This is a list of aviation-related events from 1996:
Events
January January 8 – Overloaded and fully fueled, an Air Africa Antonov An-32B wet-leased from Moscow Airways fails to takeoff from N'Dolo Airport in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, overruns the runway, and ploughs into Kinshasa's crowded Simbazikita street market, where its fuel tanks explode. Two of at least six people on the plane die; in the street market, an estimated 300 people die and about 500 are injured, 253 of them seriously. January 12 – Ansett Australia begins service to Jakarta.
February The T-6 Texan II is selected as the new primary trainer for the United States Armed Forces. Hildegarde Ferrera becomes the oldest person to parachute out of a plane, at 99 years old. February 6 – Birgenair Flight 301, a Boeing 757-225, crashes into the Atlantic Ocean soon after takeoff from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, killing all 189 people on board. It remains the deadliest accident involving a Boeing 757. February 9 – British Airways Concorde G-BOAD flies from New York JFK airport to London Heathrow airport in just 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, setting a new Transatlantic crossing record for a commercial airliner. February 11 – Alyemen Airlines of Yemen merges into Yemenia, forming a single national flag carrier for unified Yemen under the Yemenia name. February 12 – Trans World Airlines announces plans to purchase 20 new Boeing 757-200 airliners. It is the airline's first major aircraft acquisition program since before former chairman Carl Icahn took control of the company in 1985.TWA History Timeline February 24 – A Cuban Air Force MiG-29UB fighter shoots down two Cessna Skymasters of the Cuban exile activist group Brothers to the Rescue off Havana, Cuba, killing four members of the group, including pilot Carlos Costa. A third Skymaster escapes. February 29 WestJet, a Canadian airline, begins operations. Faucett Flight 251, a Boeing 737-222, crashes into hills while on approach to Rodríguez Ballón International Airport in Arequipa, Peru, in darkness and fog, killing all 123 people on board.
March March 2 – A Learjet 25 (registration PT-LSD) carrying the Brazilian satirical rock band Mamonas Assassinas attempts a go-around at São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, but crashes in the Serra da Cantareira mountain range, killing all eight people on board including all five members of the band.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1990s March 5 – The Government of Belarus nationalizes and renames the local division of Aeroflot in Belarus, creating the new airline Belavia. March 15 – The Dutch aircraft manufacturing company Fokker is declared bankrupt and goes out of business. Its assets will be sold to its competitors. March 21 – Tupolev and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) begin joint research into civil supersonic transports using a refurbished Tupolev Tu-144. March 22 – American astronaut Robert Overmyer dies while testing the stall recovery characteristics at aft center of gravity limits of a Cirrus VK-30 homebuilt aircraft at Duluth, Minnesota, for Cirrus Design. The aircraft goes out of control and rolls inverted, and he is unable to free himself and use his parachute before it crashes.
April The Philippine airline Asian Spirit begins flight operations, offering de Havilland Canada Dash 7 service between Manila and Malay and becoming the first scheduled airline to provide service to the island of Boracay. It is the first Philippine airline to be run as a cooperative. April 3 – A United States Air Force Boeing CT-43A crashes into a mountainside on approach to Čilipi Airport in Dubrovnik, Croatia, in poor weather, killing all 35 people on board. Among the dead is United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. April 5 – Formosa Airlines Flight 7613, a Dornier 228 registered as B-12257, crashed into the water during a failed go-around attempt. Six out of the 17 occupants on board were killed. April 11 A fire in the passenger terminal at Düsseldorf Airport in Düsseldorf, Germany, kills 17 people and injures between 62 and 88, according to various sources. It is the deadliest commercial airport building fire in history. Seven-year-old pilot Jessica Dubroff, her father, and her flight instructor die in the crash of their Cessna 177B Cardinal shortly after takeoff from Cheyenne, Wyoming, in poor visibility on the second day of her attempt to set a record as the youngest person to fly across the continental United States. April 16 – American aerobatics champion Charlie Hillard is killed when his Hawker FB-60 Sea Fury veers off the runway and noses over while landing in a crosswind at Lakeland, Florida, after an aerobatic performance. April 18 – University of Nebraska Cornhuskers football team quarterback Brook Berringer and his passenger are killed when the Piper J-3C-65 Cub he is piloting loses engine power due to a partially closed fuel lever and crashes in an alfalfa field in Raymond, Nebraska.
May May 11 – A fire breaks out in the cargo hold of Valujet Flight 592, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32, a few minutes after takeoff from Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida. The aircraft crashes in the Everglades, striking the ground at a speed of over and killing all 110 people on board. Among the dead are American football player Rodney Culver and songwriter and musician Walter Hyatt. May 13 – Nepalese Army pilot Lieutenant Colonel Madan Khatri Chhetri lands a Eurocopter AS350 B2 helicopter at Mount Everest's Base Camp 1 at an altitude of to airlift climbers injured in a blizzard to Kathmandu, Nepal.[Krakauer, Jon, Into Thin Air, p.110.]
June The national airline of Ecuador, Ecuatoriana de Aviación, resumes flight operations. It had last flown in September 1993. June 9 The Swedish Air Force opens a new pilot training centre at Såtenäs Eastwind Airlines Flight 517, a Boeing 737-200 with 53 people on board, experiences a rudder malfunction during a flight from Trenton-Mercer Airport in Trenton, New Jersey, to Richmond International Airport in Richmond, Virginia, which causes the airliner to roll involuntarily to the right twice. The plane lands at Richmond safely saving all 53 occupants onboard with no injuries. Investigation of the incident will help determine the cause of accidents involving United Airlines Flight 585 in 1991 and USAir Flight 427 in 1994. June 13 – The pilots of Garuda Indonesia Flight 865, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 with 275 people on board, abort their takeoff from Fukuoka Airport in Fukuoka, Japan, after the fan blade in engine number three separates. The aircraft catches fire, killing three people.
July July 6 – Delta Air Lines Flight 1288, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 with 142 people on board, experiences an uncontained catastrophic turbine engine failure during its takeoff roll at Pensacola Regional Airport in Escambia County, Florida. The failure causes debris from the front compressor hub of the left engine to enter the passenger compartment, killing two passengers and injuring five others, two of them seriously. The pilot aborts the takeoff. July 15 – A Belgian Air Force C-130H Hercules carrying a Belgian crew of four and 37 young Royal Netherlands Army musicians strikes a flock of several hundred starlings and lapwings while attempting to land at Eindhoven Airport in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, crashes, and catches fire. Unaware that the plane is carrying any passengers, responding firefighters focus on putting the fire out instead of rescuing survivors. Thirty-four passengers die. It is the deadliest bird strike in history involving a military aircraft.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description July 16 – Trans World Airlines announces that it has ordered 15 new McDonnell Douglas MD-83 airliners from McDonnell Douglas. July 17 – Trans World Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 747-131, explodes over the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, Long Island, New York, apparently due to a short circuit and ignition of fuel-air vapor in a fuel tank. All 230 people on board are killed, making it the third-worst aviation disaster to take place in the United States. French guitarist Marcel Dadi, French artist Sylvain Delange, and photographer Rico Puhlmann are among the dead. Many alternative theories about the cause of the disaster will surface, including that a terrorist bomb detonated aboard the plane or that a United States Navy surface-to-air missile hit it. July 21 – During an air show at Barton Aerodrome, Barton-upon-Irwell, Greater Manchester, England, the last de Havilland Mosquito known to be airworthy (serial number RR299), a Mosquito T Mk III built in the spring of 1945, crashes with the loss of both crew members after suffering a loss of engine power when performing a wingover manoeuvre. The incident is captured on video.
August August 16 – Seven Russian men held captive by the Taliban in Kandahar, Afghanistan, since their Airstan Ilyushin Il-76 had been forced down over a year earlier on August 3, 1995, overpower their guards and escape in the plane, flying it to the United Arab Emirates. August 19 – Spair Airlines Flight 3601, an Ilyushin Il-76T cargo aircraft, reports electrical problems over Valjevo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 15 minutes after takeoff from Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. With its communication and navigation systems apparently disabled, the aircraft attempts to return to the airport in darkness and bad weather, flying low over Belgrade to find the runway by sight, but crashes short of the runway, killing the entire crew of 12. August 29 – Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Tupolev Tu-154M, crashes into the mountain Operafjellet at Svalbard, Norway, killing all 141 people on board. It remains the deadliest aviation accident ever to occur in Norway.
September September 3 Joint Task Force Southwest Asia extends the no-fly zone over southern Iraq enforced by Operation Southern Watch northward from the 32nd parallel to the 33rd parallel.GlobalSecurity.org Operation Southern Watch 1996 Events In response to an Iraqi offensive against Iraqi Kurds in northern Iraq during the Kurdish Civil War, U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses escorted by U.S. Navy F-14D Tomcats from the aircraft carrier join the U.S. Navy guided-missile cruiser and guided-missile destroyer in conducting Operation Desert Strike, a cruise missile attack against air defense sites in southern Iraq.Operation Desert Strike at globalsecurity.org The 27 missiles – 13 from the B-52s and 14 from Shiloh and Laboon – hit targets in and around Kut, Iskandariyah, Nasiriyah, and Tallil.U.S. launches missile strikes against Iraq - CNN.com September 4 – A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon fires an AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missile at an Iraqi 9K33 Osa (NATO reporting name "SA-8 Gecko") surface-to-air missile site in southern Iraq after the sites radar locks on to it. September 30 – The United States Air Force inactivates the Seventeenth Air Force.
October October 2 – After its flight instruments malfunction, Aeroperú Flight 603, a Boeing 757-23A, crashes into the Pacific Ocean, near Pasamayo, Peru, killing all 70 people on board. October 8 – Three B-2 Spirits destroy 16 targets with 16 smart bombs at the Nellis Air Force Base range in Nevada. October 14 – A wheel-well stowaway inside a Boeing 747 survives a flight from New Delhi to London at an altitude of . October 22 – Millon Air Flight 406, a Boeing 707-323C with four people aboard, crashes into a Dolorosa neighborhood in Ecuador, ripping off rooftops and crashing in flames into a restaurant, killing the four aboard and 30 in the neighborhood and injuring 50. October 31 – TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402, a Fokker 100, crashes into a São Paulo, Brazil, neighborhood, killing all 96 people aboard and three on the ground.
November