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1974 in aviation#Retirements

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|in?=in aviation

|cp=19th century

|c=20th century

|cf=21st century

|yp1=1971

|yp2=1972

|yp3=1973

|year=1974

|ya1=1975

|ya2=1976

|ya3=1977

|dp3=1940s

|dp2=1950s

|dp1=1960s

|d=1970s

|dn1=1980s

|dn2=1990s

|dn3=2000–2009{{!}}2000s

}}

{{Portal|Aviation}}

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974. 1974 had been deemed as "the single worst year in airline history" although this has since been surpassed.{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/27/archives/-tv-abc-illusion-of-safety-surveys-air-crashes-evidence-on-defects-.html | title=TV: ABC 'Illusion of Safety' Surveys Air Crashes | work=The New York Times | date=27 December 1974 | last1=O'Connor | first1=John J. }}

Events

=January=

=February=

  • February 9 – After a United States Air Force T-39A Sabreliner reports landing gear problems while taking off from Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, a U.S. Air Force Boeing NKC-135 flying from Seattle, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, with a cargo of equipment for observing Comet Kohoutek meets it to conduct an airborne visual inspection of its landing gear at an altitude of {{convert|23000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}. The T-39 strikes the NKC-135's tail and crashes near Colorado Springs, killing all seven people aboard. The NKC-135 suffers only minor damage and lands safely at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740209-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description][http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740209-1 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • February 17 – Upset at failing in helicopter training and wanting to show his piloting skills, United States Army Private First Class Robert K. Preston steals a U.S. Army UH-1 Iroquois helicopter at Fort Meade, Maryland, and hovers it over the White House in Washington, D.C. before landing on the White House{{'}}s South Lawn. He later takes off, is pursued by two Maryland State Police helicopters, uses maneuvering to force one of them down, then returns to the White House, where police gunfire induces him to land and surrender.{{cite web|last1=Freeze|first1=Christopher|title=The Time a Stolen Helicopter Landed on the White House Lawn – Robert Preston's wild ride.|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/prestons-wild-white-house-ride-180962400/|website=Air & Space|publisher=Smithsonian|access-date=22 March 2017}}
  • February 20 – A hijacker threatens to detonate a bomb aboard an Air Vietnam Douglas C-54A-5-DO Skymaster (registration XV-NUM) carrying 51 other people during a flight in South Vietnam from Qui Nhơn to Da Nang, ordering it to divert to Đồng Hới, North Vietnam. The pilot tells him that the airliner must stop at Đông Hà, North Vietnam, before continuing to Đồng Hới, but instead lands the plane at Huế Airport in Huế, South Vietnam. Realizing after the plane lands that he has been tricked, the hijacker detonates his bomb, blowing a 2-by-3-meter (6.5-by-10-foot) hole in the left side of the fuselage, breaking three windows on the right side, and killing three people on the plane.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740220-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • February 22
  • Samuel Byck attempts to hijack Delta Air Lines Flight 523, a Douglas DC-9, before it leaves the gate at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, with a goal of crashing it into the White House in Washington, D.C. to assassinate U.S. President Richard Nixon. He kills two people and wounds a third before himself being killed, all without the plane ever leaving the gate.
  • U.S. Navy Lieutenant (junior grade) Barbara Ann Allen is designated a naval aviator, becoming the first female aviator in the United States Armed Forces.Wooldridge, E.T., Captain (ret.), USN, "Snapshots From the First Century of Naval Aviation", Proceedings, September 2011, p. 56.

=March=

=April=

  • April 2 – The United States Navy retires its last Douglas C-54 Skymaster. Entering service on March 24, 1945, the C-54Q, Bureau number 56501, had flown {{convert|2500000|nmi|km|abbr=off}} in almost 15,000 hours of flight time.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |title=Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941 – 1999 |access-date=2012-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331224444/http://vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |archive-date=2016-03-31 |url-status=dead}}
  • April 4 – Using aviation gasoline contaminated by jet fuel, the engines of a Wenela Air Services Douglas DC-4 (registration A2-ZER) begin overheating as soon as it takes off from Francistown Airport in Francistown, Botswana. The airliner attempts to return to the airport but crash-lands {{convert|3.6|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} short of the runway, strikes some trees, and bursts into flame. The crash and fire kill 78 of the 84 people on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740404-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • April 18 – During its takeoff roll at London Luton Airport in London, England, Court Line Flight 95, a BAC One-Eleven 518 carrying 91 people, collides with a McAlpine Aviation Piper PA-23 Aztec which has entered the runway without permission. The collision destroys the Aztec, kills its pilot, and injures his passenger, but Flight 95's flight crew manages to abort their takeoff successfully and all aboard the airliner evacuate without injury via evacuation slides.
  • April 22 – Flight 812, a Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B, crashes in mountainous terrain on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, {{convert|42.5|nmi|km|abbr=off}} northwest of the airport. All 107 people on board die.
  • April 27 – An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18V (registration CCCP-75559) experiences a catastrophic failure of its No. 4 engine two-and-a-half minutes after takeoff from Pulkovo Airport in Leningrad in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic. It attempts to return to the airport but rolls inverted and crashes {{convert|2.5|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} east of the airport, killing all 109 people on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740427-1 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • April 30 – Departing Scholes Field in Galveston, Texas in haste because they are 10 minutes late, the crew of a Metro Airlines Beechcraft Model 99 (registration N853SA) fails to give its passengers a safety briefing and mistakenly leaves the trim stabilizer on standby. They lose control of the aircraft as soon as they take off, and the plane crashes and catches fire; the responding fire truck has no foam extinguisher, hampering firefighting efforts. The crash and fire kill six of the 12 people on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740430-1 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]

=May=

  • May 2 – Flying at {{convert|11500|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} – {{convert|1000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} below the minimum safe altitude in the area – an Aerotaxis Ecuatorianos Douglas C-47 Skytrain (registration HC-AUC) crashes {{convert|7|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} south of Baños de Agua Santa, Ecuador, after its left wing strikes the stratovolcano Tungurahua and separates from the aircraft. The crash kills 20 of the 25 people on board, and the aircraft's wreckage, at an altitude of {{convert|11200|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}, is not found until the following day.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740502-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • May 10 – Three passengers hijack an Avianca Boeing 727-59 (registration HK-1337) shortly after it takes off from Pereira, Colombia, for a domestic flight to Bogotá. They force the plane to fly to Cali, Colombia, where it spends the night on the tarmac with the hijackers demanding a ransom of 20 million Colombian pesos. As a result of negotiations, they agree to have the plane fly to Bogotá, where they are to receive the money and transportation to Leticia, Colombia, on the border with Brazil. The plane arrives at Bogotá on the morning of May 11, where police officers disguised as mechanics surround the airliner. The hijackers agree to a change of cockpit crews, and when the relief crew boards, the flight engineer attempts to overpower a hijacker holding a stewardess at gunpoint at the rear of the cabin. During the struggle, the stewardess is shot in the leg. A police officer dressed as a mechanic shoots the hijacker to death, and the crew and police then overpower the two surviving hijackers.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740510-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • May 23 – An Aeroflot Yakovlev Yak-40 (registration CCCP-87579) crashes on approach to Zhulhyany Airport in Kyiv in the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, killing all 29 people on board. Investigators blame the crash on incapacitation of the airliner's crew by carbon monoxide.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740523-2 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]

=June=

  • June 4 – Construction of OV-101, the first Space Shuttle, begins. It later will be named Enterprise.
  • June 8 – As Aerolíneas TAO Flight 514, a Vickers 785D Viscount (registration HK-1058), descends through {{convert|7000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} on approach to Camilo Daza International Airport at Cúcuta, Colombia, its left tailplane and elevator separate from it due to a metal fatigue fracture. The airliner crashes on Cerro El Retiro, {{convert|16|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} west of the airport, killing all 44 people on board.
  • June 11 – Northrop YF-17A 72-01569 becomes the first American fighter aircraft to break the sound barrier in level flight when not in afterburner.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, {{ISBN|0-517-56588-9}}, p. 376.
  • June 27 – The No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 engines of a Cambodia Air Commercial Boeing 307 Stratoliner (registration XW-TFR) fail in succession three minutes after takeoff from Battambang Airport in Battambang, Cambodia. The airliner crash-lands in a rice field, losing its right wing when the wing strikes a tree just before touchdown, then slides to a stop, catching fire. The crash kills 19 of the 39 people on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740627-1 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]

=July=

  • Cuts in American military aid to South Vietnam force austerity measures there, including the storage of 200 Republic of Vietnam Air Force aircraft and the reduction of helicopter lift capacity by 70 percent; shortages, of fuel, ammunition, and spare parts also begin to plague South Vietnamese aviation of all types.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, {{ISBN|1-55750-875-5}}, p. 170.
  • July 10 – An EgyptAir Tupolev Tu-154 (registration SU-AXO) on a training flight with four Soviet instructors and two EgyptAir pilots aboard crashes near Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing all on board.
  • July 15
  • A hijacker commandeers a Japan Air Lines Douglas DC-8 during a domestic flight in Japan from Osaka to Tokyo.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740715-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • A military coup d'état by the Cypriot National Guard and the military junta of Greece that ousts Cypriot President Makarios III prompts the closure of the only commercial airport on Cyprus, Nicosia International Airport.
  • July 17 – Greek troops arrive from Greece by air at Nicosia International Airport to support the coup d'état on Cyprus.
  • July 18 – Nicosia International Airport reopens to commercial traffic. A chaotic scene ensures there over the next two days as foreign nationals attempt to leave Cyprus.
  • July 20
  • The Turkish Air Force supports Operation Atilla, a Turkish invasion of Cyprus, as a war over the island between Turkey and Greece and the Greek Cypriots breaks out. Turkish aircraft join with Turkish Navy ships in sinking a Greek Cypriot torpedo boat which attempts to attack the approaching Turkish naval flotilla, and Turkish aircraft support the amphibious landing.
  • Greek antiaircraft fire shoots down a Turkish Army Dornier Do 28B Skyservant conducting a clandestine mission over Cyprus, killing all on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740720-0 Aviation Safety Network Criminal Occurrence Description]
  • The Turkish Air Force bombs Cyprus's only civilian airport, Nicosia International Airport, forcing it to close to commercial traffic permanently.[http://www.travelmath.com/flying-distance/from/KHH/to/NIC travelmath.com Flight Distance From KHH to NIC] The closure catches all five of Cyprus Airways' airliners – four Hawker Siddeley Tridents and a BAC One-Eleven – on the ground at the airport, where two will be destroyed and the rest stranded until 1977; Cyprus Airways does not resume flight operations until February 1975.
  • July 21
  • 28 Turkish Air Force strike aircraft mistakenly attack the Turkish Navy destroyers Kocatepe, Adatepe, and Mareşal Fevzi Çakmak off Paphos, Cyprus, with {{convert|750|lb|kg|0|adj=on}} bombs, sinking Kocatepe with the loss of 54 lives and damaging the other two ships.
  • 12 Turkish paratroopers parachute into Cyprus to ambush a convoy carrying the Greek Cypriot commander of the Cypriot Navy, Commander Papayiannis. They wound him in an ambush, but are wiped out by his security detail.
  • In Operation Niki, Greece{{'}}s Hellenic Air Force attempts a covert airlift of a battalion of Greek commandos from Souda, Crete, to Cyprus using 15 Noratlas aircraft. Greek Cypriot antiaircraft artillery mistakenly fires on the planes at Nicosia International Airport, shooting down one with the loss of four crew members and 29 commandos, and damages two others, but some of the commandos arrive successfully to defend the airport.
  • July 22
  • The United States Navy and United States Marine Corps evacuate 500 people from Cyprus.
  • Two Cyprus Airways Hawker Siddeley HS-121 Trident 1E airliners (registration 5B-DAB and 5B-DAE) are destroyed on the ground at Nicosia International Airport during fighting between Greek and Turkish forces.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740722-1 Aviation Safety Network Criminal Occurrence Description][http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740722-0 Aviation Safety Network Criminal Occurrence Description] Turkish Air Force rocket fire destroys one of them; the other is damaged beyond economical repair by small arms fire and abandoned.
  • July 24 – A 29-year-old male passenger enters the cockpit of an Avianca Boeing 727-24C with 123 people on board shortly after it takes off from Pereira, Colombia, for a domestic flight to Medellín, draws a gun, and demands a US$2 million ransom and the release of a political prisoner. The airliner diverts to Cali, Colombia, and parks at the end of a runway, where police storm it and kill the hijacker. It is the second time the man had hijacked an airliner; in 1969, he had hijacked a plane to Cuba.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740724-2 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • July 28 – A U.S. Air Force SR-71 Blackbird sets two records for non-rocket-powered aircraft, an absolute altitude record of {{convert|85069|ft|m}} and an absolute speed record of {{convert|2193.2|mph|km/h|abbr=on}}.Dorr, Robert F., Review: SR-71: The Complete Illustrated History of the Blackbird, the World's Highest, Fastest Plane, Aviation History, January 2014, p. 60.
  • July 29 – Aeroperú, the flag carrier of Peru, makes its first international flight, a Douglas DC-8 flight from Peru to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

=August=

  • August 6 – Turkish Air Force aircraft support a Turkish offensive at Karavas, Cyprus.
  • August 9
  • Three Syrian surface-to-air missiles strike Buffalo 461, a Canadian Armed Forces De Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo assigned to the United Nations Emergency Force in support of peacekeeping operations in Syria. The plane crashes near Ad Dimas, Syria, killing all nine people on board.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/10/archives/9-killed-in-un-plane-downed-in-syria-denial-in-tel-aviv-israel.html |title=9 Killed in U.N. Plane Downed in Syria |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Reuters|date=10 August 1974 |at=Page 11, columns 3-5 |access-date=27 October 2023}}
  • A Royal Air Force No. 41 Squadron McDonnell Douglas Phantom FGR42 and a Piper Pawnee cropduster aircraft collide over Fordham Fen, Norfolk, England, killing both crew members of the Phantom and the pilot of the Pawnee.{{cite magazine |title=Collision over Norfolk |page=146 |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201154.html |magazine=Flight International |department=World News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121021040224/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1974/1974%20-%201154.html |archive-date=21 October 2012 |date=15 August 1974 |access-date=6 November 2023 |via=flightglobal.com}} It is the first collision between a civil and a military aircraft in the United Kingdom low-flying military training system.
  • American musician Bill Chase and all five other people on board die when a Piper PA-30 Twin Comanche crashes in heavy rain on approach to Jackson Municipal Airport in Jackson, Minnesota.{{cite news |title=Four in Rock Group Killed in Air Crash; Two Crewmen Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/11/archives/four-in-rock-group-killed-in-air-crash-two-crewmen-dead.html |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=UPI |date=11 August 1974 |at=Page 22, columns 1-4 |access-date=27 October 2023}}[http://planecrashinfo.com/famous1970s.htm planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1970s]
  • August 11 – Flying from Bamako, Mali, to Niamey, Niger, an Air Mali Ilyushin Il-18V (registration TZ-ABE) attempts to divert to Ouagadougou, Upper Volta, due to bad weather at Niamey. The crew makes a navigational error and flies to the wrong town, and the airliner runs out of fuel after circling the town. The crew makes a forced landing at Linonghin, Upper Volta, killing 47 of the 60 people on board.{{cite news |title=47 Killed in Upper Volta Air Crash |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Reuters|date=13 August 1974 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/13/archives/47-killed-in-upper-volta-air-crash.html |at=Page 4, columns 4-5 |access-date=29 October 2023}}[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740811-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • August 12 – Avianca Flight 610, a Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain (registration HK-508), becomes lost in rainy weather and crashes into Trujillo Mountain, about {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} northeast of Cali, Colombia, at an altitude of {{convert|9670|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}, killing all 27 people on board. The airliner's wreckage is not found until October 31.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740812-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • August 14 – A Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Vickers 749 Viscount (registration YV-C-AMX) on approach to Santiago Mariño Caribbean International Airport in Porlamar on Venezuela's Isla Margarita crashes into the Cerro Piache {{convert|5|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} southwest of the airport, hitting the mountain {{convert|8|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} below its summit. The crash kills 48 of the 49 people on board immediately; the seriously injured copilot dies on August 31.{{cite news |title=Crash Kills 47 on Venezuelan Plane |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/15/archives/crash-kills-47-on-venezuelan-plane.html |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Reuters|date=15 August 1974 |at=Page 4, columns 4-5 |access-date=30 October 2023}}{{cite news |title=47 aboard plane killed in crash |newspaper=The Register-Guard |location=Eugene, Oregon |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3YVQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NuADAAAAIBAJ&pg=5827%2C3038168 |date=15 August 1974 |at=Page 5A, columns 1-2 |access-date=31 October 2023 |via=Google News}}{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/17/archives/2-more-air-crash-dead.html |title=2 More Air Crash Dead |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=UPI |date=17 August 1974 |at=Page 33, column 4 |access-date=31 October 2023}}[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740814-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]
  • August 14–16 – Turkish Air Force aircraft support the final major Turkish offensive on Cyprus.
  • August 16 – A ceasefire ends the war in Cyprus between Greece and Turkey. As part of the ceasefire, a United Nations Buffer Zone is created between Greek and Turkish-occupied portions of Cyprus. Cyprus's only commercial airport, Nicosia International Airport, lies within the Buffer Zone, forcing its abandonment. The largely derelict airport has since served only as a headquarters and helicopter base for the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus.
  • August 18 – A Zaire Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules (registration 9T-TCD) crashes at Kisangani, Zaire, killing all 31 people on board.{{cite news |title=31 Die in Zaire Air Crash |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1974/08/22/archives/31-die-in-zaire-air-crash.html |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=Reuters|date=22 August 1974 |at=Page 2, column 8 |access-date=2 November 2023}}[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19740818-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]

=September=

=October=

  • October 7 – A hijacker commandeers a Far Eastern Air Transport Vickers Viscount during a domestic flight in Taiwan from Tainan to Taipei and demands to be flown to the People's Republic of China. The hijacker is taken down.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741007-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • October 24 – The U.S. Air Force conducts the world{{'}}s first successful test launch of an air-launched ballistic missile. The C-5A Galaxy 69-0014 flies from Hill Air Force Base, Utah, to a launch point over the Pacific Ocean off California and rolls an LGM-30B Minuteman I intercontinental ballistic missile with a fueled first stage and inert second and third stages off its cargo ramp at an altitude of {{convert|20000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}; the missile falls under stabilizing parachutes to an altitude of {{convert|8000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}}, where its engines ignite, then rises during a ten-second engine burn to an altitude of {{convert|20000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} before the first stage runs out of fuel as planned, after which the missile falls into the ocean. The test is fully successful.Petrinic, Emil, "Going Ballistic", Aviation History, July 2014, pp. 55–57.
  • October 30 – Panarctic Oils Flight 416, a Lockheed L-188PF Electra (registration CF-PAB), crashes onto an ice sheet on the sea in the Byam Martin Channel {{convert|3|km|mi|abbr=off|sp=us}} south of Rea Point Airfield on Melville Island in Canada's Northwest Territories (now in Nunavut), killing 32 of the 34 people on board.[http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741030-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description]

=November=

  • November 6 – Three hijackers commandeer an Alia Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle during a domestic flight in Jordan from Amman to Aqaba and force it to fly to Benghazi, Libya, where they surrender to the authorities and request political asylum.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741106-3 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • November 20 – Lufthansa Flight 540, a Boeing 747-130, stalls and crashes just after takeoff from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 59 of the 157 people on board. It is the first crash of a Boeing 747.
  • November 22 – Firing guns, four male Palestinian terrorists dressed as airport workers rush from the passenger lounge at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, cross the tarmac, shoot a stewardess in the back, wounding her, and board a British Airways Vickers VC-10-1151 (registration G-ASGR) preparing to depart for Calcutta, India. Finding no pilot aboard, they threaten to shoot the passengers if one does not arrive immediately. British Airways captain Jim Futcher volunteers to board the airliner, and the hijackers force him to take off with 27 passengers, eight airport workers who had been cleaning the aircraft, and a crew of 10 on board and order him to fly to Beirut, Lebanon. Finding Beirut International Airport closed and ringed by security forces, they order the VC-10 to refuel at Tripoli, Libya, and then fly to Tunis, Tunisia, where security personnel surround the airliner after it lands. The hijackers demand the release of seven Palestinian prisoners – five held in Cairo, Egypt, and two in the Netherlands – saying that if the prisoners are not released in 24 hours they will begin shooting one hostage every two hours until their demands are met. When the deadline passes, they murder a German passenger and throw his body onto the tarmac. The five prisoners from Cairo are brought to the aircraft, prompting the hijackers to release seven passengers, and the following morning the two prisoners from the Netherlands arrive, leading the hijackers to release everyone else aboard the plane except for Futcher, the copilot, and the flight engineer. The hijackers then threaten to detonate explosives in the cockpit with the three flight crew members if they are not granted political asylum in Tunisia. This is refused, and the four hijackers and seven prisoners finally surrender 84 hours after the hijacking began. Futcher later will receive the Queen's Gallantry Medal for his courage and calm during the incident.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741122-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description][https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/2055787/Captain-Jim-Futcher.html Anonymous, "Captain Jim Futcher: British Airways pilot who showed outstanding courage when his VC-10 was hijacked by Palestinian terrorists," telegraph.co.uk, 31 May 2008, 1:36 AM BST.]
  • November 23 – A hijacker commandeers an All Nippon Airways Boeing 737-200 making a domestic flight in Japan from Tokyo to Sapporo. The hijacker is taken down at Sapporo.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741123-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]
  • November 29 – A male passenger on CP Air Flight 71 – a Boeing 727 making a domestic flight in Canada from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Edmonton, Alberta – grabs a flight attendant in the rear galley, threatens her with a knife, and demands to be flown to Cyprus. The airliner diverts to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The hijacker surrenders before the plane arrives there; the captain escorts him into the terminal, where he is arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.[https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19741129-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description]

=December=

First flights

  • Antonov An-30 ("Clank")Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 56.

=January=

  • January 9 – WSK-Mielec M-15 SP-1974{{harvnb|Taylor|1974|p=[70]}}
  • January 20 – General Dynamics YF-16 72-01567, prototype of the F-16 Fighting Falcon ("inadvertent" flight to avoid damage during faulty taxiing run)Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 209.

=February=

  • February 2 – General Dynamics YF-16 72-01567, prototype of the F-16 Fighting Falcon (official first flight)
  • February 16 – Atlas C4M Kudu (civil prototype)Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 68.
  • February 21 – HTM Skyrider D-HHTF

=March=

=May=

=June=

=July=

=August=

=September=

=October=

=November=

=December=

Entered service

=February=

=May=

  • May 23Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World{{'}}s Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, {{ISBN|0-89009-771-2}}, p. 27. or 30Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 34. – Airbus A300 with Air France

=September=

=November=

Retirements

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was Turkish Airlines Flight 981, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 which crashed shortly after takeoff from Paris, France on 3 March, killing all 346 people on board. At the time, the accident was the deadliest in aviation history, more than doubling the previous record. Flight 981 would hold the title until March 1977, the Tenerife airport disaster; and remained the deadliest single-aircraft accident of all time until August 1985, when Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashed. It still remains one of the deadliest aviation accidents of all time.

References

{{reflist}}

  • {{cite book |last1=Gordon |first1=Yefim |last2=Komissarov |first2=Dmitry |last3=Komissarov |first3=Sergey |title=OKB Ilyushin: A history of the design bureau and its aircraft |year=2004 |location=Hinkley, UK |publisher=Midland Publishing |isbn=1-85780-187-3}}
  • {{cite book |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=John W. R. |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1974–75 |year=1974 |location=New York |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |isbn=0-531-02747-3}}
  • {{cite book |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=John W. R. |editor-link=John W. R. Taylor |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1975–76 |year=1975 |location=London |publisher=Jane's Yearbooks |isbn=0-354-00521-9}}

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Category:Aviation by year