2000 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s
Years:	1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2000.

Events

January

• January 30 – Kenya Airways Flight 431 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean, killing 169.
• January 31 – Due to inadequate maintenance, the horizontal stabilizer of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, jams during a flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Seattle, Washington, forcing the plane into a dive from 31,500 feet (9,601 m) to between 23,000 (7,010 m) and 24,000 feet (7,315 m) in 80 seconds. Although the crew manages to stop the dive and attempts to divert to Los Angeles, California, the stabilizer jams again minutes later and the plane dives into the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, California, killing all 88 people on board. Among the dead is Morris Thompson, who had served as Commissioner of the Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1973 to 1976.

February

• February 11 – JetBlue Airways commences operations.

March

• March 5 – Southwest Airlines Flight 1455, a Boeing 737-3T5 with 142 people on board, overshoots the runway on landing at Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport in Burbank, California. Forty-four people are injured.

April

• April 19 – Air Philippines Flight 541 crashes near Davao International Airport, killing 131.

May

• May 15 – Helios Airways commences airline operations.
• May 25 – Reginald Chua hijacks Philippine Airlines Flight 812, an Airbus A330-301 with 290 other people on board, just before landing at Ninoy Aquino International Airport near Manila, the Philippines. He demands the passengers place their valuables in a bag, and then attempts to jump from the plane via the rear door using a homemade parachute, but panics and instead clings to the door; a male flight attendant then pushes him from the door and he falls from the plane over Antipolo, Rizal. His body is found three days later near Llabac in Real, Quezon.

July

• July 10 – EADS is formed by the merger of Aérospatiale-Matra, Dornier, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA), and Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA).
• July 25 – a Concorde of Air France, operating as Air France Flight 4590, catches fire during takeoff then crashes at Gonesse, France; killing all 100 passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground.

August

• August 31 – Virgin Australia begins airline operations as Virgin Blue.

September

• September 4 – a Beechcraft King Air on a flight from Perth, Western Australia to the Gwalia Gold Mine fails to land; instead flying on autopilot across Australia to Burketown, Queensland, where it eventually crashes after running out of fuel. The pilot and the seven passengers are killed.

October

• October 31 – During heavy rain caused by Typhoon Xangsane, the flight crew of Singapore Airlines Flight 006, a Boeing 747-412, attempts to take off from Chiang Kai-shek International Airport in Taipei, Taiwan, using the wrong runway. During its takeoff roll, the plane is destroyed when it collides with construction equipment parked on the runway and bursts into flame, killing 83 of the 179 people on board and injuring 71 of the 96 survivors. It is the first fatal accident involving a Singapore Airlines aircraft other than the 1997 crash of an airliner operated by the Singapore Airlines subsidiary SilkAir. Among the injured survivors is William Wang, later the founder of Vizio.

November

• November 3 – Last flight of an EC-135E Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft as a flight crew from the Air Force Flight Test Center delivers the last EC-135E, (serial number 60-374 – nicknamed "The Bird of Prey"), with full Prime Mission Electronic Equipment (PMEE), to the National Museum of the United States Air Force.

First flights

January

• RQ-8A Fire Scout first autonomous flight

February

• February 29 – Mikoyan MiG-35

March

• Adam M-309 CarbonAero

July

• July 18 – Dassault AVE-D Petit Duc stealth UAV

Entered service

• Mitsubishi F-2 with Japan Air Self-Defense Force

October

• October 1 – Mitsubishi MH2000 with Excel Air Service, Japan