This is a list of aviation-related events from 1991.
Events
January Air Dolomiti begins flight operations, offering service between Genoa and Trieste, Italy. January 8 – At a substantial financial loss, Midway Airlines sells its hub at Philadelphia International Airport in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to USAir. The sale leaves Midway Airlines with only its original hub, at Chicago Midway International Airport in Chicago, Illinois. January 9 – L'Express Airlines files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection due to increasing fuel costs. It continues to fly, however, operating 80 daily flights by the summer of 1991. Smothers, Ronald; Weather is linked to crash of plane; The New York Times; July 12, 1991 January 16 – Eastern Air Lines is dissolved after 64 years of operation. Many of its remaining assets are parceled out to American and Continental Airlines. January 17 – Operation Desert Storm begins as U.S.-led forces attack Iraq in a massive air assault after a United Nations deadline for the withdrawal of Iraqi troops from occupied Kuwait passes unheeded. United States Air Force, United States Navy, United States Marine Corps, Royal Air Force, French Air Force, and other Coalition aircraft participate. The F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter makes its first successful combat sortie, destroying an Iraqi telecommunications facility.Friederich, Otto, Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991, , pp. 35, 39, 44, 51. U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers based at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, fly a non-stop 35-hour, round-trip mission to strike Iraqi targets, the longest combat mission in history up to that time, and employ the AGM-86 Air-Launched Cruise Missile in combat for the first time.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Hermes House, 2006, , p. 294. The Iraqi national integrated air defense system collapses within the first two hours after shooting down only one Coalition aircraft (a U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet), and the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has its commander executed.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 158, 162. During the first 14 hours of the bombardment, the attacking aircraft fly more than 1,000 sorties and drop 18,000 tons (16,329,493 kg) of explosives; they lose three of their number – one American, one British, and one Kuwaiti plane – during the day, all to Iraqi ground fire.Friederich, Otto, Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991, , p. 40.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 354. Iraq loses 10 aircraft in air-to-air combat during the day.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 357-358. January 21 – The Soviet Union commissions the "heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser" Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov. A hybrid ship combining the capability of a Western aircraft carrier to operate high-performance fighters for fleet air defense with the heavy shipboard anti-ship missile armament of Soviet guided-missile cruisers, she is the first Soviet or Russian ship with a full-length flight deck similar to that of Western aircraft carriers and the only such ship ever to be built prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. January 21 – An Iraqi surface-to-air missile shoots down a U.S. Navy F-14 Tomcat and a United States Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes in the Gulf War.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 354-355. Coalition aircraft have flown more than 4,000 sorties against Iraqi forces since Operation Desert Storm began, targeting command-and-control centers, airfields, and Scud short-range ballistic missile launchers.Friederich, Otto, Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991, , p. 100. They now shift their focus to Iraqi positions around Basra and along the Iraq-Kuwait border.Friederich, Otto, Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991, , p. 102. January 22 – In the Gulf War, Iraqi antiaircraft artillery downs a Royal Air Force Tornado ground-attack aircraft and the U.S. Army loses an attack helicopter to non-combat causes.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 355. Four U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders disable an Iraqi Navy T43 class minesweeper.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 363. January 23 – Iraqi antiaircraft fire downs a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon over Kuwait, and a United States Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II and a U.S. Army attack helicopter are lost to non-combat causes. U.S. Navy A-6E Intruders attack Iraqi ships, disabling a tanker, sinking a Winchester-class hovercraft refueling from the tanker, and sinking a Zhuk-class patrol boat. January 24 – Iraqi ground fire shoots down another RAF Tornado, over Basrah, Iraq. Flying an F-15C Eagle, Royal Saudi Air Force Captain Ayedh al-Shamrani, using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles, shoots down two Iraqi Air Force Mirage F1 jets as they approach British Royal Navy ships in the Persian Gulf. U.S. Navy aircraft attack Iraqi Navy ships; A-6Es sink a Zhuk-class patrol boat and Spasilac-class minelayer and cause a minesweeper taking evasive action to strike an Iraqi mine and sink, and a force of A-6Es and F/A-18 Hornets hit four ships in an attack on Umm Qasr naval base. U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell announces that during the first week of air attacks on Iraq, Coalition air forces have flown more than 10,000 sorties, knocked out 61 of Iraq's 66 airfields, and shot down 19 Iraqi aircraft in air-to-air-combat, losing 16 of their own number – all to ground fire.Friederich, Otto, Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1991, , p. 42. January 26 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down three Iraqi MiG-23s using AIM-7 Sparrow missiles.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 358. U.S. Navy A-6Es attack Kuwait Harbor, hitting an Iraqi patrol boat, and elsewhere hit an Iraqi TNC-45 fast attack boat, leaving both boats burning. The U.S. Navy loses an F/A-18C Hornet to non-combat causes. January 27 – Two U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 53rd Tactical Fighter Squadron shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23s and two Iraqi Mirage F1s 60–100 miles (97–161 km) south of Baghdad using Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles. United States Central Command claims that Iraqi naval losses thus far in the Gulf War total one oil platform, two patrol boats, one tanker, and four unidentified ships presumed sunk and four mine warfare ships, one hovercraft, three patrol boats, and two unidentified vessels confirmed as sunk.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 424. Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses. January 28 – Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier II over Faylakah Island, and a U.S. Army attack helicopter is lost to non-combat causes. January 28–29 – U.S. Navy A-6Es conduct two days of attacks on Iraqi ships in Bubiyan Channel, at the Umm Qasr naval base, and in Kuwait Harbor. January 29 – U.S. Air Force F-15C Eagles of the 33rd Tactical Fighter Wing shoot down two Iraqi MiG-23s using Sparrow missiles. After a British frigate detects 17 Iraqi small boats in the Persian Gulf carrying commandos for use in a seaborne assault during the Battle of Khafji, Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters attack them with Sea Skua missiles. Soon more Lynxes and Royal Navy Sea King Commando and U.S. Navy LAMPS III helicopters – with some of the helicopters using door machine guns and hand grenades – and Royal Air Force Jaguar and U.S. Navy carrier-based A-6E Intruder bombers join in. The attacks sink 14 of the boats and drive the other three ashore, preventing the planned commando operation.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 201, 363. January 30 – Fleet Air Arm Lynx helicopters (employing Sea Skuas), Royal Air Force Jaguars, and U.S. Navy A-6Es (using Rockeye cluster bombs) attack an Iraqi naval convoy made up of a minesweeper, three fast-attack craft, and three landing craft carrying troops and ammunition, breaking up the second and final seaborne component of Iraqi forces in the Battle of Khafji.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 201, 363–364. The Coalition reports that thus far in the Gulf War it has destroyed or disabled 46 Iraqi naval vessels, although another report at about this time claims the total is about 60. Coalition aircraft have inflicted most of the losses. January 31 – An Iraqi shoulder-launched Strela 2 surface-to-air missile hits a U.S. Air Force AC-130H Spectre gunship over Kuwait during the Battle of Khafji; the aircraft crashes into the Persian Gulf, killing all 14 on board. It is the largest Coalition loss of life in a single aviation incident during the Gulf War.
February February 1 In the Gulf War, a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder hits an Iraqi Navy patrol boat near Min-al-Bakr oil terminal, leaving it burning.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 364. USAir Flight 1493, a Boeing 737-300 with 89 people on board, collides with Skywest Flight 5569, a Fairchild Metro III carrying 12 people, on a runway at Los Angeles International Airport, in Los Angeles, California, killing 22 people on the USAir plane and everyone aboard the Skywest aircraft. Thirty people on the USAir plane are injured, 13 of them seriously. February 2 – Coalition aircraft attack Iraqi Navy vessels at the Al Kalia naval facility, hitting a missile boat with two laser-guided bombs and straddling another with twelve 500-pound (227-kg) bombs; helicopters from the American guided-missile frigate engage four Iraqi patrol boats near Maradim Island, destroying one and damaging two; and U.S. Navy A-6Es destroy an Iraqi patrol boat in Kuwait Harbor with two laser-guided bombs. The Coalition claims to have sunk or damaged 83 Iraqi Navy vessels thus far in the Gulf War, with Coalition aircraft inflicting most of the losses. Iraqi antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Navy A-6E Intruder near Kuwait City, Kuwait, an Iraqi short-range surface-to-air missile downs a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II, and a U.S. Marine Corps AH-1J SeaCobra crashes due to non-combat causes while returning from an armed escort mission.Friedman, Norman, Desert Victory: The War For Kuwait, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 355 February 3 Returning from a strike against Iraqi forces, a U.S. Air Force B-52G Stratofortress attempting to land at Diego Garcia crashes on final approach. The Government of Albania establishes the Directorate General of Civil Aviation as Albania's national civil aviation authority. It later will be renamed the Albanian Civil Aviation Authority. February 5 – A U.S. Navy F/A-18C Hornet crashes in the northern Persian Gulf while returning to its aircraft carrier from a strike against Iraqi forces. February 6