1994 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s
Years:	1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1994:

Events

March

• March 17 – Armenian forces shoot down an Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force C-130E Hercules carrying Iranian embassy personnel from Tehran to Moscow near Ballica in the Armenian-controlled Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, killing all 32 people on board.
• March 23 – Aeroflot Flight 593, an Airbus A310-304, is flying with unauthorized people – the pilot's 16-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter – in the cockpit when the 16-year-old unintentionally disengages the autopilot without the pilots' knowledge, causing the plane to bank steeply, go into an unexpected nearly vertical dive, and crash into a hillside in the Kuznetsk Alatau mountain range 20 km (12 miles) east of Mezhdurechensk, Russia. All 75 people on board die.
• March 23 – Two United States Air Force aircraft – a C-130E Hercules and an F-16D Fighting Falcon – collide at low altitude over Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina. The C-130E later lands safely, but the two men aboard the F-16D are forced to eject as the fighter begins to disintegrate. The unmanned F-16D continues in afterburner and punctures the fuel tanks of a parked U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter, creating a fireball which, along with the F-16D's wreckage, strikes a large group of United States Army 82nd Airborne Division paratroopers. The crash kills 24 and injures over 80 paratroopers in the division's greatest loss of life since the end of World War II in 1945.

April

• April 4 – KLM Cityhopper Flight 433, a Saab 340, crashes on landing at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, killing 3 of the 21 people on board and seriously injuring nine of the 18 survivors.
• April 6 – A surface-to-air missile shoots down the presidential jet of Rwanda, a Dassault Falcon 50, as it prepares to land at Kigali International Airport at Kigali, Rwanda, killing all 12 aboard, including President of Rwanda Juvénal Habyarimana and President of Burundi Cyprien Ntaryamira. Their assassination will spark the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
• April 7 – Flying as a passenger, Federal Express employee Auburn Calloway attempts to hijack Federal Express Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, by using claw hammers, sledgehammers, and a speargun to murder the crew, planning to crash the plane during a cargo flight from Memphis, Tennessee, to San Jose, California, killing himself so that his family could collect his life insurance. Although badly injured, the three-man crew manages to restrain Calloway in a struggle during which the DC-10 reaches transonic speeds and flies inverted, then makes an emergency landing at Memphis International Airport.
• April 14 – United States Air Force F-15 Eagles shoot down two United States Army UH-60 Blackhawks over Iraq, mis-identifying them as Iraqi Mil Mi-25s. All 26 people aboard the two helicopters die.
• April 16 – An SA-7 Grail surface-to-air missile shoots down a Royal Navy Sea Harrier over Serbia. The pilot later is rescued.
• April 26 – An Airbus A300 operating as China Airlines Flight 140 crashes just before landing at Nagoya International Airport in Japan, killing 264 of the 271 people on board.

June

• June 2 – In the Royal Air Force's worst peacetime aviation disaster, an RAF Boeing Chinook helicopter crashes on the Mull of Kintyre in Scotland, klling all 29 people on board. Among the dead are almost all of the United Kingdom's senior Northern Ireland intelligence experts.
• June 6 – In what remains the People's Republic of China's deadliest air disaster, the autopilot aboard China Northwest Airlines Flight 2303, a Tupolev Tu-154M, malfunctions, causing the airliner to shake violently, break apart in flight, and crash south of Xian, China, killing all 160 people on board.
• June 9 – An Antonov An-124 carries a 109-tonne diesel locomotive from Ontario, Canada, to Dublin, Ireland.
• June 24 – A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress crashes at Fairchild Air Force Base outside Spokane, Washington, when its pilot banks it too steeply during a go-around, killing the entire crew of four.
• June 30 – An Airbus A330-300 on a test flight crashes at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in Toulouse, France, killing all seven people on board. It is the first fatal accident involving an A330 and will remain the only one until 2009; it also is the first hull-loss of an A330.

July

• July 2 – USAir Flight 1016, a Douglas DC-9-31 on approach in heavy rain to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, crashes, the victim of a microburst. Thirty-seven of the 57 people aboard die, and 15 of the 20 survivors are injured.
• July 12 – A Royal Air Force C-130 Hercules flies the 10,000th United Nations relief flight into Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
• July 19 – Alas Chiricanas Flight 00901, an Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante, explodes shortly after departing Enrique Adolfo Jiménez Airport in Colón, Panama, killing all 21 people on board. Investigators determine that a suicide bomber probably brought the plane down, perhaps to kill 12 Jews who were aboard. A group named Ansar Allah ("Followers of God") claims responsibility, but is later found not to exist, and the bombing remains unsolved.

August

• Flight Lieutenant Jo Salter is posted to the Royal Air Force's No. 617 Squadron, which operates Tornado GR1Bs. She is the RAF's first female fast jet pilot.
• August 5 – U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs attack and destroy a Serbian anti-tank gun.
• August 21 – Royal Air Maroc Flight 630, an ATR 42-312, crashes at Douar Izounine, Morocco, in the Atlas Mountains 10 minutes after takeoff from Agadir – Al Massira Airport, in Agadir, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board, including a Kuwaiti prince and his wife. An investigation concludes that the pilot disconnected the autopilot and crashed the plane deliberately, although a flight union disputes the finding. At the time, it is the deadliest accident involving an ATR 42.
• August 30 – Lockheed and Martin Marietta announce their intention to merge. They will form Lockheed-Martin the following year.

September

• September 8 – USAir Flight 427, a Boeing 737-300, crashes into a hillside near Aliquippa in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, while on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, killing all 132 people aboard; among the dead is noted neuroethologist Walter Heiligenberg. The ensuring accident investigation lasts 4½ years – still the longest in aviation history.
• September 12 - Distraught over breaking up with his third wife, wanting to gain notoriety, and under the influence of alcohol and cocaine, Frank Corder steals a Cessna 150 from Aldino Airport near Baltimore, Maryland, and crashes it onto the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., killing himself. The plane is undetected until seen over the White House lawn, prompting a change in security procedures at the White House.
• September 22 – Two Royal Air Force SEPECAT Jaguars and a U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack and destroy a Serbian T-55 tank.

October

• October 1 – United Airlines creates a new airline named United Shuttle.
• October 25 – U.S. Navy Lieutenant Kara Hultgreen, the first female aircraft carrier-based fighter pilot, is killed off San Diego, California, in the crash of an F-14 Tomcat fighter she is piloting on final approach to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).
• October 31 – An ATR-72 operating as American Eagle Airlines Flight 4184 crashes in Roselawn, Indiana, after a flaw in the ATR-72's deicing system leads to a buildup of ice on its wings. All 68 people on board die.

November

• November 3 – Haris Keč, a Bosnian, hijacks a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating as Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 347 en route from Bardufoss Airport to Bodø Airport in Norway with 128 people on board, and makes demands that the Norwegian government take action to stop humanitarian suffering in Bosnia-Herzegovina. No one is injured in the incident.
• November 22 – During its takeoff roll at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport in Bridgeton, Missouri, Transworld Airlines Flight 427, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 with 140 people on board, strikes a Cessna 441. There are no injuries aboard the MD-82, but both people on the Cessna die.
• November 28 – KLM Flight 1673, a Boeing 737-406 with 146 people on board, suffers a landing gear failure during its takeoff roll at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, veers off the runway, and crashes. All on board survive, but the aircraft is written off.

December

• December 11 – A bomb planted by terrorist Ramzi Yousef explodes aboard Philippine Airlines Flight 434, a Boeing 747-200 with 293 people on board, over Minami Daito Island, killing one passenger and injuring 10 other people. The aircraft lands at Okinawa without further incident.
• December 21 – Air Algérie Flight 702P, the Boeing 737-2D6C Oasis leased by Phoenix Aviation, crashes in bad weather on landing at Coventry Airport in Coventry, England, killing all five people on board.
• December 24–26 – The Armed Islamic Group (GIA) hijacks Air France Flight 8969 at Algiers, Algeria, killing three passengers. Intending to crash the plane into the Eiffel Tower, the hijackers allow it to fly to Marseille, France, where the French Gendarmerie's GIGN unit storms it and kills all four hijackers.
• December 29 – The Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-4Y0 Mersin, operating as Flight 278, crashes in driving snow while on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board.

First flights

February

• February 15 - Eurocopter EC 135

March

• March 27 - Eurofighter Typhoon

June

• June 12 - Boeing 777

September

• September 13 - Airbus Beluga

October

• October 25 - Bell 430

December

• December 16 - Antonov An-70

Entered service

• December - Tupolev Tu-204

Retirements

• Lockheed P-2 Neptune by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force