1995 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
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Years:	1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1995:

Events

January

• January 19 – Lightning strikes Bristow Flight 56C, a Eurocopter Super Puma helicopter, forcing its pilot to autorotate and ditch in heavy seas in the North Sea near the Brae oilfield's Brae Alpha oil rig. All 18 people on board escape unharmed in a life raft and are rescued.
• January 26 – The Cenepa War breaks out between Peru and Ecuador. Peruvian Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-25, as well as Ecuadorian Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters begin ground attack operations.

February

• February 9-12 – Heavy fighting continues between Peru and Ecuador. The Peruvian and Ecuadorian Air Forces step up their activities.
• February 10 – The prototype Antonov An-70 collides with an Antonov An-72 chase plane over Kiev Oblast in Russia during a test flight. The An-72 lands safely at Gostomel Airport, but the An-70 crashes, killing all seven people on board.
• February 10 – A pair of Ecuadorian Air Force Mirage F.1JAs shoot down two Peruvian Air Force Sukhoi Su-22Ms. Almost simultaneously, an Ecuadorian Kfir C.2 ahoots down a Peruvian Cessna A-37B.
• February 13 – A violent thunderstorm hits Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, causing US$5 million in damage. Four airliners and nine jetways are seriously damaged.

March

• March 14 – An Aeroflot Antonov An-12 crashes near Baku, Azerbaijan, after running out of fuel. Crew negligence is blamed, and it is suggested that the flight crew were drunk.
• March 31 – The TAROM A310-324 Muntenia, operating as Flight 371, crashes near Baloteşti, Romania, shortly after takeoff from Otopeni International Airport in Bucharest, killing all 60 people on board.

April

• April 4 – Russian Federation Air Force warplanes are deployed to support the movement of Russian Army troops into Chechnia.

May

• May 16 – A Royal Air Force BAe Nimrod is forced to ditch in Moray Firth
• May 25 – A combined force of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aircraft attack a Serb ammunition depot near Jahorinski Potok.
• May 28 – Serb forces shoot down a Mil Mi-8 heliopter carrying the Bosnian foreign minister. They also shoot down a United States Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon

June

• June 9 – During an instrument approach to Palmerston North International Airport in Palmerston North, New Zealand, in bad weather, Ansett New Zealand Flight 703, a de Havilland Canada DHC-8-102, crashes west of the Tararua Ranges, killing four of the 21 people on board and injuring all 17 survivors.

August

• August 3 – A Taliban-controlled Afghan Air Force MiG-21 forces an Airstan Ilyushin Il-76 carrying cargo to President of Afghanistan Burhanuddin Rabbani to land at Kandahar, Afghanistan. The Taliban will hold the aircraft and the seven Russian men on board for over a year until they escape in the aircraft on August 16, 1996.
• August 9 – While on approach to land at El Salvador International Airport in San Salvador, El Salvador, during a thunderstorm, Aviateca Flight 901, a Boeing 737-200, crashes into San Vicente volcano, killing all 65 people on board.
• August 16 – A Concorde sets a new speed record for a round-the-world flight. It returns to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York, after a journey lasting 31 hours 27 minutes, passing through Toulouse, France; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Bangkok, Thailand; Guam; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Acapulco, Mexico.
• August 21 – Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, crashes due to a faulty propeller blade. A post-crash fire kills nine passengers and the captain.
• August 30 – The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces. NATO aircraft fly 200 sorties during the first 24 hours, including the first combat missions flown by the German Luftwaffe since the end of World War II in 1945. Raids will continue until September 14.

September

• September 5 – The Grumman F-14 Tomcat fighter is used as an attack aircraft for the first time when an F-14A operating from the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) drops two 2,000-pound (907-kg) bombs on Bosnian Serb positions in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
• September 11 – The NASA Pathfinder unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) sets an unofficial world altitude record for solar-powered aircraft of 50,000 feet (15,240 meters) during a 12-hour flight from the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, California.
• September 19 – Flight attendant Reza Jabari hijacks Kish Air Flight 707, a Tupolev Tu-154M carrying 174 people, during a flight from Tehran, Iran, to Kish Island, Iran, and demands that it fly to Europe. Lacking the fuel to do so, the plane instead lands at the military base at Ovda Airport in Israel, where Jabari is arrested. The airliner's passengers are flown to Iran the next day.

November

• November 12 – American Airlines Flight 1572, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83 with 78 people on board, lands short of the runway at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Connecticut. Only one person is injured.
• November 17 – The rollout of the first HAL Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) technology demonstrator, TD-1, takes place.

December

• December 3 – Cameroon Airlines Flight 3701, a Boeing 737-200, loses power in one engine while on approach to Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, and crashes short of the runway into a mangrove swamp, killing 71 of the 76 people on board and injuring all five survivors.
• December 7 – An Air Saint Martin Beechcraft 1900D chartered by the Government of France to return illegal immigrants from French territory to Haiti drifts off course and crashes into a mountain near Bell-Anse, Haiti, while on approach to Port-au-Prince, Haiti, killing all 20 people on board.
• December 13 – Overloaded and suffering from icing on its wings, Banat Air Flight 166, a chartered Antonov An-24B, crashes at Sommacampagna, Italy, on takeoff from Verona Airport, Verona, during a snowstorm. All 49 people on board die.
• December 18 – A badly overloaded Trans Service Airlift Lockheed L-188C Electra on a special charter flight for UNITA crashes at Cahangula, Angola, on takeoff from Jamba Airport, killing 141 of the 144 people on board and injuring all three survivors. The deadliest aircraft crash of 1995 at the time, its death toll will be exceeded two days later.
• December 20 – An American Airlines Boeing 757 operating as Flight 965 crashes on a mountainside near Cali, Colombia, minutes before beginning its landing approach. Four people and a dog on board the aircraft survive, but 159 people die in the deadliest aviation accident of 1995.

First flights

• Cirrus SR20

March

• March 31 – Grob Strato 2C

June

• June 9 – Eurocopter Colibri

August

• August 17 – Embraer ERJ 145 family
• August 25 – Airbus A319

September

• September 18 – Lambach HL II

October

• October 7 – Learjet 45
• October 7 – Mitsubishi F-2

November

• November 2 – Fokker F60
• November 28 – Gulfstream V
• November 29 – Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet

December

• December 1 – Air Tractor AT-602

Entered service

June

• June 17 – Boeing 777 with United Airlines