This is a list of aviation-related events from 1978.
Events The Dominican Republic airline Aerovías Quisqueyana shuts down. It had operated since 1962.
January The Government of India establishes the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security as a department of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. January 1 Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747-237B, crashes into the Arabian Sea just off Bombay, India, immediately after takeoff from Sahar International Airport, killing all 213 people on board. British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley, and Scottish Aviation are absorbed into British Aerospace. January 18 Eastern Air Lines Flight 274, a Boeing 727-25, makes a two-point landing at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, after its nose wheel locks in the up position. There are no injuries to any of the 76 people on board and only minor damage is sustained by the airliner. Two hijackers commandeer a SAETA Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle during a domestic flight in Ecuador from Quito to Guayaquil and force it to fly to Havana, Cuba.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 20 – A hijacker commandeers a Pakistan International Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship during a domestic flight in Pakistan from Sukkur to Karachi, demanding money for cancer treatments. The hijacker is taken down at Karachi.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description January 28 A SADELCA Douglas DC-3D on a domestic flight in Colombia crashes into the cloud-covered mountain Cerro Granada at an altitude of , killing all 12 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description A hijacker seizes control of Piedmont Airlines Flight 964 – a NAMC YS-11 with 14 people on board flying from Kinston to Wilmington, North Carolina – demanding to be flown to Cuba. The plane lands at Kinston and then flies to New Bern, North Carolina. The hijacker is taken down.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
February February 6 – A hijacker commandeers a CSA Czech Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 with 39 people on board during a flight from East Berlin, East Germany, to Prague, Czechoslovakia, and forces it to fly to Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description February 10 A TAMU Douglas C-47A-75-DL Skytrain (registration CX-BJH/T-511) crashes soon after takeoff from Artigas Airport in Artigas, Uruguay, killing all 44 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description Columbia Pacific Airlines Flight 23, a Beechcraft Model 99 (registration N199EA), stalls and crashes immediately after takeoff from Richland Airport in Richland, Washington. The aircraft bursts into flames, and all 17 people on board die.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description February 11 – To avoid a snow plow on the runway at Cranbrook/Canadian Rockies International Airport near Cranbrook, British Columbia, Canada, Pacific Western Airlines Flight 314, a Boeing 737-200, aborts its landing and attempts a go-around, but its thrust reversers do not retract fully and it crashes, killing 42 of the 49 people on board. February 22 – An arson fire destroys the San Diego Aerospace Museum in San Diego, California. Several one-of-a-kind aircraft are destroyed, including the Beecraft Wee Bee and Beecraft Honey Bee, as well as a reproduction of the Spirit of St. Louis.
March March 1 – A Nigeria Airways Fokker F28 Fellowship 1000 (registration 5N-ANA) on approach to Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria, collides with a Nigerian Air Force MiG-21U (NATO reporting name "Fishbed") trainer performing touch-and-go landings. Both aircraft crash, killing all 16 people on the Fokker and both crew members of the MiG-21U.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 2 – A hijacker commandeers a Pakistan International Airlines Boeing 747-282B bound from Islamabad to Karachi, Pakistan. The hijacker is taken down at Islamabad.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 3 – After a Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (registration YV-45C) experiences artificial horizon problems after takeoff from Maiquetía Airport in Maiquetía, Venezuela, its crew attempts to return to the airport. On approach, it crashes into the Caribbean Sea off Punta Mulatos, killing all 47 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 9 – A hijacker takes control of a China Airlines Boeing 737-281 (registration B-1870) bound from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, to Hong Kong. The hijacker is taken down at Hong Kong. There is one fatality during the incident. March 11 – Flight Lieutenant David Cyster arrives in Darwin, Australia, completing a 32-day, 9,000-mile (14,493-km) flight from England in the de Havilland DH.82a Tiger Moth G-ANRF to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bert Hinklers first solo England-to-Australia flight in 1928.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1983, , p. 27.Flickr: Tiger Moth March 13 – Clay Thomas hijacks United Air Lines Flight 696 – a Boeing 727 with 75 people on board – shortly after it takes off from San Francisco, California, for a flight to Seattle, Washington. He orders the airliner to stop at Oakland, California, to take on fuel for a flight to Cuba. At Oakland, he releases all of the passengers and cabin crew, then panics when he sees police vehicles and orders the plane to take off again immediately without taking aboard a full load of fuel. Once the plane is airborne, the pilot explains that the plane still lacks the fuel to reach Cuba, and Thomas agrees to let it land at Denver, Colorado, to take on more fuel. At Denver, the pilot, copilot, and flight engineer all jump to safety from the cockpit windows to the tarmac. With no hostages and no one to fly the plane left aboard, Thomas quietly surrenders to the police five minutes later.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description March 16 – A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing all 73 people on board. March 25 – A Burma Airways Fokker F27 Friendship 200 (registration XY-ADK) loses height during its initial climb after takeoff from Mingaladon Airport in Rangoon, Burma, strikes trees, crashes in a rice paddy about north of the airport, and burns, killing all 48 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
April April 1 The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes 431 Air Demonstration Squadron. A hijacker at Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia, commandeers Piedmont Airlines Flight 66 – a Boeing 737-200 bound for Norfolk, Virginia, with 66 people on board – and forces the plane to fly to New York City, where he is arrested.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 15 – Flying in deteriorating weather, American stunt pilot Frank Tallman dies when the Piper PA-23 Aztec he is piloting crashes into the side of Santiago Peak in the Santa Ana Mountains near Trabuco Canyon, California.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s April 18 – The Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service. April 20 – Korean Airlines Flight 902, a Boeing 707-321B flying from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seoul, South Korea, with 109 people on board, veers drastically off course and violates Soviet airspace over the Kola Peninsula. A Soviet Air Defense Forces Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name "Flagon") fighter hits the airliner with an air-to-air missile, badly damaging the left wing and puncturing the fuselage, killing two passengers. The plane eventually makes a crash landing on a frozen lake near Loukhi, where Soviet helicopters rescue the 107 survivors. April 26 – Possibly due to engine trouble, a United States Navy P-3 Orion patrol aircraft (BuNo 152724) of Patrol Squadron 23 (VP-23) crashes in the Atlantic Ocean near Naval Air Facility Lajes in Lajes in the Azores, killing the crew of seven. April 30 – Southern Airways flies its last Martin 4-0-4 flight. It is the last piston-engined airliner flight by a major U.S. air carrier.Killion, Gary L.. The Martinliners, Sandpoint, Idaho: Airways International Inc., 1997, , p. 147.
May National Airlines inaugurates nonstop service from Florida to both Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany, and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. May 6 – A hijacker commandeers an Aeroflot airliner during a domestic flight in the Soviet Union from Ashgabat to Mineralnye Vody, demanding to be flown abroad. There is one fatality during the incident.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 8 – The National Airlines Boeing 727-235 Donna, operating as Flight 193, crashes into Escambia Bay while on descent to Pensacola, Florida, killing three of the 58 people on board and injuring 11 of the 55 survivors. May 10 – Three hijackers force a CSA Czech Airlines Ilyushin Il-18 making a domestic flight in Czechoslovakia from Prague to Brno to divert to Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 11 – Two 29-year-old male passengers hijack Avianca Flight 163 – a Boeing 727-59 (registration HK-727) with 119 people on board making a domestic flight in Colombia from Santa Marta to Bogotá – and force the airliner to divert to Cali, Colombia. After it refuels, they order it to fly to Aruba, where they release several passengers and the plane again refuels. The plane then flies to Curaçao, where the hijackers release more passengers before policemen dressed as mechanics overpower and arrest them.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 16 – Two hijackers commandeer Aeroméxico Flight 201 – a Douglas DC-9-32 with 99 people on board making a domestic flight in Mexico from Torreón to Mexico City – demanding the release of prisoners. They surrender after the airliner lands at Mexico City.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 16–27 – Eighteen U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifters fly 32 missions to transport 850 short tons (771 metric tons) of cargo and 125 passengers to Zaire in support of French Foreign Legion troops and Belgian paratroopers deploying there to oppose the Shaba II invasion of the Zairian province of Shaba by a separatist movement.Mets, David R., Land-Based Air Power in Third World Crises, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, July 1986, no ISBN, pp. 133-134. May 17 A Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Shin Meiwa PS-1 flying boat crashes at Takaoka, Japan, killing 13 people.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description A hijacker seizes control of a CSA Czech Airlines Yakovlev Yak-40 making a domestic flight in Czechoslovakia from Brno to Prague. The airliner lands safely at Prague. The hijacker is taken down.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description May 19 A Belgian force of 1,171 paratroopers arrives at Kamina, Zaire, in Belgian aircraft to intervene in the Shaba II crisis.Mets, David R., Land-Based Air Power in Third World Crises, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, July 1986, no ISBN, p. 134. Paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion jump into Kolwezi, Zaire, from three French Transall C-160 and four Zairian C-130 Hercules aircraft to intervene against separatists during the Shaba II crisis, meeting little organized resistance. May 20 Belgian troops land unopposed the airfield at Kolwezi after Zairian ground forces have seized it. Additional French Foreign Legion paratroopers jump over Kolwezi later in the day. McDonnell Douglas delivers its 5,000th F-4 Phantom II aircraft, 20 years after the first flight of the prototype. May 21 – American lyricist, screenwriter, director, and television producer Bruce Geller is one of the two people killed when the Cessna 337 Skymaster he is piloting crashes in foggy conditions in Buena Vista Canyon near Santa Barbara, California.