This is a list of aviation-related events from 2013.

Events

January

;1 January * The rebel

Kachin Independence Army The Kachin Independence Army (KIA; Kachin: ''ShangLawt Hpyen''; my, ကချင်လွတ်လပ်ရေးတပ်မတော်) is a non-state armed group and the military wing of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), a pol ...

reports that

Myanmar Air Force The Myanmar Air Force ( my, တပ်မတော် (လေ), ), known until 1989 as the Burmese Air Force, is the aerial branch of Myanmar's armed forces, the Tatmadaw. The primary mission of the Myanmar Air Force (MAF) since its inception ha ...

aircraft attacking its positions in northern

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

have overflown the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

during the day, penetrating as far as one kilometer (0.6-mile) into Chinese airspace. ;2 January * The

Government of Myanmar Myanmar ( also known as Burma) operates ''de jure'' as a unitary assembly-independent republic under its 2008 constitution. On 1 February 2021, Myanmar's military took over the government in a coup, causing ongoing anti-coup protests. P ...

admits for the first time that Myanmar Air Force jets and

attack helicopter An attack helicopter is an armed helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the offensive capability of engaging ground targets such as enemy infantry, military vehicles and fortifications. Due to their heavy armament they ...

s conducted air strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar on 30 December 2012, but claims that all of its other air operations in the area since late December 2012 have focused only on flying in supplies to

Myanmar Army The Myanmar Army ( my, တပ်မတော်(ကြည်း), ) is the largest branch of the Tatmadaw, Armed Forces (''Tatmadaw'') of Myanmar (Burma) and has the primary responsibility of conducting land-based military operations. The My ...

forces fighting Kachin rebels. * The United States carries out two

air-to-surface missile An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a missile designed to be launched from military aircraft at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common prop ...

strikes by

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. One hits a vehicle near

Wana MENA, an acronym in the English language, refers to a grouping of countries situated in and around the Middle East and North Africa. It is also known as WANA, SWANA, or NAWA, which alternatively refers to the Middle East as Western Asia (or a ...

South Waziristan South Waziristan District ( ps, سويلي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) was a district in Dera Ismail Khan Division of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa before splitting in to Lower South Waziristan District and Upper South Waziristan District and t ...

, killing all six militants in it, including the

Pakistani Taliban The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bor ...

commanders Maulvi Nazir Wazir and Rapa Khan. The other strikes a car near Mir Ali in

North Waziristan North Waziristan District ( ps, شمالي وزیرستان ولسوالۍ, ur, ) is a district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan. It is the northern part of Waziristan, a mountainous region of northwest Pakistan, bordering Afghanist ...

, killing two Uzbek militants and the Pakistani Taliban commander

Faisal Khan Mohammad Faisal Hussain Khan (born 3 August 1966) is an Indian actor who appears in Hindi films. He is famous for his role as Shankar Shane in '' Mela'' (2000). Family background Khan is the son of producer Tahir Hussain. His brother is Aamir ...

. ;3 January * Press observers report that the Myanmar Air Force has conducted daily strikes against rebel Kachin Independence Army forces in northern Myanmar since 28 December 2012. * An American unmanned aerial vehicle strike in

Rada'a Rada'a District ( ar, مُدِيْرِيَّة رَدَاع) is a district of the Al Bayda Governorate, Yemen. As of 2003, the district had a population of 56,382 inhabitants. The district's largest city is Rada'a, east of Dhamar, as the crow fl ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

, kills three

al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ( ar-at, تنظيم القاعدة في جزيرة العرب, Tanẓīm al-Qā‘idah fī Jazīrat al-‘Arab, lit=Organization of the Base in the Arabian Peninsula or , ''Tanẓīm Qā‘idat al-Jihād fī Jaz ...

members, one of them a local commander. * In the Syrian Civil War, the

Syrian Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War ...

conducts two air strikes on the rebel stronghold of Douma,

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

, killing 12 people. Syrian rebels claim to have killed the commander of the Syrian government air base at

Taftanaz Taftanaz ( ar, تَفْتَنَاز, Taftanāz, also spelled Teftanaz) is a town in northwestern Syria, administratively part of the Idlib Governorate, located 17 kilometers northeast of Idlib. Nearby localities include Ta'um and Binnish to the sou ...

. ;4 January * Syrian Air Force aircraft strike various suburbs around

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, including Douma. * Syrian rebel forces continue attacks on the Syrian government air base at Taftanaz and

Aleppo International Airport Aleppo International Airport ( ar, مطار حلب الدولي) is an international airport serving Aleppo, Syria. The airport is serving as a secondary hub for Syrian Air and Cham Wings. History The history of the airport dates back to the ...

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

as part of a campaign to reduce government air capabilities by capturing air bases. Syrian Air Force aircraft strike rebel forces at Taftanaz. * A

Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander The Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander is a British light utility aircraft and regional airliner designed and originally manufactured by Britten-Norman of the United Kingdom. Still in production, the Islander is one of the best-selling commercial air ...

carrying the head of the

Missoni Missoni is an Italian luxury fashion house based in Varese, and known for its colorful knitwear designs. The company was founded by Ottavio ("Tai") and Rosita Missoni in 1953. History Early beginnings The business was founded in 1953, when O ...

fashion house,

Vittorio Missoni Vittorio Missoni (1954 – January 4, 2013; confirmed June 27, 2013) was an Italian CEO of Missoni, the fashion house founded by his parents in 1953. Missoni is credited with expanding Missoni into a global brand after his parents handed control to ...

, and five other people on a domestic flight from

Los Roques The Los Roques Archipelago (Spanish: ''Archipiélago de Los Roques'') is a federal dependency of Venezuela consisting of approximately 350 islands, cays, and islets in a total area of 40.61 square kilometers. The archipelago is located dir ...

to Simón Bolívar International Airport outside

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

disappears Disappears is an American rock band from Chicago, Illinois, United States, which formed in 2008. The band played a mixture of shoegaze, krautrock and garage rock. The band was formed by Brian Case (ex- 90 Day Men, The Ponys) and Graeme Gibson ...

over the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

south of Los Roques. ;10 January * After a

Japan Air Self-Defense Force The , , also informally referred to as the Japanese Air Force, is the air and space branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, responsible for the defense of Japanese airspace, other air and space operations, cyberwarfare and electronic warfa ...

Mitsubishi F-15 The Mitsubishi F-15J/DJ Eagle is a twin-engine, all-weather Fighter aircraft, air superiority fighter based on the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle in use by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF). The F-15J was produced under license by Mitsubish ...

fighter intercepts a

Shaanxi Y-8 The Shaanxi Y-8 or Yunshuji-8 () aircraft is a medium size medium range transport aircraft produced by Shaanxi Aircraft Corporation in China, based on the Soviet Antonov An-12. It has become one of China's most popular military and civilian tran ...

patrol aircraft operating near the disputed

Senkaku Senkaku can refer to: * Senkaku Islands The are a group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, administered by Japan. They are located northeast of Taiwan, east of China, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of th ...

(known in China as Diaoyu) Islands, two Chinese

Chengdu J-10 The Chengdu J-10 Vigorous Dragon (; NATO reporting name: Firebird), is a medium-weight, single-engine, multirole combat aircraft capable of all-weather operations, configured with a delta wing and canard design, with fly-by-wire flight contr ...

fighters arrive and monitor the F-15. Japanese officials state that Japan has scrambled fighters to protect the islands 150 times in the previous year. ;11 January * Helicopter-borne French commandos conduct a raid in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

to rescue the French intelligence agent Denis Allex from al-Shabaab, supported by U.S. Air Force combat aircraft. Allex dies during the raid, most likely killed by his captors. One French commando is killed in action, another is

missing in action Missing in action (MIA) is a casualty classification assigned to combatants, military chaplains, combat medics, and prisoners of war who are reported missing during wartime or ceasefire. They may have been killed, wounded, captured, ex ...

, and 17 al-Shabaab members are killed. * Syrian rebels capture the government air base at Taftanaz. *

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

intervenes in the

Northern Mali conflict {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Mali War , partof = the Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and the War on terror , image = MaliWar.svg , image_size = 380 , caption = Military situation ...

to support the

Government of Mali Until the military coup of March 22, 2012 and a second military coup in December 2012 the politics of Mali took place in a framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, whereby the President of Mali is head of state with a ...

against Islamist rebels. Attacks by

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (french: Armée de Terre, ), is the land-based and largest component of the French Armed Forces. It is responsible to the Government of France, along with the other components of the Armed For ...

Aérospatiale Gazelle The Aérospatiale Gazelle (company designations SA 340, SA 341 and SA 342) is a French five-seat helicopter, commonly used for light transport, scouting and light attack duties. It is powered by a single Turbomeca Astazou turbine engine and was ...

s and

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers blunt a rebel offensive that threatens to take

Mali Mali (; ), officially the Republic of Mali,, , ff, 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞥆𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭, Renndaandi Maali, italics=no, ar, جمهورية مالي, Jumhūriyyāt Mālī is a landlocked country in West Africa. Mali ...

s capital,

Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...

; French bombing includes raids around Konna. One Gazelle is shot down by small arms fire and its pilot is killed. ;12 January * French Mirage 2000Ds strike Islamist positions around Konna, Mali. ;13 January * Syrian Air Force jets bomb the suburbs of Damascus and a marketplace in the town of

Azaz Azaz ( ar, أَعْزَاز, ʾAʿzāz) is a city in northwest Syria, roughly north-northwest of Aleppo. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), Azaz had a population of 31,623 in the 2004 census.

, killing at least 20 people and injuring 99 in Azaz. * French Mirage 2000D fighter-bombers hit Islamist targets in northern

, including attacks around Léré and

Douentza Douentza (Fulfulde: ''Duwayⁿsa'') is a town and urban commune in the Mopti Region of central Mali. The town lies 145 km east-northeast of Mopti on the RN16, a paved road that links Mopti and Gao. It is the administrative center of the Do ...

and a strike on an Islamist rear headquarters in

Gao Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley. For much of its history Gao was an impor ...

, where they inflict dozens of casualties. French

military transport aircraft A military transport aircraft, military cargo aircraft or airlifter is a military aircraft, military-owned transport aircraft used to support military operations by airlifting troops and military equipment. Transport aircraft are crucial to ma ...

bring several planeloads of French troops into Bamako. ;14 January * A Syrian government airstrike hits a house south of Damascus, killing at least five adults and eight children. *

Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide rang ...

s join Mirage 200D jets and Gazelle attack helicopters as the French air campaign in Mali expands to strike Islamist forces in the central part of the country. ;16 January * During a domestic flight from Yamaguchi,

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, to

Haneda Airport , officially , and sometimes called as Tokyo Haneda Airport or Haneda International Airport , is one of two international airports serving the Greater Tokyo Area, the other one being Narita International Airport (NRT). It serves as the primary ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

All Nippon Airways , also known as ANA (''Ē-enu-ē'') or is an airline in Japan. Its headquarters are located in Shiodome City Center in the Shiodome area of Minato ward of Tokyo. It operates services to both domestic and international destinations and had mo ...

Flight 692, a

Boeing 787 Dreamliner The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

, makes an emergency landing at

Takamatsu Airport is a second class airport located south southwestAIS Japan
of

Takamatsu 270px, Takamatsu City Hall 270px, Aerial view of Takamatsu city center 270px, View from Yashima to Takashima port is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 414,134 in 190120 households and a popul ...

after

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

warning lights indicate a

battery Battery most often refers to: * Electric battery, a device that provides electrical power * Battery (crime), a crime involving unlawful physical contact Battery may also refer to: Energy source *Automotive battery, a device to provide power t ...

failure and the presence of smoke; one passenger is injured during the evacuation of the plane. Because of this incident and several others in recent days involving fuel leaks, a battery fire, a wiring problem, a glitch in the computer controlling the brakes, and a cracked cockpit window in various Boeing 787s around the world, All Nippon Airways and

Japan Airlines , also known as JAL (''Jaru'') or , is an international airline and Japan's flag carrier and largest airline as of 2021 and 2022, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its main hubs are Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Haneda Airport, as w ...

both ground their Dreamliner fleets. Later in the day, the U.S.

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

grounds all Boeing 787s in the United States. * An Agusta AW109 helicopter strikes the jib of a

construction crane A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist (device), hoist rope, wire ropes or chains, and Sheave (mechanical), sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It is mainly used for l ...

attached to St. George Wharf Tower in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and crashes in the street below, killing its pilot and one person on the ground and injuring 13 other people. ;17 January *Algerian

s open fire on vehicles carrying hostages and their captors during a

hostage crisis A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...

at the Ain Amenas

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

facility in

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, apparently killing dozens, although casualty estimates vary widely. *The

European Aviation Safety Agency The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) is an agency of the European Union (EU) with responsibility for civil aviation safety. It carries out certification, regulation and standardisation and also performs investigation and monitorin ...

endorses the Federal Aviation Administrations grounding of Boeing 787 Dreamliners. By the end of the day, Dreamliners have been grounded worldwide pending investigation of the possibility of a fire hazard posed by their

lithium-ion batteries A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

. ;19 January *The Syrian Air Force strikes a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

and a school building sheltering Syrian refugees in

Salqin Salqin ( ar, سَلْقِين, Salqīn) is a town in Syria, administratively part of Idlib Governorate. Nearby localities include Kafr Takharim to the southeast, Abu Talha to the south, Delbiya to the southwest, al-Alani to the northwest and Is ...

, Syria, killing and wounding dozens. *Two American unmanned aerial vehicle strikes during the evening kill a total of eight people in Yemen

Ma'rib Marib ( ar, مَأْرِب, Maʾrib; Old South Arabian: 𐩣𐩧𐩨/𐩣𐩧𐩺𐩨 ''Mryb/Mrb'') is the capital city of Marib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of ''Sabaʾ'' ( ar, سَبَأ), which some scholars ...

province, including at least two members of al-Qaeda. ;20 January * A Syrian Air Force strike against rebel-held areas in al-Barika reportedly kills seven people. * Islamist rebel forces withdraw from

Diabaly Diabaly is a small town and Communes of Mali, rural commune in the Niono Cercle, Cercle of Niono in the Ségou Region of Mali. The commune has an area of approximately and includes 28 villages as well as the town.. In the 2009 census the commune ...

, Mali, to avoid further airstrikes after days of bombing by French aircraft. French aircraft have flown 140 bombing sorties since the French intervention in Mali began. ;22 January * An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Yemens

Al Jawf Governorate Al Jawf ( ar, الجوف ') is a governorate of Yemen. Its capital is Al Hazm. Al Jawf Governorate borders 'Amran Governorate to the west, Sanaa Governorate to the southwest, Ma'rib Governorate to the south, Hadhramaut Governorate to the east ...

, killing three suspected al-Qaeda members. * The United States announces that the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

has begun airlifting French military personnel and materiel into Mali, having made five flights thus far. ;22–23 January (overnight) * Two

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

n Emergencies Ministry transport aircraft carry 77 Russian citizens fleeing the Syrian Civil War from

Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport (Arabic: مطار رفيق الحريري الدولي بيروت, (previously known as Beirut International Airport) () is the only operational commercial airport in Lebanon, which is located in the ...

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

, to

Domodedovo International Airport Domodedovo may refer to: * Domodedovo International Airport, an airport in Russia *Domodedovo (town), a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia *Domodedovo District, an administrative raion of Moscow Oblast, Russia *Domodedovo Airlines, a defunct Russian airl ...

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

. ;23 January * An American unmanned aerial vehicle attacks a ground vehicle in Al-Masna`Ah, Yemen, killing six Islamic militants, including two senior al-Qaeda commanders. ;24 January *Syrian Air Force jets bomb rebel-held areas in

Darayya Darayya ( ar, دَارَيَّا, Dārayyā) is a suburb of Damascus in Syria, the centre of Darayya lying south-west of the centre of Damascus. Administratively it belongs to Rif Dimashq. History and population Darayya is one of the oldest ...

and Moadamiya, Syria, and heavy fighting takes place near

Damascus International Airport Damascus International Airport ( ar, مَطَار دِمَشْق الدَّوْلِيّ, Maṭār Dimašq ad-Duwaliyy) is the international airport of Damascus, the capital of Syria. Inaugurated in the mid-1970s, it also was the country's busie ...

over control of the airport road. ;25–26 January (overnight) *Airborne French special forces join ground forces in capturing a key bridge and airport at Gao, Mali, from Islamist forces. ;26 January *The United States announces that U.S. Air Force tankers will provide

aerial refueling Aerial refueling, also referred to as air refueling, in-flight refueling (IFR), air-to-air refueling (AAR), and tanking, is the process of transferring aviation fuel from one aircraft (the tanker) to another (the receiver) while both aircraft a ...

support to French Air Force aircraft operating over Mali. ;28 January *

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

s highest criminal court rules that "ample and congruent" evidence exists to make it "abundantly" clear that a missile shot down

Itavia Flight 870 On 27 June 1980, Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421), a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 passenger jet en route from Bologna to Palermo, Italy, crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between the islands of Ponza and Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Known ...

over the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

in June 1980 and orders the

Government of Italy The government of Italy is in the form of a democratic republic, and was established by a constitution in 1948. It consists of legislative, executive, and judicial subdivisions, as well as a Head of State, or President. The Italian Constitutio ...

to pay damages to the families of the victims. * At the request of the United States,

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesSahara Desert , photo = Sahara real color.jpg , photo_caption = The Sahara taken by Apollo 17 astronauts, 1972 , map = , map_image = , location = , country = , country1 = , ...

. ;29 January *

SCAT Airlines Flight 760 SCAT Airlines Flight 760 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Kokshetau to Almaty, Kazakhstan, operated by a Bombardier CRJ200 twinjet that on 29 January 2013 crashed in thick fog near the village of Kyzyltu, while on approach to Alm ...

, a

Bombardier CRJ200 The Bombardier CRJ100 and CRJ200 (previously Canadair CRJ100 and CRJ200) is a regional jet designed and manufactured by Bombardier Aerospace between 1991 and 2006, the first of the Bombardier CRJ family. The ''Canadair Regional Jet'' (CRJ) ...

, crashes in thick fog near Kyzyltu,

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, short of the runway at

Almaty Almaty (; kk, Алматы; ), formerly known as Alma-Ata ( kk, Алма-Ата), is the List of most populous cities in Kazakhstan, largest city in Kazakhstan, with a population of about 2 million. It was the capital of Kazakhstan from 1929 to ...

, killing all 21 people on board. ;30 January *

Israeli Air Force The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...

aircraft

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

a target in Syria for the first time since 2007. The United States claims that the target was a truck convoy carrying antiaircraft weapons, but the Syrian government claims it was a nearby defense research facility in

Jamraya Jamraya or Jemraya ( ar, جمرايا) is a village in the Qudsaya District of Rif Dimashq (Damascus Countryside) in southern Syria. It lies 3 miles (5 km) to the northwest of the Syrian capital of Damascus city, beyond Mount Qasioun, and i ...

, just north of Damascus. ;31 January * The bankrupt

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n airline

Batavia Air PT. Metro Batavia, operating as Batavia Air, was an airline based in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Surabaya. Until January 31, 2013, the airline operated domestic flights to around 42 destinations and several nearby regional international ...

ceases operations and goes into liquidation.

February

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Kingfisher Airlines Kingfisher Airlines Limited was an airline group based in India. It was established in 2003 and started its commercial operations in 2005. Through its parent company United Breweries Group, it had a 50% stake in low-cost carrier Kingfisher Red. ...

ceases all corporate operations due to financial difficulties. It had suspended flight operations in October 2012. ;1 February * Malaysian Airlines joins the

Oneworld Oneworld (stylised as oneworld; Computer reservations system, CRS: *O) is an airline alliance founded on 1 February 1999. The alliance's stated objective is to be the first choice airline alliance for the world's frequent international traveller ...

airline alliance An airline alliance is an aviation industry arrangement between two or more airlines agreeing to cooperate on a substantial level. Alliances may provide marketing branding to facilitate travelers making inter-airline codeshare connections within c ...

. ; 2 February * A helicopter crashes in bad weather near Puerto Antequera,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, killing all three people on board. Paraguayan presidential candidate

Lino Oviedo Lino César Oviedo Silva (23 September 1943 – 2 February 2013) was the leader of the National Union of Ethical Citizens, which split from the Colorado Party (Paraguay), Colorado Party in 2002. Life and work Early career Oviedo was born in po ...

is among the dead. ; 2–3 February (overnight) * French aircraft pound Islamist targets in

Kidal Kidal ( Tuareg Berber: ⴾⴸⵍ, KDL, Kidal) is a town and commune in the desert region of northern Mali. The town lies northeast of Gao and is the capital of the Kidal Cercle and the Kidal Region. The commune has an area of about and includes ...

and

Tessalit Tessalit is a rural commune and village in the Kidal Region of Mali. The village is the administrative centre of Tessalit Cercle (district). The village lies north of Adjelhoc and about from the Algerian border. The ''commune'' extends over ...

in the far northern part of

. ; 7 February * The

scrambles four jet fighters to intercept two

Russian Naval Aviation The Russian Naval Aviation ( rus, Авиация Военно-морского флота России, r=Aviatsiya Voenno-morskovo Flota Rossii) is the air arm of the Russian Navy, a successor of Soviet Naval Aviation. The Russian Navy is divide ...

jets of the Red Banner Pacific Ocean Fleet which

claims violated Japanese airspace off the northwest tip of

Hokkaido is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

. The Russian Navy denies that the aircraft, which were participating in a military exercise, violated Japanese airspace. *

Syrian Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War ...

jets attack the

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

ring road with air-to-ground rockets to halt a rebel offensive. ;12 February * A

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO) airstrike on a village in

Kunar Province Kunar (Pashto: ; Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northeastern part of the country. Its capital is Asadabad. Its population is estimated to be 508,224. Kunar's major political groups include Wahhabis or Ahl-e- Ha ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

, kills 10 civilians.Leiby, Richard, "Karzai Says He Intends to Ban Afghan Troops From Requesting Foreign Airstrikes," ''The Washington Post'', 16 February 2013.
/ref> * Syrian rebels take the al-Jarrah air base in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

province, capturing

Syrian Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War ...

jets for the first time. ;13 February * South Airlines Flight 8971, an

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...

with 52 people on board, overshoots the runway and crash-lands while attempting to make an emergency landing in fog at

Donetsk International Airport Donetsk Sergei Prokofiev International Airport ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт "Донецьк", Russian: Международный аэропорт "Донецк") is a former airport located northwest of Donetsk, Ukraine, that ...

Donetsk Donetsk ( , ; uk, Донецьк, translit=Donets'k ; russian: Донецк ), formerly known as Aleksandrovka, Yuzivka (or Hughesovka), Stalin and Stalino (see also: Names of European cities in different languages (C–D), cities' alternat ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, killing five people. ;14 February *

American Airlines American Airlines is a major airlines of the United States, major US-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is the Largest airlines in the world, largest airline in the world when measured ...

and

US Airways US Airways (formerly USAir) was a major United States airline that operated from 1937 until its merger with American Airlines in 2015. It was originally founded in History of aviation in Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh as a mail delivery airline called ...

announce an $11,000,000,000 deal to merge, creating the worlds largest airline, with 900 planes, 3,200 daily flights, and 95,000 employees. Under the deal, former US Airways management will dominate the merged airline, but the "US Airways" brand will disappear. ; 16 February *

President of Afghanistan The president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan was constitutionally the head of state and head of government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004–2021) and Commander-in-Chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. On 15 August 2021, as t ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

announces that he will prohibit Afghan troops from calling in airstrikes against residential areas in Afghanistan. *

Iraqi Airways Iraqi Airways Company, operating as Iraqi Airways ( ar, الخطوط الجوية العراقية ''al-Xuṭūṭ al-Jawwiyyah al-ʿIrāqiyyah, Kurdish: ھێڵی ئاسمانی عێراق''), is the national carrier of Iraq, headquartered on ...

begins flights to

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

for the first time since

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

invaded Kuwait in August 1990. ; 18 February * After cutting a hole in a perimeter fence at

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

outside

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, eight armed and masked men dressed as police officers drive in two vehicles displaying flashing blue lights onto the tarmac and confront guards loading a cargo of

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the Chemical stability, chemically stable form of car ...

s onto

Helvetic Airways Helvetic Airways (Previously Odette Airways) is a Swiss regional airline headquartered in Kloten with its fleet stationed at Zurich Airport. It operates flights to destinations in Europe and Northern Africa, mainly leisure markets, on its own beh ...

Flight LX789, a

Fokker 100 The Fokker 100 is a regional jet produced by Fokker in the Netherlands. The Fokker 100 is based on the Fokker F28 with a fuselage stretched by to seat up to 109 passengers, up from 85. It is powered by two newer Rolls-Royce Tay turbofans, ...

passenger jet packed with passengers and preparing for departure for a flight to Zurich,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. They steal 120 small packages containing a combined $50,000,000 ( £32,000,000) worth of diamonds in a three-minute robbery and escape via the same hole in the fence without firing a shot. ;20 February *A Russian crew of three completes a three-month flight of over from

Kyiv Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

, to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, in an

Antonov An-2 The Antonov An-2 ("kukuruznik"—corn crop duster; USAF/DoD reporting name Type 22, NATO reporting name Colt) is a Soviet mass-produced single-engine biplane utility/agricultural aircraft designed and manufactured by the Antonov Design Bure ...

donated by

Utair Aviation Utair (russian: ОАО «Авиакомпания «ЮТэйр») () is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates scheduled ...

for humanitarian work in South Africa. Their route has taken them over northern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and across the

Strait of Gibraltar The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...

, flying over 15 countries, including

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Niger ) , official_languages = , languages_type = National languagesNigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, and

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north ...

, with fuel and

visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

problems forcing them to spend several weeks on the ground at Port Harcourt, Nigeria, and Cabinda,

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. They have used of aviation charts and maps along the way. Tracey Curtis-Taylor flies with them to prepare for her own South Africa-to-

flight planned for November–December 2013. ;22 February * The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

grounds all 51

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, and

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

aircraft after an inspection of a U.S. Air Force F-35A at

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County and a southern arm is in Los Angeles County. The hub of the base is E ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, discovers a cracked

engine An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...

blade. ;26 February * A fire starts aboard the

Ultramagic Ultramagic (, ) is a manufacturer of hot air balloons, based at the Igualada-Òdena Aerodrome, province of Barcelona, Catalonia. It is the only manufacturer of hot air balloons in Spain, and the second largest in the world.El PeriodicoOnce meses e ...

N-425

hot-air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries p ...

''SU-283'' while it is attempting to land near

Luxor Luxor ( ar, الأقصر, al-ʾuqṣur, lit=the palaces) is a modern city in Upper (southern) Egypt which includes the site of the Ancient Egyptian city of ''Thebes''. Luxor has frequently been characterized as the "world's greatest open-a ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, carrying 19 tourists, a tour guide, and its pilot. The pilot and one tourist leap from the balloon and suffer serious injuries before the balloon, with the other 19 people still aboard, rises rapidly to an altitude of about , experiences an explosion heard several kilometers away, collapses, crashes to the ground, and suffers another explosion. The 19 people still aboard, seven of whom jump to their deaths to escape the fire, are killed. It is the deadliest hot-air balloon accident in history, exceeding the death toll in a 1989 accident in Australia. ;28 February * The

announces that its F-35 Lightning II fleet, grounded since 22 February, will resume flying after an investigation determines that a cracked engine blade found in a U.S. Air Force F-35A was due to unique circumstances and is not a fleetwide problem.

March

* The

United States Border Patrol The United States Border Patrol (USBP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency under the United States' U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Customs and Border Protection and is responsible for securing ...

launches a new program during March using

MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the Unit ...

s to take videos of remote areas along the border between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

to detect signs of illegal border crossings. Reapers collect video of an area, then return no more than three days later to collect new video, allowing analysts to compare the videos for signs of border crossings during the intervening period. By November 2014, the Reapers will monitor about half of the border regularly. * Lion Air and

Airbus Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...

sign the most valuable commercial order in history, a $23,800,000,000 Lion Air order for 234

Airbus A320 The Airbus A320 family is a series of Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air F ...

airliners. It exceeds the previous most valuable order, a $22,400,000,000 order by Lion Air for 230 airliners from

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. *

Evergreen International Aviation Evergreen International Aviation, Inc. was a global aviation services company based in McMinnville, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1960, Evergreen was primarily known publicly for commercial helicopter operations in agricultural and forestry a ...

sells its subsidiary Evergreen Helicopters to

Erickson Air-Crane Erickson Incorporated is an American aerospace manufacturing and aviation service provider based in Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1971, it is known for producing and operating the S-64 Aircrane helicopter, which is used in aerial fi ...

. ;4 March * Two minutes from touchdown at

Goma International Airport Goma International Airport is an airport serving Goma, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa. History Initially built with a paved 3000 m runway and a large terminal and apron, the airport has not recovered from the 2 ...

, the

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA; African Aviation Company), renamed FlyCAA in 2013, is a regional airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, based at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. It offers an extensive network of domestic scheduled pa ...

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...

''9Q-CBD'' crashes in bad weather in an empty lot in

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

, killing six of the people on board and injuring all three survivors. ;5 March *

Royal Malaysian Air Force The Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF, ms, Tentera Udara Diraja Malaysia; TUDM; Jawi: ) was formed on 2 June 1958 as the Royal Federation of Malaya Air Force (; ). However, its roots can be traced back to the Malayan Auxiliary Air Force format ...

aircraft – three

F/A-18 Hornet The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet is an all-weather, twinjet, twin-engine, supersonic aircraft, supersonic, carrier-based aircraft, carrier-capable, Multirole combat aircraft, multirole combat aircraft, designed as both a Fighter aircraft, ...

s and five BAE Systems Hawks – bomb and strafe a group of about 200 gunmen from

Simunul Simunul, officially the Municipality of Simunul, is a 4th class municipality in the province of Tawi-Tawi, Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 34,245 people. Geography The municipality consists of 2 islands: the lar ...

in the southern

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

in their camp at Kampung

Tanduo Tanduo is a small village in Tawau Division, Sabah, Malaysia. The village is located about 37 kilometres from Lahad Datu town. It is the site of where the 2013 Lahad Datu standoff The 2013 Lahad Datu standoff, also known as the Lahad Da ...

Sabah Sabah () is a States and federal territories of Malaysia, state of Malaysia located in northern Borneo, in the region of East Malaysia. Sabah borders the Malaysian state of Sarawak to the southwest and the North Kalimantan province of Indone ...

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, on the island of

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and eas ...

. Malaysian military helicopters participate in a follow-up ground attack by

Malaysian Army The Malaysian Army ( ms, Tentera Darat Malaysia; Jawi: تنترا دارت مليسيا) is the land component of the Malaysian Armed Forces. Steeped in British Army traditions, the Malaysian Army does not carry the title ‘royal’ () as do th ...

and security forces against the Filipinos. The Filipinos had landed in Sabah on 9 February in an attempt to enforce the

territorial claim A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, A ...

of the

Sultanate of Sulu The Sultanate of Sulu (Tausug language, Tausūg: ''Kasultanan sin Sūg'', كاسولتانن سين سوڬ; malay language, Malay: ''Kesultanan Sulu''; fil, Sultanato ng Sulu; Chavacano: ''Sultanato de Sulu/Joló''; ar, سلطنة سولك) ...

to eastern Sabah, triggering a standoff with Malaysian police and military forces. ;9 March * A

UTair Aviation Utair (russian: ОАО «Авиакомпания «ЮТэйр») () is a Russian airline with its head office at Khanty-Mansiysk Airport while its hubs are at Surgut International Airport and Vnukovo International Airport. It operates scheduled ...

-owned

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (russian: Ми-8, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. It is now produced by Russia. In addition t ...

helicopter (

NATO reporting name NATO reporting names are code names for military equipment from Russia, China, and historically, the Eastern Bloc (Soviet Union and other nations of the Warsaw Pact). They provide unambiguous and easily understood English words in a uniform manne ...

"Hip") working for the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

crashes near

Bukavu Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), lying at the extreme south-western edge of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the South Kivu pr ...

South Kivu South Kivu (''Jimbo la Kivu Kusini'' in Swahili), (french: Sud-Kivu) is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Bukavu. History South Kivu Province was created from Sud-Kivu District in 1989, when the exis ...

province in the

due to the weather, killing its entire

n crew of four men. The bodies are found at the site of the crash. ;17 March * Two inmates at a prison in

Saint-Jérôme Saint-Jérôme () ( 2021 population 80,213) is a suburban city located about northwest of Montreal on the Rivière du Nord. It is part of the Montreal of Greater Montreal. It is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its resorts via the ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, escape by climbing a rope lowered from a helicopter. They are arrested later the same day. ;18 March *

Syrian Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War ...

aircraft attack targets in

for the first time, firing rockets at Syrian rebel positions around Arsai. ;21 March * Late in the evening, two missiles fired by American unmanned aerial vehicles strike a ground vehicle moving through Data Khel in

, killing all four men in the vehicle. ;22 March * The

n low-cost airline

Malindo Air Batik Air Malaysia (formerly known as Malindo Air) is a Malaysian full service carrier, an associate carrier of Indonesian Lion Air Group, with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The original name Malindo signifies a cooperative ...

makes its first flights. * A

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

government

strikes a rebel column approaching

Bangui Bangui () (or Bangî in Sango, formerly written Bangi in English) is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic. It was established as a French outpost in 1889 and named after its location on the northern bank of the Ubangi ...

, temporarily halting it. ;25 March *

makes the first of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flights to show that modifications to the 787's

lithium-ion battery A lithium-ion or Li-ion battery is a type of rechargeable battery which uses the reversible reduction of lithium ions to store energy. It is the predominant battery type used in portable consumer electronics and electric vehicles. It also se ...

system have solved the problem of battery overheating experienced by Dreamliners earlier in the year. The aircraft, bearing the livery of

LOT Polish Airlines LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. Wit ...

, departs from

Paine Field Paine Field , also known as Snohomish County Airport, is a commercial and general aviation airport serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in unincorporated Snohomish County, Washington, between the ...

in Everett,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, flies south down the coast of Washington and halfway down the coast of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, and makes a low-altitude, low-speed circle over the

Strait of Juan de Fuca The Strait of Juan de Fuca (officially named Juan de Fuca Strait in Canada) is a body of water about long that is the Salish Sea's outlet to the Pacific Ocean. The international boundary between Canada and the United States runs down the centre ...

before returning without incident. ;28 March * Two United States Air Force

B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

bombers make the first nonstop B-2 flight to and from the

Korean Peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

, departing

Whiteman Air Force Base Whiteman Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located just south of Knob Noster, Missouri, United States. The base is the current home of the B-2 Spirit bomber. It is named for 2nd Lt George Whiteman, who was killed during the attack ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, bombing a target range on a

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n island, and returning in a 37-hour flight. The flight, part of the annual

Foal Eagle Foal Eagle ( ko, 독수리 연습) is a combined field training exercise (FTX) conducted annually by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and the United States Armed Forces under the auspices of the Combined Forces Command. It is one of the largest ...

field training exercise, is intended to signal American support to South Korea in the face of belligerent

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n rhetoric. * The low-cost

n airline

AirAsia India AirAsia India is an Indian low-cost airline headquartered in Bangalore (Bengaluru), Karnataka. The airline was a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Bhd. Tata Sons currently holds 100% stake in the airline, after AirAsia Bhd sold its ...

is founded. It will begin flight operations in June 2014. ;31 March *

Austrian Airlines Austrian Airlines AG, often shortened to Austrian, is the flag carrier of Austria and a subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group. The airline is headquartered on the grounds of Vienna International Airport in Schwechat where it also maintains its ...

retires the "Lauda Air" brand. Austrian Airlines and

Lauda Air Lauda Air Luftfahrt GmbH, branded as Lauda Air, was an Austrian airline headquartered at Vienna International Airport in Schwechat. It was owned by Niki Lauda (1949–2019) during much of its existence, later becoming a charter airline subsidi ...

had merged in July 2012. * A

pilot makes the first

vertical Vertical is a geometric term of location which may refer to: * Vertical direction, the direction aligned with the direction of the force of gravity, up or down * Vertical (angles), a pair of angles opposite each other, formed by two intersecting s ...

landing in a production

Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide elect ...

April

* Bankrupt

Aerosvit Airlines AeroSvit Airlines private stock company ( uk, italic=yes, Приватне акціонерне товариство «Авіакомпанія АероСвіт»), operating as AeroSvit — Ukrainian Airlines / АероСвіт, was a Uk ...

ceases operations. Some of its fleet is transferred to

Ukraine International Airlines Ukraine International Airlines PJSC, often shortened to UIA ( uk, Авіакомпанія Міжнародні Авіалінії України, Aviakompaniya Mizhnarodni Avialiniyi Ukrayiny, ), is the flag carrier and the largest airline of ...

. *

Meridiana Fly Meridiana Fly S.p.A., operating as Meridiana (formerly named ''Meridiana S.p.A.''), was a privately owned Italian airline headquartered in Olbia with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport. It operated scheduled and charter flights to do ...

completes its merger with

Air Italy Air Italy may refer to: *Air Italy (2005–2018) *Air Italy (2018–2020) Air Italy (registered as AIR ITALY S.p.A.) was a privately owned Italian airline, headquartered in Olbia, Sardinia. In 2019, the company was the second largest airline i ...

and is renamed

Meridiana Meridiana Fly S.p.A., operating as Meridiana (formerly named ''Meridiana S.p.A.''), was a privately owned Italian airline headquartered in Olbia with its main base at Olbia Costa Smeralda Airport. It operated scheduled and charter flights to do ...

. ;5 April * Boeing makes the second of two Boeing 787 Dreamliner test flights to show that modifications to the 787s lithium-ion battery system have solved the problem of battery overheating experienced by Dreamliners earlier in the year. The aircraft, bearing the livery of

, makes a 755-mile (1,216-kilometer) flight along the

United States West Coast The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

in just under two hours without incident. The completion of two successful test flights is a major step toward ending the worldwide grounding of 787s. ;6 April * A

Syrian Air Force ) , mascot = , anniversaries = 16 October , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = * 1948 Arab-Israeli War * Six-Day War * Yom Kippur War ...

strike against anti-government

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

militia forces in

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, kills at least 15 people, nine of them children. ;7 April *A Helicópteros del Pacífico (Helipac)

P registration OB-1916-P crashes en route from

Iquitos Iquitos (; ) is the capital city of Peru's Maynas Province and Loreto Region. It is the largest metropolis in the Peruvian Amazon, east of the Andes, as well as the ninth-most populous city of Peru. Iquitos is the largest city in the world th ...

to a Perenco site near the

Curaray River The Curaray River (also called the Ewenguno River or Rio Curaray) is a river in eastern Ecuador and Peru. It is a tributary of the Napo River, which is a part of the Amazon basin. The land along the river is home to several indigenous people gro ...

, in the

Loreto Region Loreto () is Peru's northernmost department and region. Covering almost one-third of Peru's territory, Loreto is by far the nation's largest department; it is also one of the most sparsely populated regions due to its remote location in the Ama ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. All 13 people on board died. * Widespread Syrian airstrikes against rebel forces in seven cities and regions kill at least 20 people. ;13 April *

Lion Air Flight 904 Lion Air Flight 904 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali, Indonesia. On April 13, 2013, the Boeing 737-800 operating the flight crashed in ...

, a Boeing 737-8GP carrying 108 people,

ditches A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ar ...

in shallow water off

Bali Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...

from the runway while attempting to land at

Ngurah Rai International Airport I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport ( id, Bandar Udara Internasional I Gusti Ngurah Rai) , is the main airport in Bali, located 13 km south of Denpasar. Ngurah Rai is the second busiest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno–Hatta Int ...

Denpasar Denpasar (; Balinese script, Balinese: ᬤᬾᬦ᭄ᬧᬲᬃ) is the capital of Bali and the main gateway to the island. The city is also a hub for other cities in the Lesser Sunda Islands. With the rapid growth of the tourism industry in Bali ...

. All on board survive, although 22 people are injured. * The Syrian Air Force strikes

Saraqib Saraqib ( ar, سَرَاقِب, Sarāqib also spelled Saraqeb) is a city in northwestern Syria, administratively belonging to the Idlib Governorate, located east of Idlib. During the course of the Syrian Civil War, the city fell into rebel forces ...

, reportedly killing 20 people. ;14 April * The Syrian Air Force strikes the

Qaboun Qaboun ( ar, ٱلْقَابُون, al-Qābūn, sometimes spelled Al-Kaboun or al-Qaboun) is a municipality and neighbourhood in Damascus, Syria, located north-east of the city center, to the north of Jobar district. History Qaboun name is deri ...

neighborhood of

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, reportedly killing nine children. A Syrian jet also strikes the

village of Hadad in northeastern

, killing at least 16 people. ;25 April * The

scrambles an

F-16 Fighting Falcon The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it evolved into a successful ...

fighter to intercept an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as it approaches Israel from the coast of

. The F-16 shoots down the UAV, which Israel suspects belonged to

Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...

, over the

at an altitude of six miles (9.7 km) from

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, Israel. ;27 April * The Boeing 787 Dreamliner makes its first passenger-carrying flight since the worldwide grounding of Dreamliners in January 2013, when a packed

Ethiopian Airlines Ethiopian Airlines (commonly referred to as Ethiopian; am, የኢትዮጵያ አየር መንገድ, translit=Ye-Ītyōṗṗyā āyer menged), formerly ''Ethiopian Air Lines'' (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by ...

787 flies from

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

, to

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

. Boeing vice president Randy Tinseth is among the passengers. ;29 April *

National Airlines Flight 102 National Airlines Flight 102 was a cargo flight operated by National Airlines between Camp Bastion in Afghanistan and Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai, with a refueling stop at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan. On 29 April 2013, the Boeing 747-400 operat ...

, a Boeing 747-428BCF cargo aircraft, crashes just after takeoff from

Bagram Airfield Bagram Airfield-BAF, also known as Bagram Air Base , is located southeast of Charikar in the Parwan Province of Afghanistan. It is under the Afghan Ministry of Defense. Sitting on the site of the ancient Bagram at an elevation of above sea leve ...

Bagram Bagram (; Pashto/ fa, بگرام) is a town and seat in Bagram District in Parwan Province of Afghanistan, about 60 kilometers north of the capital Kabul. It is the site of an ancient city located at the junction of the Ghorband and Panjshir Va ...

, after its crew reported that its cargo of five heavy military vehicles had shifted and caused the aircraft to stall. Its entire crew of seven dies in the crash. * A

Nordwind Airlines Nordwind Airlines, LLC (russian: ООО «Северный ветер», translit=Severný veter) is a Russian leisure airline. The company is headquartered in Moscow, and its hub is at Sheremetyevo International Airport. Nordwind Airlines prim ...

airliner on a charter flight from Sharm-el-Sheikh,

, to

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

, Russia, with 159 passengers on board, takes evasive action to avoid two

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s fired at it from Syrian territory. The missiles explode near the A320, but it is undamaged and continues its flight to Kazan without further incident. The same day, the Russian air transport agency Rosaviation bans Russian civilian aircraft from flying in Syrian airspace until further notice. *

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The company i ...

s commercial spacecraft

SpaceShipTwo The Scaled Composites Model 339 SpaceShipTwo (SS2) is an air-launched suborbital spaceplane type designed for space tourism. It is manufactured by The Spaceship Company, a California-based company owned by Virgin Galactic. SpaceShipTwo is car ...

makes its first powered flight. Released by its jet-powered mothership

White Knight Two The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a quadjet cargo aircraft that is used to lift the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to release altitude. It was developed by Scaled Composites from 2007 to 2010 as the first stage of Tier 1b, a tw ...

after a 45-minute climb at an altitude of over the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

, SpaceShipTwo burns its engine for 16 seconds, climbing to and reaching a speed of Mach 1.2 before gliding to a landing at

Mojave Air and Space Port The Mojave Air and Space Port at Rutan Field is in Mojave, California, United States, at an elevation of . It is the first facility to be licensed in the United States for horizontal launches of reusable spacecraft, being certified as a sp ...

in Mojave,

, after 10 minutes of independent flight. Mark Stuckey is the pilot and Mike Alsbury the co-pilot for the flight. ;30 April * An Israeli aircraft conducts the first lethal airstrike in the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

since November 2012, killing

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem The Mujahideen Shura Council in the Environs of Jerusalem or simply the Mujahideen Shura Council (also known as the Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem, in Arabic: Majlis Shura Al-Mujahideen, Magles Shoura al-Mujahedeen, and other names) is an ...

member Haitham Mishal as he rides a motorcycle northwest of

Gaza City Gaza (;''The New Oxford Dictionary of English'' (1998), , p. 761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory in Palestine, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza...". ar, غَزَّة ', ), also referred to as Gaza City, i ...

. A bystander is wounded.

May

;1 May * A Boeing X-51A WaveRider unmanned

scramjet A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully ...

demonstration aircraft detaches from a

Boeing B-52H Stratofortress The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is an American long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber. The B-52 was designed and built by Boeing, which has continued to provide support and upgrades. It has been operated by the United States Air ...

and reaches Mach 4.8 () powered by a booster rocket. It then separates cleanly from the booster, ignites its own engine, accelerates to Mach 5.1 (), and flies for 240 seconds – setting the record for the longest air-breathing

hypersonic In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds 5 times the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above. The precise Mach number at which a craft can be said to be flying at hypersonic speed varies, since in ...

flight in history – before running out of fuel and plunging into the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

off

Point Mugu Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...

, after transmitting 370 seconds of

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ data collection, collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic data transmission, transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Gr ...

. The flight – the fourth and last planned X-51A test flight and the first successful one – completes the X-51 program. ;3 May *

Batik Air Batik Air is an Indonesian scheduled airline which was founded in 2012 and made its maiden flight on 3 May 2013 from Jakarta to Manado and Yogyakarta. History Lion Air, the parent company, established Batik Air as a full-service airline which ...

, a full-service airline owned by

Lion Air PT Lion Mentari Airlines, operating as Lion Air, is an Indonesian low-cost airline. Based in Jakarta, Lion Air is the country's largest privately run airline, the second largest low-cost airline in Southeast Asia (after AirAsia) and the large ...

, makes its first flight. * A

KC-135 Stratotanker The Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker is an American military aerial refueling aircraft that was developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, alongside the Boeing 707 airliner. It is the predominant variant of the C-135 Stratolifter family of transpo ...

crashes west of the U.S. Air Force

Transit Center at Manas Transit Center at Manas (formerly Manas Air Base and unofficially Ganci Air Base) is a former U.S. military installation at Manas International Airport, near Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan. It was primarily operated by the U.S. Air ...

base at

Manas International Airport Manas International Airport ( ky, Манас эл аралык аэропорту, Manas El Aralyk Aeroportu ; russian: Международный аэропорт «Манас») is the main international airport in Kyrgyzstan, located north- ...

outside

Bishkek Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...

, leaving two of its crewmen dead and one missing. *

aircraft strike a shipment of advanced

surface-to-surface missile A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) or ground-to-ground missile (GGM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed ins ...

s at

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, Syria. The shipment had originated in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and was destined for delivery to

. ;4 May * The first

Solar Impulse Solar Impulse is a Swiss long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft project, and also the name of the project's two operational aircraft. The privately financed project is led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and Swiss ...

aircraft, ''HB-SIA'', the world's first

solar power Solar power is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Photovoltaic cells convert light into an electric current using the photovoltaic e ...

ed aircraft capable of operating day and night, completes the first leg of its attempt to become the solar-powered aircraft to fly across the

continental United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, landing at

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil–military public airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport, and among the largest commercial airports in th ...

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

, at 12:30 a.m. PDT after departing

Moffett Field Moffett Federal Airfield , also known as Moffett Field, is a joint civil-military airport located in an Local government in California#Counties, unincorporated part of Santa Clara County, California, Santa Clara County, California, United States, ...

Mountain View, California Mountain View is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Named for its views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, it has a population of 82,376. Mountain View was integral to the early history and growth of Silicon Valley, and is the ...

, at dawn on 3 May and covering in 18 hours 18 minutes at an average speed-over-ground of . Plans call for the aircraft, which requires no fuel because it uses

photovoltaic cell A solar cell, or photovoltaic cell, is an electronic device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect, which is a physics, physical and Chemical substance, chemical phenomenon.wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

s to supply it with power and charge its batteries for use at night, to make a series of five flights of 19 to 25 hours each, flying at about , with a stopover of approximately 10 days in each city it visits, culminating in an arrival at

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Avia ...

New York, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Uni ...

. ;5 May *

wingsuit Wingsuit flying (or wingsuiting) is the sport of skydiving using a webbing-sleeved jumpsuit called a wingsuit to add webbed area to the diver's body and generate increased lift, which allows extended air time by gliding flight rather than just ...

flier

Valery Rozov Valery Vladimirovich Rozov (December 26, 1964 – November 11, 2017) was a Russian BASE jumper, who became known for jumping from the world's highest summits. He currently holds the record for highest BASE jump in the world. Notable jumps ;22 ...

sets a world record for the highest wingsuit BASE jump, jumping off

Mount Everest Mount Everest (; Tibetan: ''Chomolungma'' ; ) is Earth's highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The China–Nepal border runs across its summit point. Its elevation (snow heig ...

's North Col at an altitude of 7,220 meters (23,687 feet). * Israeli aircraft strike Mount Qassioun, which overlooks Damascus, Syria, targeting surface-to-surface missiles sent from Iran to Hezbollah. The Syrian government claims the strike targeted a scientific research facility. ;11 May * After an Israeli Air Force Heron-1 unmanned aerial vehicle flying over the

malfunctions, the

Israeli Army The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; he, צְבָא הַהֲגָנָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branc ...

shoots it down to prevent it from crashing in a populated area. The following day Israel grounds its fleet of Heron-1 unmanned aerial vehicles. ;14 May * The worlds first

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...

launch of an unmanned aircraft from an

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

takes place when the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier launches a

Northrop Grumman X-47B The Northrop Grumman X-47B is a demonstration unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) designed for aircraft carrier-based operations. Developed by the American defense technology company Northrop Grumman, the X-47 project began as part of DARP ...

demonstrator

unmanned combat aerial vehicle An unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV), also known as a combat drone, colloquially shortened as drone or battlefield UAV, is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that is used for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

off

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. The X-47B makes two low passes as if preparing to land on the carrier, then flies to a landing at

Naval Air Station Patuxent River Naval Air Station Patuxent River , also known as NAS Pax River, is a United States naval air station located in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, on the Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Patuxent River. It is home to Headquarters, Naval Air Sys ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, about an hour later. * Over the

Yuma Proving Ground Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) is a United States Army series of environmentally specific test centers with its Yuma Test Center being one of the largest military installations in the world. It is subordinate to the U.S. Army Test and Evaluation ...

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...

s Extended Medium-Range Ballistic Missile target is air-dropped in dummy form for the first time.Petrinic, Emil, "Going Ballistic," ''Aviation History'', July 2014, p. 58. ;16 May * Nepal Airlines Flight 555, the

de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter The de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter is a Canadian STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) utility aircraft developed by de Havilland Canada, which produced the aircraft from 1965 to 1988; Viking Air purchased the type certificate, then restarted ...

''9N-ABO'', skids off the runway at

Jomsom Airport Jomsom Airport is a domestic airport located in Jomsom serving Mustang District, a district in Gandaki Province in Nepal. It serves as the gateway to Mustang District that includes Jomsom, Kagbeni, Mustang, Kagbeni, Tangbe, and Lo Manthang, and ...

in Jomsom,

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

, and falls into the

Gandaki River The Gandaki River, also known as the Narayani and the Gandak, is one of the major rivers in Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. Its total catchment area amounts to , most of it in Nepal. In the Nepal Himalayas, it is notabl ...

. All 21 people on board survive, but seven suffer serious injuries. ;18 May *A dawn attack by an American unmanned aerial vehicle kills four

al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...

members in Deyfa in

Abyan Governorate Abyan ( ar, أَبْيَن ) is a governorate of Yemen. The Abyan region was historically part of the Fadhli Sultanate. It was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army militant group. Its capital is the city of Zinjibar. This governorate is n ...

. ;20 May * Passenger-carrying flights of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner resume in the United States as

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Flight 1 flies from

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. United, which plans to resume international 787 service on 10 June, becomes the fourth airline to resume Dreamliner flights, after

Qatar Airways Qatar Airways Company Q.C.S.C. ( ar, القطرية, ''al-Qaṭariya''), operating as Qatar Airways, is the state-owned flag carrier airline of Qatar. Headquartered in the Qatar Airways Tower in Doha, the airline operates a hub-and-spoke netw ...

, and

Air India Air India is the flag carrier airline of India, headquartered at New Delhi. It is owned by Talace Private Limited, a Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of Tata Sons, after Air India Limited's former owner, the Government of India, completed the sa ...

. ;23 May * Solar Impulse aircraft ''HB-SIA'' completes the second and longest leg of its trip across the continental United States, arriving at

Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport , also known as DFW Airport, is the primary international airport serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and the North Texas Region in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the largest hub for American Air ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

after a 957-mile (1,541-km) flight from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, at an average speed-over-ground of , reaching an altitude of . The flight, which takes 18 hours 21 minutes, sets a new world distance record for a solar-powered flight, exceeding the previous record, also established by ''HB-SIA'', in a flight from

on 25 May 2012. ;24 May *

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

Flight PK709, a

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. It is the world's largest twinjet. The 777 was designed to bridge the gap bet ...

with 322 people on board bound from

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

, to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, is intercepted by two

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Eurofighter Typhoon The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo ...

s over the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

after two British nationals on board get into an argument with the flight crew, make threats about setting off a bomb aboard the aircraft, and attempt to force their way into the locked

. The airliner diverts to

Stansted Airport London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acros ...

outside

, where armed police board the plane and arrest the two men. A British airways plane took off from Heathrow airport with its engine doors open; the doors broke up leaving a mess on the runway which was spotted by another aircraft. The engine leaks oil and fuel and then causes a fire, forcing the pilots to take the plane back to Heathrow. The plane lands safely. ;27 May *

TACA Airlines Transportes Aereos del Continente Americano, (''Air Transports of the American Continent'', known and branded formerly as TACA International), operating as Avianca El Salvador, is an airline owned by Kingsland Holdings based in El Salvador. As ...

leaves the

Star Alliance Star Alliance is the world's largest global airline alliance. Founded on 14 May 1997, its CEO is Jeffrey Goh and its headquarters is located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. , Star Alliance is the largest of the three global alliances by passenger ...

. ;29 May *A missile fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle strikes a house in Chamsa, outside

Miranshah Mīrānshāh (Pashto and ur, ) or Mīrāmshāh () is a small town that is the administrative headquarters of North Waziristan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. Miranshah lies on the banks of the Tochi River in a wide valley surr ...

, killing six people, including

Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan The Pakistani Taliban (), formally called the Tehreek-e-Taliban-e-Pakistan (Urdu/ ps, , lit=Student Movement of Pakistan, TTP), is an umbrella organization of various Islamist armed militant groups operating along the Afghan–Pakistani bo ...

deputy leader

Wali-ur-Rehman Wali-ur-Rehman (Wali Ur-Rehman Mehsud) (1970 – 29 May 2013) was a senior Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) commander based in South Waziristan. Wali-ur-Rehman was formerly a spokesman for Baitullah Mehsud, the late leader of the TTP. Backgr ...

June

AirAsia Capital A Berhad, () operating as AirAsia (stylized as ''airasia'') is a Malaysian multinational low-cost airline headquartered near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is the largest airline in Malaysia by fleet size and destinations. AirAsia operate ...

exits its investment in the first incarnation of

AirAsia Japan was the name of two incarnations of a Japanese low-cost airline, which had operated as a joint venture between AirAsia of Malaysia and Japanese partners. AirAsia Japan's first incarnation was founded in July 2011, and was based at Tokyo's ...

, leaving AirAsia Japan as a wholly owned subsidiary of

. ;4 June * Braving unsettled weather in the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

aircraft ''HB-SIA'' completes the third leg of its trip across the

, arriving at

Lambert–St. Louis International Airport St. Louis Lambert International Airport is the primary commercial airport serving metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Commonly referred to as Lambert Field or simply Lambert, it is the largest and busiest airport in the state o ...

outside

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, where it is housed in an inflatable temporary

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

– the conventional hangar originally earmarked for it had been destroyed by a powerful storm on 31 May – in the first real-world test of an inflatable hangar. During the flight, the aircraft flies under

cirrus cloud Cirrus ( cloud classification symbol: Ci) is a genus of high cloud made of ice crystals. Cirrus clouds typically appear delicate and wispy with white strands. Cirrus are usually formed when warm, dry air rises, causing water vapor deposition on ...

s for the first time, and, to the surprise of its designers, its batteries continue to charge at 30 to 50 percent despite the diminished sunlight. The 1,040-km (646-mile) flight from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport in Texas, which takes 21 hours 22 minutes at an average speed of and reaches a maximum altitude of , is the second-longest in terms of duration ever made in a solar-powered aircraft, exceeded only a flight of over 26 hours ''HB-SIA'' itself made in July 2010. ;7 June * Missiles fired by an American unmanned aerial vehicle strike a house in the village of Mangroti in the Shawal area of

in northwestern Pakistan, killing at least seven people described by officials as

Islamic militant ''Mujahideen'', or ''Mujahidin'' ( ar, مُجَاهِدِين, mujāhidīn), is the plural form of ''mujahid'' ( ar, مجاهد, mujāhid, strugglers or strivers or justice, right conduct, Godly rule, etc. doers of jihād), an Arabic term t ...

s and seriously injuring four others. ;11 June *Air traffic controllers in France begin a strike to protest

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

plans to reorganize and privatize air traffic control over

. ;12 June *In response to a call for industrial action by the

European Transport Workers' Federation The European Transport Workers' Federation (ETF) represents over 5 million transport workers from more than 200 transport unions across Europe, from the European Union, the European Economic Area, and Central and Eastern Europe, in over 30 countri ...

, air traffic controllers in 11 other countries engage in lower-key industrial actions in sympathy with the French strike, although flights are not disrupted in other countries. ;13 June *The

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

AeroVelo Atlas The AeroVelo Atlas is a human-powered helicopter (HPH) that was built for AHS International's Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition. On 13 June 2013, it became the first aircraft to achieve the goals of the competition and thus w ...

human-powered helicopter A human-powered helicopter (HPH) is a helicopter powered solely by one or more humans carried on board. As in other human-powered aircraft, the power is usually generated by pedalling. It remains a considerable engineering challenge to obtain bo ...

makes a 64-second flight that reaches an altitude of , winning the

American Helicopter Society International The Vertical Flight Society, formerly the American Helicopter Society (AHS), is the non-profit technical society for the advancement of vertical flight. It has 21 different technical committees and two dozen active chapters around the world. Ther ...

Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition The Igor I. Sikorsky Human Powered Helicopter Competition was established in 1980 by the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International. The award, the AHS Sikorsky Prize, was given for the first human powered helicopter (HPH) to meet a set of e ...

by becoming the first such helicopter to fly for at least 60 seconds and achieve an altitude of at least . *The French air traffic controller strike ends, having forced the cancellation of over 2,000 flights, without resolution of the issues which prompted it. Industrial actions in other countries related to the French strike are also ended. ;14 June *Solar Impulse aircraft ''HB-SIA'' begins the fourth leg of its flight across the continental United States, flying a 678-kilometer (421-mile) segment from Lambert–St. Louis International Airport outside St. Louis, Missouri, to

Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport Cincinnati Municipal Airport – Lunken Field (Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport) is a public airport in Cincinnati, Ohio, three miles (5 km) east of Downtown Cincinnati. It is owned by the city of Cincinnati and serves private aircr ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, in 15 hours 14 minutes at an average speed of and reaching a maximum altitude of . The 11-hour stop at Cincinnati during the trip to

Washington Dulles International Airport Washington Dulles International Airport , typically referred to as Dulles International Airport, Dulles Airport, Washington Dulles, or simply Dulles ( ), is an international airport in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Eastern United States, loc ...

outside

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, is inserted into the itinerary because of strong cross- and headwinds forecast for the flight and a legal requirement that the aircrafts pilot not exceed 24 hours continuously in the air; it also affords the Solar Impulse ground crew an opportunity to practice supporting the aircraft during stops planned on short notice. ;15 June *

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

reveals its previously secret

Project Loon Loon LLC was an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary working on providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The company used high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere at an altitude of to to create an aerial wireless network with up to 1 Mbi ...

with the first public launch of a maneuverable unmanned balloon designed to operate in the

stratosphere The stratosphere () is the second layer of the atmosphere of the Earth, located above the troposphere and below the mesosphere. The stratosphere is an atmospheric layer composed of stratified temperature layers, with the warm layers of air ...

at an altitude of about and bring broadband

wireless Wireless communication (or just wireless, when the context allows) is the transfer of information between two or more points without the use of an electrical conductor, optical fiber or other continuous guided medium for the transfer. The most ...

Internet access Internet access is the ability of individuals and organizations to connect to the Internet using computer terminals, computers, and other devices; and to access services such as email and the World Wide Web. Internet access is sold by Internet ...

to remote regions and areas affected by natural disasters. Google has launched 30 such balloons during the week from a field near Lake Tekapo on New Zealands South Island to test the system over the cities of Christchurch and Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury. *Escorted by

fighters, Egyptair Flight 985, a

with 326 people on board bound from Cairo,

, to

in New York City, makes an emergency landing at Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Prestwick, Scotland, after a passenger finds a note in one of its Aircraft lavatory, lavatories making a threat to set the aircraft on fire. ;16 June *Solar Impulse aircraft ''HB-SIA'' completes the fourth leg of its flight across the continental United States, completing the fourth legs second segment, a 702-kilometer (436-mile) trip from Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport in Cincinnati, Ohio – from which it had departed on 15 June after an 11-hour stopover – to

outside Washington, D.C. The flight takes 14 hours 4 minutes at an average speed of and reaches a maximum altitude of . During its stay, the aircraft is placed on temporary display at the National Air and Space Museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center adjacent to the airport. ;18 June *A tornado passes between Runways 34R and 34L at Denver International Airport in Denver, Colorado, Denver, Colorado, passing east of the airports A gates, causing thousands of people to take cover in stairwells, restrooms, and other safe areas. The anemometer at the airports weather station records a peak wind gust of before breaking. Nine flights are diverted to other airports during the 40-minute tornado warning. *EVA Air joins the

. ;24 June *The Federal Reserve Bank of New York discovers that $1.2 million in $100 bills is missing from a $93 million shipment of cash carried from Zurich,

, to

in New York City aboard Swissair Flight 17 on 22 June. The Federal Bureau of Investigation launches an investigation into where and how the money disappeared between the flights point of origin in Zurich and the shipments arrival at the bank. ;30 June * Air Lituanica begins flight operations, using a single leased Embraer E-170 to provide service between Vilnius, Lithuania, and

July

; 1 July * European countries force the Bolivian Presidents plane to land, because of Edward Snowden. The US had asked European countries to help with the capture of Snowden. ;2 July *When its pilot loses control in high winds, a Polar Airlines

helicopter Yakutsk helicopter crash, crashes at Yakutsk,

, killing 24 of the 28 people on board and injuring all four survivors. * An American

missile strike late in the day against a house in Sarai Darpa Khel outside Miramshah,

, kills at least 16 people, most of them members of the Haqqani network. ;6 July *Despite suffering a mid-flight tear in its

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

''HB-SIA'' flies from

outside

, to

in New York City in 18 hours 23 minutes at an average speed-over-ground of and reaching a maximum altitude of , becoming the first Solar power, solar-powered aircraft to fly across the

. During the 64-day journey, which had begun on 3 May at

, ''HB-SIA'' has made five intermediate stops and covered in 105 hours 42 minutes in the air at an average speed-over-ground of . *Attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California, San Francisco, California, after a flight from Incheon International Airport in Seoul,

, Asiana Airlines Flight 214, the Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 777-28E(ER) ''HL7742'', comes down short of the runway, strikes a seawall, and crashes, killing two – one of whom is struck by a responding fire truckAssociated Press, "Third Person Dies From Asiana Crash," ''The Washington Post'', 13 July 2013, p. A3. – of the 307 people on board and injuring 182 of the 304 survivors; one of survivors later also dies. It is the second crash and first fatal crash of a Boeing 777 and the first fatal airline crash in the United States since 2009 in aviation#February, February 2009. ;7 July *A Rediske Air de Havilland Canada DHC-3 Otter air taxi 2013 Soldotna Airport Turbine Otter crash, crashes onto the runway immediately after takeoff from Soldotna Airport in Soldotna, Alaska, Soldotna, Alaska, and bursts into flames, killing all 10 people on board. ;10 July * A

demonstrator lands aboard in the

off

. Taking off from

, the X-47B flies about , makes a landing approach, is deliberately waved off to test its go-around capability, then lands after its second approach, all without human in-flight input. It is both the first time that an

lands on an

autonomously and the first extended autonomous flight by a military

of any kind. ;11 July * United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement begins a program of twice-weekly flights involuntarily carrying up to 136 illegal immigrants at a time from El Paso, Texas, El Paso,

, to Mexico City,

. The program is intended to deter illegal immigration from Mexico into the United States by flying such immigrants deep into Mexico before releasing them. A two-month trial of the program in 2012 had returned 2,300 Mexican people, Mexicans to Mexico. ;13 July * A missile strike by an American unmanned aerial vehicle kills two

s riding a motorcycle in the Mir Ali area of

.Reuters, "19 Suspected Militants Killed in Airstrikes," ''The Washington Post'', 15 July 2013, p. A7. ;14 July * Pakistan Air Force jets bomb at least seven Islamist militant hideouts in Pakistan, killing at least 17 insurgents and injuring at least 13. ;20 July * Angry at Chinese security officers for beating him in 2005, breaking his back and leaving him paralyzed from the waist down, 2013 Beijing Capital International Airport bombing, Ji Zhongxing detonates a homemade bomb as he sits in his wheelchair in Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, China, injuring only himself. He is later sentenced to six years in prison. ;28 July * American unmanned aerial vehicles fire two missiles at a group of men just after they cross the border from

into Pakistan, killing at least six

s – reportedly including a senior

commander – and injuring four.

August

;1 August * The Government of Serbia and Etihad Airways formalize an agreement under which Jat Airways will be reorganized and rebranded as Air Serbia, with Serbia owning 51% of the airline and Etihad owning 49%. Etihad Airways is granted management rights over Air Serbia for an initial five-year period. The name change to Air Serbia will take place in #October, October. ;6 August * Syrian rebels capture the Menagh Military Airbase from government forces after a Siege of Menagh Air Base, one-year-long siege. ;13 August * The United States Department of Justice files suit to block the proposed merger of

and

, saying it would harm consumers and lead to substantially less competition, higher airfares and fees, and less service to many airports. ;14 August * UPS Airlines Flight 1354, the Airbus A300, Airbus A300F4-622R cargo aircraft ''N155UP'' arriving from Louisville, Kentucky, Louisville, Kentucky, with a crew of two aboard, crashes one-half-mile (0.8 m) from the runway at Birmingham–Shuttlesworth International Airport outside of Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama. Both crew members die. ;24 August *In

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, a List of wheel-well stowaway flights, wheel-well stowaway survives a flight from Benin City to Lagos. ;26 August * The British light aircraft carrier is among

and Royal Navy ships deployed in the

in case military action against

is deemed necessary in the wake of reported Syrian government use of poison gas in the Syrian Civil War. ;31 August * An American

makes a missile attack against a compound in Mir Ali,

, occupied by

s from Tajikistan and a vehicle parked nearby, killing four.

September

*South Supreme Airlines begins operations. ;4 September * French aviators Gérard Felzer and Pierre Chabert fly across the English Channel from Cap Gris Nez,

, to Littlestone-on-Sea,

, in 2 hours 23 minutes in the electric-powered hot-air balloon ''Iris Challenger II'' (nicknamed the "Flying Fish" by the French media). The flight is intended to demonstrate the feasibility of aviation using environmentally friendly renewable energy. ;5 September * American

s fire missiles at a house near Ghulam Khan,

, killing five. Senior Haqqani network commander Sangeen Zadran reportedly is among the dead. ;10 September * A live

Extended Medium-Range Ballistic Missile target is air-dropped for the first time. Dropped over the Pacific Ocean by a

C-17 Globemaster III, the target missile ignites and is destroyed by a ground-launched anti-ballistic missile fired by the United States Armys 2nd Air Defense Artillery Regiment on Kwajalein Atoll. ;12 September * In a ceremony at

's assembly plant in Long Beach, California, Long Beach,

, the

takes delivery of the last of the 223 Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, C-17 Globemaster IIIs produced for it. After the ceremony, the final U.S. Air Force C-17 takes off from the Long Beach plant bound for Joint Base Charleston, South Carolina, recreating the flight of the first C-17, which flew from Long Beach to Charleston Air Force Base when it was delivered to the U.S. Air Force in 1993 in aviation#July, July 1993. Boeing continues to manufacture the C-17, but only for foreign customers. ;16 September * A Turkish Air Force

shoots down a

n military Mil Mi-17 (

"Hip") helicopter after the helicopter ignores Turkish radio warnings and flies a mile (1.6 km) inside Turkish airspace. ;18 September * Zest Airways rebrands itself as AirAsia Zest. ;22 September * To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first flight across the

, pilot Baptiste Solis flies a near-replica Morane-Saulnier G nonstop along the same route from

to Tunisia. Roland Garros (aviator), Roland Garros made the original nonstop flight on 1913 in aviation#July–December, 23 September 1913 in a Morane-Saulnier H, a single-seat version of the Morane-Saulnier G. ;29 September * An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike in the Dargamandi area of North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills at least three

s. ;30 September * An American unmanned aerial vehicle missile strike against a compound in the Boya, Pakistan, Boya area of North Waziristan, Pakistan, kills three

October

;1 October * LAN Colombia joins the

. * Aeroméxico officially launches

service, using Boeing 787-8 airliners. ;3 October * Associated Aviation Flight 361, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia on a domestic charter flight in

carrying the body of Olusegun Agagu, the former governor of Ondo State, from Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos to Akure Airport in Ondo State, crashes shortly after takeoff, killing 15 of the 20 people on board. ;7 October *

announces that it will purchase 31 Airbus A350, A350 airliners from

for $9,500,000,000 to replace its fleet of

s. The announcement ends

s decades-long dominance of the Japanese market; before the Japan Airlines deal with Airbus, Boeing and Airbus had competed head-to-head in almost every market worldwide except for

. ;16 October * Lao Airlines Flight 301, an ATR 72 on a scheduled domestic passenger flight in Laos from Vientiane to Pakse, crashes into the Mekong River while on approach to Pakse, killing all 49 people on board. ;22 October * World View (company), World View, an offshoot of the Paragon Space Development Corporation, announces plans to carry tourists into the

at an altitude of 30 kilometers (19 miles) employing 1,100,000-cubic-meter (40,000,000-cubic-foot) helium balloons. Each flight is to carry six passengers and a crew of two, requiring an ascent of between 90 minutes and two hours to peak altitude, followed by two hours at altitude and a 25-to-40-minute descent. A ticket is to cost $75,000. World Views plans call for a demonstration flight by the end of 2013 and the first operational flight by 2016. ;24 October * Nigerian Air Force strikes and ground attacks by Nigerian Army forces combine to kill 74 Boko Haram members at camps in Galangi and Lawanti in northeast Borno State in northeastern

. ;26 October * The first incarnation of

ceases operations following the June departure of

from its investment in the airline, which had left it as a wholly owned subsidiary of

. * Jat Airways begins operations under its new name, Air Serbia, with a flight from Belgrade, Serbia, to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. * The first free-flight test of the Sierra Nevada Corporations Dream Chaser Lifting body, lifting-body spaceplane takes place at

. After dropping from an

Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane, Skycrane helicopter at an altitude of , the unmanned Dream Chaser flies autonomously in a steep dive, pulls up perfectly, and glides to the center line of the runway, but its left landing gear fails to deploy, causing it to roll on its side and skid off the runway in a crash-landing. ;30 October *

joins the Oneworld airline alliance. ;31 October *

aircraft strike Latakia and

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

, destroying

n-made 9K33 Osa (

"SA-8 Gecko")

s Israel believed were destined for delivery to

. * The U.S.

(FAA) announces that airline passengers will be allowed to use their personal electronic devices during all phases of flight, ending the years-long prohibition of their use during takeoff and landing, although a Federal Communications Commission ban on the use of cellphones to make calls or send texts or data in flight is to remain in force. The FAA states that pilots may still require personal electronic devices to be turned off under certain conditions, but that it expects airlines to implement new procedures to accommodate the gate-to-gate use of such devices by the end of 2013.

November

;1 November * Vanilla Air, a rebranding of the first incarnation of

, is founded as a wholly owned subsidiary of

. It will begin flight operations in #December, December. * In the early morning hours,

aircraft bomb a tunnel in the

that Israel claims Hamas uses for Terrorism, terrorist operations, killing three Hamas members. * An American

missile strike on a ground vehicle parked outside a

, kills

leader Hakimullah Mehsud, his uncle, his driver, and two of his bodyguards. * After leaving a note stating that he wanted to kill U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, Paul Ciancia 2013 Los Angeles International Airport shooting, opens fire with an assault rifle at a security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles,

, killing TSA screener Gerardo I. Hernandez, who becomes the first TSA employee to die in the line of duty. Ciancia also wounds three other people, including two TSA employees, before police shoot and critically wound him and take him into custody. Panicked bystanders stampede, and some of them escape onto the tarmac and take refuge underneath parked airliners. Hundreds of departing flights are grounded or delayed for hours, and many arriving flights are diverted to other Southern California airports; an estimated 1,550 scheduled flights and 167,000 passengers are affected during the day, as are another 40 flights and 4,000 passengers on 2 November. ;2 November * Tracey Curtis-Taylor takes off from Cape Town International Airport in

, in the Boeing-Stearman Model 75 ''Spirit of Artemis'' to recreate the flight of Mary, Lady Heath, who in 1928 in aviation, 1928 became the first person to fly a small, open-

plane from South Africa to

, taking three months to complete the journey in an Avro Avian. Curtis-Taylor will complete her flight on #December, 31 December. ;7 November * The U.S.

(FAA) announces plans to conduct testing at six sites of the integration of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights into the general air traffic control scheme over the

, and to develop policies, regulations, and procedures to integrate UAVs into the planned new air traffic control system, the Next Generation Air Transportation System. The FAA projects years of testing that will not be complete in time to meet the September 2015 deadline set by the United States Congress for the general integration of UAVs into the U.S. air traffic control system. ;10 November * The world's first flying dress, TechHaus Volantis, Volantis does its first flight ;12 November * The United States Department of Justice drops its lawsuit to block the merger of

and

in exchange for the new airline giving up gates at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, Arlington,

, Boston Logan International Airport, Chicago O'Hare International Airport, Dallas Love Field, Los Angeles International Airport, Miami International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport in New York City. The agreement clears the way for the merger, which will create the worlds largest airline, to be named American Airlines but to be run by US Airways management. ;14 November * The U.S. Government Accountability Office releases a report which finds that the U.S. Transportation Security Administrations Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) anti-terrorism program, in which TSA behavior detection officers (BDOs) attempt to identify suspicious people through observation of their behavior while they pass through airport security checkpoints in American airports, is ineffective. TSA disputes the findings. ;17 November * Seconds after the crew of Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, the Boeing 737-500, Boeing 737-53A ''VQ-BBN'', initiates a go-around due to an unstable approach while attempting to land at Kazan International Airport in

, the aircraft noses down, crashes almost vertically, and disintegrates in an explosion, killing all 50 people on board. It the greatest loss of life in a single aviation accident in 2013. ;20 November * Thinking they are on approach to McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, Kansas, the crew of Atlas Air Boeing 747-400 Dreamlifter cargo aircraft ''N780BA'' mistakenly lands nine miles (14.5 km) away at Colonel James Jabara Airport. The plane lands safely, although the airports 6,100-foot (1,859-meter) runway is too short for Boeing 747 operations. Although it normally requires a runway at least in length for takeoff, the Dreamlifter takes off safely the next day and flies to McConnell Air Force Base. ;21 November * An American

-launched missile strike in Hangu District, Pakistan, Hangu District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa,

, kills four members of the Haqqani network and two other people and injures five. It is the first such known strike to occur outside of Pakistans tribal regions in five years. ;23 November * China announces a new air defense information zone over a large portion of the East China Sea – including the

(or Diaoyu) Islands, which

claims as its territory – in which non-commercial aircraft must identify themselves or face "defensive emergency measures" by the People's Liberation Army, Chinese armed forces. Japan and the

protest the establishment of the new zone. Later in the day, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force conducts its first patrol of the zone. *

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aircraft strike rebel-held areas in northern

, killing 22 people in al-Bab and seven in the Karam el-Beik district. In a strike on

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, the aircraft miss their target and hit a crowded vegetable market instead, killing 15 people. ;25 November * The Pakistan Armed Forces unveil Pakistan's first domestically produced unmanned aerial vehicles, the NESCOM Burraq and the GIDS Shahpar, which Pakistan refers to as the "Strategic Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." Pakistani military officials say that both are unarmed and that Pakistan will use them only for surveillance. ;26 November * Two unarmed Guam-based

Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, B-52H Stratofortress bombers operate within the newly declared Chinese air defense information zone over the East China Sea on a long-planned training flight, ignoring China's new requirement that they receive approval for the flight and demonstrating that the

does not recognize the zone. *

and

announce that at the request of the Japanese government they will cease filing flight plans informing China of their flights through Chinas new East China Sea air defense information zone. ;27 November *

challenges the new Chinese air defense identification zone for the first time, flying military aircraft into the zone without notifying China.Denyer, Simon, and Chico Harlan, "China sends warplanes to new air defense zone after U.S., Japan, S. Korea incursions," ''The Washington Post'', 28 November 2013.
/ref> ;28 November * The Japanese government announces that its aircraft have flown into the new Chinese air defense information zone daily on routine flights without seeking approval from China since the Chinese announced the zone. * South Korea announces that China has rejected its request that China redraw its new air defense information zone so that it does not overlap with South Koreas. South Korea adds that it will consider expanding its own zone. * An American air-launched missile fired at an insurgent riding s bicycle in Helmand Province,

, instead hits a house, killing a two-year-old boy. A second airstrike in the area kills an insurgent. ;29 November * For the first time, Chinese military aircraft intercept foreign aircraft operating over the East China Sea in the new Chinese air defense information zone, but limit their actions to visual identification of the foreign aircraft. China claims to have identified two American military reconnaissance aircraft and 10 Japanese military aircraft of various types operating within the zone during the day. The United States Government advises American civilian aircraft to comply with the Chinese requirement to identify themselves to Chinese authorities for flights through the zone. * The Chinese

Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, ''Liaoning'' deploys to the South China Sea for the first time, docking at the naval base at Sanya on Hainan Island to begin a lengthy training period in nearby waters. * LAM Mozambique Airlines Flight 470, an Embraer 190 flying over Botswana, suddenly begins a steep descent from , crosses into Namibia, and crashes in Namibias Bwabwata National Park, killing all 33 people aboard. It is LAM Mozambique Airliness first fatal accident since 1970 in aviation, 1970, and Mozambiques deadliest air accident since a crash that killed the countrys president, Samora Machel, in 1986 in aviation#October, October 1986. * The Police Scotland Eurocopter EC135, Eurocopter EC135 T2+ helicopter ''G-SPAO'' 2013 Glasgow helicopter crash, crashes onto the roof of The Clutha, a crowded pub in the city centre of Glasgow, Scotland, at 10:30 p.m., killing all three people on board and six people on the ground. ;30 November * Japans Foreign Ministry announces that it has asked the

International Civil Aviation Organization to examine whether the new Chinese air defense information zone over the East China Sea threatens civil aviation. * Syrian government helicopters targeting a rebel compound at al-Bab miss it and instead bomb a market, killing 26 people. *

ceases operations.

December

;1 December * Syrian government helicopters bombing a rebel compound at al-Bab kill 24 people. * On CBS televisions ''60 Minutes'', Amazon.com chairman, president, and chief executive officer Jeff Bezos unveils a plan to use unmanned eight-rotor drone helicopters ("octocopters") to deliver packages to the homes of customers in as little as 30 minutes. He displays a working model of such an octocopter, and says that he hopes to put the octocopters into practical use by 2018. ;2 December * Hundreds of Islamic militants attack Maiduguri International Airport and a Nigerian Air Force base outside Maiduguri,

, temporarily disrupting flight operations and damaging two helicopters and three decommissioned military fixed-wing aircraft. Scores of people die. * Evergreen International Airlines flies its last flight. ;4 December * During a meeting in Beijing, Vice President of the United States, Vice President of the

Joe Biden warns Chinese President of the People's Republic of China, President Xi Jinping not to establish another air defense information zone over disputed waters in the South China Sea like the one the

unilaterally declared over the East China Sea in #November, November. ;8 December *

announces that it will expand its air defense information zone (ADIZ) for the first time in 62 years, extending it 300 kilometers (186 statute miles; 162 nautical miles) to the south, overlapping with

s ADIZ and with the expanded ADIZ the

declared over the East China Sea on 23 November. The expanded South Korean ADIZ is scheduled to go into effect on 15 December. ;11 December * NAM Air, regional airline subsidiary of Sriwijaya Air in Indonesia takes its first flight from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang. ;12 December * A missile strike by an American

on a convoy of ground vehicles in Rada' District, Radda,

kills at least 13 people. The vehicles had been bound for a wedding party. Conflicting reports state that the UAV struck the convoy by mistake and that the UAV targeted the convoy to kill

s riding in it, although reports also disagree as to whether any militants were present. ;13 December * Avionics technician Terry Lee Loewen is arrested after he enters the grounds of Wichita Mid-Continent Airport in Wichita, Kansas, Wichita, Kansas, 2013 Wichita bombing attempt, intending to detonate a Suicide bombing, suicide bomb. On 1 September 2015, he will be sentenced to 20 years in prison ;15 December * South Koreas expanded air defense information zone over the East China Sea goes into effect, with Republic of Korea Air Force airborne early warning and control aircraft patrolling the zone on the first day. South Korea announces that such flights will continue, and that Republic of Korea Navy Lockheed P-3 Orion, P-3C Orion antisubmarine patrol aircraft also will fly missions in the zone four to five times per week. * Syrian government helicopters drop barrels filled with explosives and fuel on rebel-held areas in northern

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

, Syria, destroying cars and buildings and killing at least 37 people. ;16 December * Syrian helicopters continue to pound Aleppo in northern Syria, where the death toll exceeds 100 during the two days of barrel-bomb attacks on densely crowded neighborhoods. Syrian aircraft also strike the villages of Inkhil and Jassem in southern Syria, killing two women and two children. ;17 December * Six American troops die when a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk, Black Hawk helicopter is shot down in Zabul Province,

. ;20 December * Vanilla Air begins flight operations, flying from

's Narita International Airport to Okinawa and Taipei. * Hours after the French wine entrepreneur James Gregoire sells his luxury Bordeaux chateau, Chateau de La Riviere, to billionaire Chinese hotel magnate Lam Kok, owner of the Brilliant hotel chain, the two men and Koks 12-year-old son and an interpreter die when the helicopter Gregoire is piloting on an aerial tour of the property crashes into the river Dordogne (river), Dordogne near Lugon-et-l'Île-du-Carnay,

. Eyewitnesses report two people struggling in the water after the crash, but they apparently drown in the rushing water. A previous owner of the property had died in a 2002 aircraft crash. ;21 December * Syrian helicopters drop barrel bombs on opposition-held portions of Aleppo, killing at least six people. * Rebel ground fire damages three

CV-22 Osprey aircraft as they approach Bor, South Sudan, Bor, South Sudan, to evacuate American citizens threatened by combat between rebel and government forces, wounding four American military personnel. The Ospreys abort their mission and fly the wounded to Entebbe, Uganda, from which a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transports the injured personnel to

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, for hospitalization. ;22 December * For an eighth straight day, Syrian helicopters attack rebel-held areas in and near Aleppo with barrel bombs, killing at least 32 people. Syrian aircraft also strike the Bab al-Hawa Border Crossing on the northern border with Turkey, killing or wounding several people. Estimates of the combined death toll in the days attacks on Aleppo and the border crossing later rise to at least 45. ;23 December * In a ninth day of barrel-bomb attacks on Aleppo and its suburbs, and in strikes on three other towns in the Aleppo Governorate including

on the Turkish border, Syrian helicopters kill at least 45 more people. Since beginning on 15 December, the daily airstrikes have killed an estimated 364 people. ;24 December * Syrian helicopters attack rebel-controlled portions of Aleppo for the tenth straight day, killing at least 15 people. One estimate places the death toll at at least 33, with another 150 injured. * After sniper fire from the

mortally wounds an Israeli civilian maintenance worker as he performs repairs on the Israeli side of the border fence,

aircraft join Israeli tanks and infantry in a retaliatory cross-border attack, killing two Palestinian people, Palestinians. ;25 December * Activists place the number of people killed by Syrian helicopters dropping barrel bombs on rebel-held areas of Aleppo at 401 over the eleven days of attacks which began on 15 December. ;26 December * A Russian Antonov An-12 cargo aircraft crashes into warehouses at a military facility in Siberia, killing all nine people on board. * Textron, the parent company of Cessna Aircraft, announces that it has reached an agreement to purchase Beechcraft Corporation for $1,400,000,000. ;28 December * A Syrian airstrike on a vegetable market in the Tariq al-Bab neighborhood of Aleppo kills at least 21, and perhaps as many as 25, people. ;30 December * Lebanon, Lebanese antiaircraft guns fire at Syrian Air Force helicopters which the gunners claim have violated Lebanese airspace. It is the first time that the Lebanese armed forces have fired at Syrian forces since the beginning of the Syrian Civil War in March 2011. * Followers of evangelical preacher Joseph Mukungubila, known as "The Prophet," attack N'djili Airport and other targets in Kinshasa in the

. Sixteen people who die in an exchange of gunfire at the airport are among 40 people killed in the attacks. Flights approaching the airport for a landing are forced to divert elsewhere. * The U.S.

announces that after considering proposals from 25 teams in 24 states, it has selected six teams to test various aspects of the integration of unmanned aerial vehicles into the airspace of the United States: the University of Alaska in Alaska, which will examine standards for unmanned aircraft categories, state monitoring, and navigation, including testing in Hawaii and

; the State of Nevada, which will study UAV standards and operations, UAV operator standards and certification requirements, and air traffic control procedures; Griffiss International Airport in Rome, New York, Rome, New York (state), New York, which will develop test, evaluation, verification, and validation processes and study UAV sense-and-avoid technologies; the Commerce Department of the State of North Dakota, which will develop UAV airworthiness essential data, validate high reliability link technology, and research human factors; Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, Corpus Christi,

, which will develop safety requirements for UAVs and UAV operations; and Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, Blacksburg,

, which will examine UAV failures and their associated technical and operational risks and consequences, using test ranges in Virginia and New Jersey. Test sites are to remain active through at least 13 February 2017. * For the first time in more than 50 years, a commercial flight takes place between Key West, Florida, Key West, Florida, and Cuba, when a Cessna 441 Conquest II with nine paying passengers aboard flies from Key West International Airport to Havana. Key West had received approval to conduct flights to and from Cuba in 2011 in aviation#October, October 2011, but it had taken over two years for charter airline operators to receive all the necessary permissions to make the first flight. Key West International Airport director Peter Horton describes the flight as "test run," and regular Key West-Cuba commercial air service remains a distant prospect. ;31 December * Thousands of people chanting slogans denouncing the

s president, Michel Djotodia, push past French security forces and occupy the runway at Bangui M'Poko International Airport in

. International flights to the airport are suspended. * Tracey Curtis-Taylor arrives at Goodwood, West Sussex, Goodwood, West Sussex,

, at the end of a 9,825-mile (15,821-kilometer), 59-day flight from Cape Town International Airport in

, in the Boeing-Stearman Model 75 ''Spirit of Artemis''. During the flight – which recreates the first South Africa-to-London flight in a small, open-

plane in history, made over the course of three months in 1928 in aviation, 1928 by Mary, Lady Heath, in an Avro Avian – Curtis-Taylor has made 38 stops, flying over Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = "Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, Uganda, Sudan, and

before crossing

and arriving in England only 13 days behind schedule despite various challenges and setbacks along the way. *

files for its own dissolution under U.S. Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code, Chapter 7 bankruptcy law. The filing is on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries Evergreen Aviation Ground Logistics Enterprise, Evergreen Defense and Security Services, Evergreen International Airlines, Evergreen Systems Logistics, Evergreen Trade, and Evergreen 747 Supertanker, Supertanker Services.

First flights

June

*14 June – Airbus A350 XWB (Aircraft registration, registration F-WXWB) at Toulouse–Blagnac Airport, Toulouse, France

September

*16 September – Bombardier CSeries, Bombardier CS100 (''C-FBCS'') at Montréal-Mirabel International Airport, Montreal, Quebec. *17 September – Boeing 787, Boeing 787-9 (''N789ZB'') at

in Everett, Washington, United States. *26 September – Gee Bee Q.E.D.#Variants, Gee Bee Super Q.E.D. II

October

*24 October – e-Go (''G-OFUN'') at RAF Tibenham, Tibenham airfield, Norfolk, England.

November

*14 November – Piaggio P.180 Avanti, Piaggio-Selex P.1HH HammerHead (''XAV-SA-001'') at Vincenzo Florio Airport Trapani-Birgi, Trapani Airport,

December

*28 December – Embraer Legacy 450 ''PT-ZIJ'' at Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil.

Entered service

*1 August – Airbus A400M Atlas with the

Retirements

September

*20 September – Vickers VC10 by the

Deadliest crash

The deadliest crash of this year was Tatarstan Airlines Flight 363, Boeing 737 which crashed during landing in

on 17 November, killing all 50 people on board.

References

{{Aviation timelines navbox 2013 in aviation, Aviation by year