouds immediately after takeoff from Vnukovo Airport in Moscow. Its artificial horizons fail, and the crew loses its spatial orientation, banking 95 degrees and diving the airliner into the ground west of the airport at a rate of descent of per second. The crash kills all 61 people on board and one person in a house on the ground.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 5 – Two hijackers commandeer Japan Air Lines Flight 768, a Douglas DC-8 with 223 people on board during a flight from Manila, the Philippines, to Tokyo, Japan. The airliner returns to Manila International Airport, where the hijackers surrender.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 15 – A Taxi Aéreo El Venado Douglas C-54A-5-DC Skymaster (registration HK-172) crashes into a cloud-covered mountain peak east of Chipaque, Colombia. The airliner strikes the mountain at an altitude of and falls into a canyon, killing all 13 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 20 – TAME Hawker Siddeley HS 748-246 Srs. 2A (registration HC-AUE/683), flying at an altitude of , loses altitude over mountainous terrain, strikes trees with its wing, and crashes into the side of a mountain near Loja, Ecuador, killing 34 of the 42 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description January 21 A CAAC Airlines Antonov An-24 (registration B-492) crashes on approach to Changsha Huanghua International Airport in Changsha in the People's Republic of China, killing all 40 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description The world's first supersonic air passenger service begins, when the Concorde begins commercial passenger flights for both Air France and British Airways.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, , p. 58. Air France makes its first Concorde flight from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris to Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with a stop at Dakar, Senegal, initiating a twice-weekly Paris-Rio de Janeiro service that will continue until 1982. Angola formally establishes the People's Air Force of Angola.
February February 9 – Aeroflot Flight 3739, a Tupolev Tu-104A (registration CCCP-42327), banks hards to the right on takeoff from Irkutsk Airport in Irkutsk in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and crashes, killing 24 of the 115 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 29 – A Colombian man hijacks an Aerolineas Centrales de Colombia (ACES) Saunders ST-27 (registration HK-1286) shortly after it arrives at Medellín, Colombia, after a domestic flight from Turbo and forces it to fly to Chigorodó, Colombia, with 18 people on board. At Chigorodó, he allows eight passengers to disembark, then orders the airliner to return to Medellín, where police storm the plane during the evening and kill him.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
March March 2 – A TAM – Transporte Aéreo Militar IAI Arava 201 (registration TAM-76) on a military flight crashes in the jungle in southeastern Bolivia, killing 19 of the 22 people on board. The plane's wreckage is not found until March 4.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 6 – Aeroflot Flight 909, an Ilyusin Il-18V (registration CCCP-75408), suffers an electrical failure that knocks out its compass system, two main gyroscopes, and autopilot while it is flying at night at an altitude of . The crew loses its spatial awareness and loses control of the airliner, which crashes near Verkhnyaya Khava in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, killing all 111 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 17 - A Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 makes the first non-stop flight from Tokyo to New York, taking 11½ hours for the journey.
April April 5 – Howard Hughes dies aboard a Learjet, aged 70. April 7 – Three men hijack a Philippine Air Lines BAC One-Eleven during a domestic flight in the Philippines from Cagayan de Oro to Mactan, demanding US$300,000 and the release of a large number of prisoners. The airliner diverts to Manila, where the hijackers receive the money and exchange all the passengers for a new set of hostages. Over the next six days, the hijackers force the plane to fly to Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and to Bangkok, Thailand. At Bangkok, Philippine Air Lines provides the hijackers with a Douglas DC-8. The hijackers transfer to the DC-8, bringing 12 Philippine Air Lines employees with them as hostages, and force it to fly to Karachi, Pakistan, and then on to Benghazi, Libya, where the hijackers release the hostages and request political asylum.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 14 – The right wing of the Avro 748-105 Srs. 1 Ciudad de Corrientes (registration LV-HHB), operated by YPF, fails due to metal fatigue at an altitude of about during a staff transfer flight for the company, followed by separation of the right tailplane. The rest of the plane corkscrews and crashes north of Cutral Có, Argentina, killing all 34 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description April 24 – A 22-year-old male passenger board an Avianca Boeing 727-59 (registration HK-1400) draws a revolver and hijacks the airliner shortly after it takes off from Pereira, Colombia, for a domestic flight to Bogotá. The plane lands at Bogotá, and he surrenders to the authorities there that evening.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 27 – American Airlines Flight 625, a Boeing 727, crashes on approach to St. Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, killing 37 of the 88 people on board. April 30 – After a Turkish Airlines Douglas DC-10-10 with 264 people on board takes off from Paris′s Orly Airport for a flight to Istanbul, Turkey, a Turkish migrant worker who had lost his job and was being expelled from France and sent home to Turkey hijacks the plane, demanding to be flown to Marseille or Lyon, France. The airliner returns to Orly Airport, where the hijacker surrenders two-and-a-half hours later.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
May Uganda Airlines is founded. It will begin flight operations in 1977. May 1–3 Carrying 98 passengers, the Pan American World Airways Boeing 747SP-21 Clipper Liberty Bell (registration N533PA) makes an around-the-world flight during which it sets several world records. Departing John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on May 1, it flies eastward nonstop to Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India, arriving on May 2 after flying at an average speed of 869.63 kilometers per hour (540.363 miles per hour), a record average speed for a commercial aircraft flying the route. It then flies nonstop to Tokyo International Airport in Tokyo, Japan, arriving on May 3 after covering at an average speed of 421.20 kilometers per hour (261.722 miles per hour), a record average speed for a commercial aircraft flying the route. It then flies its final leg, returning to John F. Kennedy International Airport with a nonstop flight of at an average speed of 912.50 kilometers per hour (567.001 miles per hour), a record speed for a commercial aircraft on that route. The flight takes 46 hours 1 second, of which 39 hours 25 minutes 53 seconds are in the air, and covers at an average speed of 809.24 kilometers per hour (502.838 miles per hour), a record average speed for an aircraft on an eastward around-the-world flight.This Day in Aviation: May 1-3, 1976 May 3 – A de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 300 (registration C-GDHA) operated by de Havilland Canada suffers the failure of its No. 2 engine on takeoff from Monze Airport in Monze, Zambia, and crashes beyond the end of the runway, killing all 11 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description May 9 – An Imperial Iranian Air Force Boeing 747-131F cargo plane operating as Flight 48 is struck by lightning near Madrid, Spain, causing the fuel tank in its left wing to explode and the wing to separate. The aircraft crashes in farmland, killing all 17 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description May 11 – British Airways Flight 888, a Boeing 747-100 was on the finals at the old Kuala Lumpur Airport when it flew below the normal flight path, hitting trees 2.2 nautical miles before the runway threshold. On landing, inspection of the aircraft revealed damage on the main landing gear; strike marks on the fuselage and engine intakes; and evidence of debris ingestion on the two left-side engines. May 15 – Flying at its cruising altitude of during a domestic flight in the Soviet Union from Vinnitsa to Moscow, Aeroflot Flight 1802, an Antonov An-24V (registration CCCP-46534), experiences a sudden, sharp rudder deflection. It goes into a spin and crashes southeast of Chernigov in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, killing all 52 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description May 21–23 – Six Muslim rebels hijack Philippine Air Lines Flight 116, a BAC One-Eleven 527FK (registration RP-C1161), during a domestic flight in the Philippines from Davao City to Manila with 81 other people on board. They force it to fly to Zamboanga Airport in Zamboanga City, where they demand $375,000 and a plane to fly them to Libya. When Filipino security forces storm the plane on May 23, a gun battle breaks out and the hijackers detonate hand grenades. Three hijackers and 10 passengers die, and the three surviving hijackers are arrested and later sentenced to death.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 24 – Air France and British Airways simultaneously initiate transatlantic Concorde service with flights to Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
June June 1 – Aeroflot Flight 418, a Tupolev Tu-154M, crashes into a mountain near Bioko, Equatorial Guinea, killing all 46 people on board. June 4 – Air Manila International Flight 702, a Lockheed L-188A Electra (registration RP-C1061), crashes on takeoff from Naval Air Station Agana on Guam, striking an automobile as it slides across a highway. The crash kills all 45 people on board the plane and the driver of the car and seriously injures a woman and her son, who are burned and struck by debris while standing outside their residence.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description June 6 – A Sabah Air GAF Nomad crashes at Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, while on approach to Kota Kinabalu International Airport, killing all 11 people on board. Among the dead are eight Sabah officials, including Chief Minister Tun Fuad Stephens.