This is a list of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot a ...

-related events from 1968:

Events

* In the 1968

White Paper A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. A white pape ...

on Defence, the British

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government announces that the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

s aircraft carrier force will be phased out as soon as 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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

has completed its withdrawal from

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 ...

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, and the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

, scheduled for the end of 1971. * The original

Golden West Airlines Golden West Airlines was a commuter airline that operated flights on a high volume schedule in California. It ceased operations in 1983. History The original Golden West Airlines, headquartered at Van Nuys, California, was founded in 1968 a ...

is founded, headquartered at Van Nuys,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

January

North Vietnam North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; vi, Việt Nam Dân chủ Cộng hòa), was a socialist state supported by the Soviet Union (USSR) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) in Southeast Asia that existed f ...

ese Antonov An-2 utility biplanes conduct bombing raids into Laos and fly night missions against ships and craft of the

South Vietnamese Navy The Republic of Vietnam Navy (RVNN; ; ''HQVNCH'') was the naval branch of the South Vietnamese military, the official armed forces of the former Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam) from 1955 to 1975. The early fleet consisted of boats fro ...

.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, ''On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam'', Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 156. * After the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

complains about damage to a Soviet

merchant ship A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are ...

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

Harbor by American air attack,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

s administration promises to make every effort to avoid a recurrence of such damage. * January 1 –

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

– the German Democratic Republic (GDR) – abolishes its national civil aviation authority, the ''Hauptverwaltung der Zivilen Luftfahrt'' (Central Administration for Civil Aviation), and replaces it with the ''Staatliche Luftfahrt-Inspektion der DDR'' (Public Department of Aviation of the GDR), which assumes its functions. * January 6 – An Aeroflot Antonov An-24B (registration CCCP-47733) breaks up at an altitude of and crashes from Olyokma in the

′s

Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

, killing all 45 people on board. An errant antiaircraft missile is suspected of having accidentally shot it down. * January 8 – A

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 ...

CH-53A #65-100 crashed in the Hải Lăng Forest, South Vietnam, killing all 46 personnel on board. * January 10 – A

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 ...

C-54P Skymaster encounters severe turbulence, goes into an uncontrolled descent, crashes into Mount Tobin in

Pershing County Pershing County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 6,650. Its county seat is Lovelock. The county was named after army general John J. Pershing (1860–1948). It was formed from Humboldt County ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

, below its summit, and slides down the mountain's side, killing all 19 people on board. * January 16 – A U.S. Navy Lockheed P-3A-50-LO Orion crashes into a mountain near Iwakuni, Japan, killing all 12 people on board. * January 17 – A

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, 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 ...

KC-135A-BN Stratotanker overrotates during takeoff from

Minot Air Force Base Minot Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force installation in Ward County, North Dakota, north of the city of Minot via U.S. Route 83. In the 2020 census, the base was counted as a CDP with a total population of 5,017, down from 5,521 i ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, in a

snowstorm A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these storms are not necessar ...

, stalls, and crashes, killing all 13 people on board.

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of ...

Charles M. Eisenhart is among the dead. * January 18–19 (overnight) – A U.S. Navy UH-2 Seasprite piloted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Clyde E. Lassen makes a daring rescue of downed fliers in North Vietnam. For his actions, Lassen will become the only U.S. Navy helicopter pilot to be awarded the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valo ...

during the Vietnam War. * January 19 – A C-130 Hercules of U.S. Navy Air Transport Squadron 24 (VR-24) and U.S. Navy helicopters from

Naval Air Station Sigonella Naval Air Station (NAS) Sigonella is an Italian Air Force base ('' it, Aeroporto "Cosimo Di Palma" di Sigonella''), and a U.S. Navy installation at Italian Air Force Base Sigonella in Sicily, Italy. The whole NAS is a tenant of the Italian Air ...

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 ...

, deliver relief supplies to 40,000 people rendered homeless around

Montevago Montevago ( Sicilian: ''Muntivau'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Agrigento in the Italian region Sicily, located about southwest of Palermo and about northwest of Agrigento. Montevago borders the following municipalities: ...

by the

Belice earthquake The 1968 Belice earthquake sequence took place in Sicily between 14 and 15 January. The largest shock measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, with five others of magnitude 5+. The maximum perceived intensity was X (''Extreme'') on the Merc ...

in western

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. * January 21 – A

B-52 Stratofortress carrying four nuclear weapons crashes in the sea near Thule Air Base in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland i ...

. * January 27 – The left

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 e ...

of an Air Comores de Havilland DH.114 Heron (registration F-OCED) strikes a light alongside the runway while landing at

Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport (french: Aéroport international Moroni Prince Saïd Ibrahim, ar, مطار الأمير سعيد إبراهيم الدولي, AIMPSI) is an international airport serving Moroni in Comoros. It is named ...

in Moroni, Comoros. The plane climbs with its flaps down, crashes into rocks, and plunges into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by t ...

, killing 15 of the 16 people on board.

February

* February 1 – The

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

and

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

are disestablished as they merge with the

Canadian Army The Canadian Army (french: Armée canadienne) is the command responsible for the operational readiness of the conventional ground forces of the Canadian Armed Forces. It maintains regular forces units at bases across Canada, and is also res ...

to form the unified Canadian Armed Forces. * February 6 – A

P-3B Orion flying an

antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

patrol crashes into the Gulf of Thailand off

Phú Quốc Phú Quốc () is the largest island in Vietnam. Phú Quốc and nearby islands, along with the distant Thổ Chu Islands, are part of Kiên Giang Province as Phú Quốc City, the island has a total area of and a permanent population of appr ...

island, South Vietnam, killing all 12 people on board. * February 7 – An Indian Air Force

Antonov An-12BP The Antonov An-12 is a four-engined turboprop transport aircraft designed and produced by Antonov. It was produced in many customized variants for uses within the country and for exports. More than 60 variants were produced, each having a uniq ...

( NATO reporting name "Cub") flying over

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 ...

in deteriorating weather crashes at an altitude of on Dhaka Glacier near Chandrabhaga Peak 13, killing all 102 people on board. It is the deadliest accident involving an An-12 and at the time it is the deadliest aviation accident in Indian history. The aircraft's wreckage is not found until August 2003. * February 9 – Claiming to be a civilian employee of a U.S. airline, 19-year-old

1st Marine Division The 1st Marine Division (1st MARDIV) is a Marine division of the United States Marine Corps headquartered at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. It is the ground combat element of the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF). It is th ...

Private First Class William Lee Clark is allowed to board a

Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...

Douglas DC-6 The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with t ...

with 83 people on board as it prepares to depart

Da Nang Airport Da Nang International Airport is located in Da Nang, the largest city in central Vietnam. It is the third international airport in the country, besides Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi) and Tan Son Nhat International Airport ( Ho Chi Mi ...

in Da Nang, South Vietnam, for a charter flight carrying U.S. military personnel to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

for rest and recreation. He enters the cockpit brandishing a pistol and orders the flight crew to fly him to Hong Kong as well. They shut down the engines but restart them when he threatens to shoot them. During 2 hours and 45 minutes of negotiations, he releases all the passengers, after which the commander of U.S. military forces in

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

General A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED ...

William Westmoreland William Childs Westmoreland (March 26, 1914 – July 18, 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968. He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from ...

, orders

tear gas Tear gas, also known as a lachrymator agent or lachrymator (), sometimes colloquially known as "mace" after the early commercial aerosol, is a chemical weapon that stimulates the nerves of the lacrimal gland in the eye to produce tears. In ...

to be shot into the plane. With Clark distracted by the tear gas attack, the copilot disarms and overpowers him. * February 10 – .50-caliber (12.7-mm)

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

fire hits a U.S. Marine Corps KC-130F Hercules carrying a cargo of flamethrowers and rubber bladders filled with jet fuel while it is on final approach to

Khe Sanh Khe Sanh is the district capital of Hướng Hoá District, Quảng Trị Province, Vietnam, located 63 km west of Đông Hà. During the Vietnam War, the Khe Sanh Combat Base was located to the north of the city. The Battle of Khe San ...

, South Vietnam, setting one of the fuel bladders and one of its engines on fire. The pilot lands the plane at Khe Sanh, but the rubber bladders explodes into flames after the plane touches down, killing eight of the 11 people on board. * February 16 – A

Civil Air Transport Civil Air Transport (CAT) was a Nationalist Chinese airline, later owned by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), that supported United States covert operations throughout East and Southeast Asia. During the Cold War, missions consisted i ...

Boeing 727-92C lands short of the runway at

Taipei Songshan Airport Taipei Songshan Airport is a regional airport and military airbase located in Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. The airport covers an area of . The civilian section of Songshan Airport has scheduled flights to domestic destinations in Taiwa ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

, rolls for , becomes airborne again, then crashes into trees and a farmhouse, killing 21 of the 63 people on board and one person on the ground. * February 17 – Deciding that he is a Communist who hates 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 territori ...

, 31-year-old Thomas Boynton charters a

Piper Apache The Piper PA-23, named Apache and later Aztec, is an American four- to six-seat twin-engined light aircraft aimed at the general-aviation market. The United States Navy and military forces in other countries also used it in small numbers. Origin ...

to fly him from Marathon to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, then points a gun at the pilot's head shortly after takeoff and orders him to fly to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, instead. Boynton requests

political asylum The right of asylum (sometimes called right of political asylum; ) is an ancient juridical concept, under which people persecuted by their own rulers might be protected by another sovereign authority, like a second country or another ent ...

upon arrival in Havana, but Cuban authorities arrest him and he will spend 20 months in Cuba, mostly in jail. He will be allowed to travel to

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 ...

in October 1969 and will return to the United States in November 1969. * February 21 – Seven minutes after

Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The airline, along w ...

Flight 843 – a

Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in July ...

with 109 people on board, including

professional golf For information about professional golf see: *Professional golfer, which describes the various branches of the profession. *Professional golf tours, which covers elite professional competitive golf and links to more detailed articles about each tou ...

Barbara Romack Barbara Gaile Romack (November 16, 1932 – October 15, 2016) was an American professional golfer. Romack was born in Sacramento, California.Palm Beach, Florida – takes off from

Tampa International Airport Tampa International Airport is an international airport west of Downtown Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The airport is publicly owned by Hillsborough County Aviation Authority (HCAA)., effective December 30, 2021. T ...

in Tampa, Florida – Lawrence Rhodes pulls a pistol on a female flight attendant and forces it to fly to Havana, Cuba. After the airliner spends three hours on the ground at Havana, Cuban authorities allow it to return to the

. * February 24 – A Royal Air Lao Douglas DC-3 strikes a mountain and crashes into the

Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annual ...

near Ban Napa, Laos, about north of

Vientiane Vientiane ( , ; lo, ວຽງຈັນ, ''Viangchan'', ) is the capital and largest city of Laos. Vientiane is divided administratively into 9 cities with a total area of only approx. 3,920 square kilometres and is located on the banks of ...

, killing everyone on board. The number of people on board is somewhere between 22 and 37, according to different sources. * February 29 – Aeroflot Flight 15, an Ilyushin Il-18D (registration CCCP-74252), experiences an in-flight emergency at an altitude of . Its crew initiates an emergency descent, but the airliner breaks up in mid-air as it passes through and crashes in flames northwest of Parchum in the

Irkutsk Region Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

of the

′s

, killing 83 of the 84 people on board. Miraculously, one passenger survives, falling to earth with a large piece of airframe skin.

March

* The U.S. Air Force conducts

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

flights over South Vietnam and Laos using

Lockheed U-2 The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "''Dragon Lady''", is an American single-jet engine, high altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It provides day ...

s and over

using SR-71 Blackbirds.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, ''On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam'', Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 157. * The

plans air strikes against

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 Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and T ...

in retaliation for the January 30 North Korean seizure of the

technical research ship , but then cancels them. * March 5 ** Three

hijackers Hijacking may refer to: Common usage Computing and technology * Bluejacking, the unsolicited transmission of data via Bluetooth * Brandjacking, the unauthorized use of a company's brand * Browser hijacking * Clickjacking (including ''like ...

commandeer an

Avianca Avianca S.A. ( acronym in Spanish for ''Aerovias del Continente Americano S.A.'', "Airways of the American Continent") is a Colombian airline. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered und ...

Douglas C-54A-15-DC Skymaster (registration HK-136) with 32 people on board during a domestic flight in Colombia from

Valledupar Valledupar () is a city and municipality in northeastern Colombia. It is the capital of Caesar Department. Its name, ''Valle de Upar'' (Valley of Upar), was established in honor of the Amerindian cacique who ruled the valley; ''Cacique Upar''. T ...

to Baranquilla and force it to fly to

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains ...

. ** After the flight crew of Air France Flight 212, a Boeing 707-328C (registration F-BLCJ), mistakes the lights of Basse Terre, Guadeloupe, for those of Pointe-à-Pitre and begins its descent to a night landing at

Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport Pointe-à-Pitre International Airport or Pointe-à-Pitre Le Raizet Airport (french: link=no, Aérodrome de Pointe-à-Pitre Le Raizet or ''Aéroport Guadeloupe Pôle Caraïbes'' "Caribbean Hub") is an international airport serving Pointe-à-Pi ...

on the wrong course, the airliner crashes into the

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...

La Soufriere on Guadeloupe, killing all 63 people on board. * March 6 – After a

Republic of Vietnam Air Force The South Vietnam Air Force, officially the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF; vi, Không lực Việt Nam Cộng hòa, KLVNCH; french: Force aérienne vietnamienne, FAVN) (sometimes referred to as the Vietnam Air Force or VNAF) was the aer ...

C-123K Provider carrying troops and spare parts aborts its approach to

, South Vietnam, because of a light plane on the runway and circles for another approach, ground fire shoots it down. The C-123K spirals into the ground, killing all 49 people on board. * March 7 – Aeroflot Flight 3153, a

Tupolev Tu-124 The Tupolev Tu-124 (NATO reporting name: Cookpot) was a 56-passenger short-range twinjet airliner built in the Soviet Union. It was the first Soviet airliner powered by turbofan engines. Design and development Developed from the medium-range ...

(registration CCCP-45019) stalls and crashes just after takeoff from Volgograd Airport in

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

in the

after its crew inadvertently activates its spoilers. The airliner is destroyed and one crew member dies, but the other 48 people on board survive. * March 8 **After Air Manila International Flight 507, a

Fairchild F-27 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...

(registration PI-C871) flies into a

cumulonimbus cloud Cumulonimbus (from Latin ''cumulus'', "heaped" and ''nimbus'', "rainstorm") is a dense, towering vertical cloud, typically forming from water vapor condensing in the lower troposphere that builds upward carried by powerful buoyant air currents. ...

, it encounters severe turbulence, loses both horizontal stabilizers and part of its right

, catches fire, and crashes into the

Sibuyan Sea The Sibuyan Sea is a small sea in the Philippines that separates the Visayas from the northern Philippine island of Luzon. It is bounded by the island of Panay to the south, Mindoro to the west, Masbate to the east, and to the north Marinduque ...

off

Ibajay Ibajay, officially the Municipality of Ibajay ( Aklanon: ''Banwa it Ibajay''; Hiligaynon: ''Banwa sang Ibajay''; tl, Bayan ng Ibajay), is a 3rd class municipality in the province of Aklan, Philippines. During the creation of Aklan Province in 1 ...

in the

Western Visayas Western Visayas ( hil, Kabisay-an Nakatundan; tl, Kanlurang Kabisayaan or ''Kanlurang Visayas'') is an administrative region in the Philippines, numerically designated as Region VI. It consists of six provinces (Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras ...

in the

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 ...

, killing all 14 people on board. **The

announces that

Bell Helicopter Bell Textron Inc. is an American aerospace manufacturer headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas. A subsidiary of Textron, Bell manufactures military rotorcraft at facilities in Fort Worth, and Amarillo, Texas, as well as commercial helicopters in M ...

s Model 206A has won the Light Observation Helicopter competition. It will go into production for the Army as the Bell OH-58 Kiowa. * March 9 – When the flight crew of a French Air Force

Douglas DC-6B The Douglas DC-6 is a piston-powered airliner and cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1946 to 1958. Originally intended as a military transport near the end of World War II, it was reworked after the war to compete with ...

fails to follow the normal procedure of turning out over the

after takeoff from Gillot Airport on Réunion and instead flies in a straight line, the aircraft crashes into a hill, killing 16 of the 17 people on board. The Chief of the Defence Staff of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Charles Ailleret Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

, is among the dead. * March 12 – Two armed men hijack National Airlines Flight 28, a

flying from Tampa to

, with 58 people on board, and force it to fly them to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba. They exit the plane in Havana with a Mexican man they appear to have taken as a hostage. * March 21 – Three

commandeer an

Avensa Avensa (''Aerovías Venezolanas Sociedad Anonima'') was a Venezuelan airline headquartered in Caracas. It was in the process of financial restructuring, after it went into bankruptcy due to poor management in 2002, with Santa Barbara Airlines t ...

Convair CV-440 during a domestic flight in

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 ...

from Caracas to Maracaibo and force it to fly them to Cuba. * March 24 –

Aer Lingus Flight 712 Aer Lingus Flight 712 crashed en route from Cork to London on 24 March 1968 killing all 61 passengers and crew. The aircraft, a Vickers Viscount 803 named "St. Phelim", crashed into the sea off Tuskar Rock, County Wexford. Although the inves ...

, a Vickers Viscount 803, crashes into St. George's Channel off Tuskar Rock, County Wexford,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, killing all 61 people on board. No cause for the crash is ever determined. * March 27 **The first person in space and first to orbit the earth,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

cosmonaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's first name is sometimes transliterated as ''Yuriy'', ''Youri'', or ''Yury''. (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space. T ...

, is among two people killed in the crash of a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI ( NATO reporting name "Fagot") two-seat trainer east of

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 millio ...

. **A modern new

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

opens at

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

's only airport,

Nicosia International Airport Nicosia International Airport ( gr, Διεθνές Αεροδρόμιο Λευκωσίας, tr, Lefkoşa Uluslararası Havaalanı) is a largely disused airport located west of the Cypriot capital city of Nicosia in the Lakatamia suburb. It was ...

, with a capacity to handle 800 passengers and 11 airliners at one time. It will remain in use only until July 1974, when the

Turkish invasion of Cyprus The Turkish invasion of Cyprus began on 20 July 1974 and progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, and in response to a Greek junta-s ...

forces the permanent closure and abandonment of the airport.

April

* The

African Airlines Association The African Airlines Association ( French: ''Association des Compagnies Aériennes Africaines''), abbreviated AFRAA, is a trade association of African airlines. AFRAA was founded in Accra, Ghana, in 1968, and is, as of February 2021, headquarte ...

is founded. * April 1 – A

P-3B-90-LO Orion flying a surveillance patrol over the Gulf of Thailand comes under fire by a

Royal Cambodian Navy The Royal Cambodian Navy ( km, កងទ័ពជើងទឹក, ) is the naval warfare service branch of the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces and one of the three uniformed services of the Kingdom of Cambodia. It has an estimated of 4,000 active ...

vessel near Hon Doc in the Hà Tiên Islands. The plane is damaged, and one of its engines catches fire. The fire gets out of control, and the P-3B crashes off the island of Hon Vang, off

, South Vietnam, killing all 12 people on board. * April 3 –

s administration restricts American bombing of North Vietnam to targets south of the 19th Parallel. * April 5 – To protest against the lack of an aerial display to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the

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) an ...

four days earlier and to demonstrate against the government of

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

Harold Wilson, Flight Lieutenant Alan Pollock of the RAFs No. 1(F) Squadron makes an unauthorised display flight in a Hawker Hunter during which he "beats up" (i.e., buzzes) several RAF airfields and flies low over

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

, where circles the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north ban ...

, dips his wings to the

Royal Air Force Memorial The Royal Air Force Memorial is a military memorial on the Victoria Embankment in central London, dedicated to the memory of the casualties of the Royal Air Force in World War I (and, by extension, all subsequent conflicts). Unveiled in 1923, it ...

, and flies under the top span of

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Grade I listed combined bascule and suspension bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones and engineered by John Wolfe Barry with the help of Henry Marc Brunel. It crosses the River Thames clos ...

, becoming the first person to fly under the bridges upper span in a jet aircraft. He is arrested upon his return to base. * April 8 **An engine falls off the BOAC Boeing 707-465 ''G-ARWE'', operating as Flight 712, seconds after takeoff from

London Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others be ...

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 ...

, setting the

on fire. The aircraft makes a perfect emergency landing, but the fire then spreads, killing five and injuring 38 of the 127 people on board. Among the injured are

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

i ambassador to the

Katriel Katz and

pop singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

Mark Wynter Mark Wynter (born Terence Sidney Lewis; 29 January 1943) is an English singer and actor, who had four Top 20 singles in the 1960s, including "Venus in Blue Jeans" and " Go Away Little Girl". He enjoyed a lengthy career from 1960 to 1968 as a p ...

. For her heroism in evacuating passengers before herself dying in the fire, flight attendant

Barbara Jane Harrison Barbara Jane Harrison GC (24 May 1945 – 8 April 1968), known as Jane Harrison, was a British flight attendant who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her role in the evacuation of BOAC Flight 712. She is one of four women t ...

posthumously receives the George Cross, while Chief Steward Nevile Davis-Gordon receives the British Empire Medal for Gallantry and

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

ler John Davis is appointed a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

. ** Ladeco Flight 213, a Douglas C-49K (registration CC-CBM), crashes in the Emperador Guillermo Mountains north-northwest of

Coyhaique Coyhaique (), also spelled Coihaique in Patagonia, is the capital city of both the Coyhaique Province and the Aysén Region of Chile. Founded by settlers in 1929, it is a young city. Until the twentieth century, Chile showed little interest in ex ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, while on approach to Balmaceda Airport in Balmaceda, Chile, killing all 36 people on board. * April 10 – A Douglas R4D-3 initiating service on a new domestic route in

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 ...

for Aerovias Rojas from Aguascalientes to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

crashes near

Villa del Carbón Villa del Carbón is a municipality located in the northern part of Mexico State, just northwest of Mexico City. While the town and munipal seat of Villa del Carbón is the largest in the municipality, it is not the oldest. The municipality contain ...

, killing all 18 people on board. * April 14–19 – Over 100 U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress sorties, 200 U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps tactical aircraft sorties, and numerous aerial rocket artillery missions strike enemy positions in South Vietnams

A Shau Valley A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

. * April 19 **The

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

begins

Operation Delaware Operation Delaware/Operation Lam Son 216 was a joint military operation launched during the Vietnam War. It began on 19 April 1968, with troops from the United States and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) moving into the A Sầu Valley. ...

in the A Shau Valley in South Vietnam, a helicopter-borne assault on

North Vietnamese Army The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the armed win ...

forces there. Facing heavy

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

fire, it loses 10 helicopters shot down and 13 more damaged on the first day of the operation.Chinnery, Philip D., ''Vietnam: The Helicopter War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 115. **A

Avro Shackleton MR.2 (WB833) climbing through mist during an

exercise crashes on Glenmanuilt Hill,

Mull of Kintyre The Mull of Kintyre is the southwesternmost tip of the Kintyre Peninsula (formerly ''Cantyre'') in southwest Scotland. From here, the Antrim coast of Northern Ireland is visible on a calm and clear day, and a historic lighthouse, the second ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, killing all 11 people on board. * April 20 –

South African Airways Flight 228 South African Airways Flight 228 was a scheduled flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to London, England. The plane operating the flight, which was only six weeks old, flew into the ground soon after take-off after a scheduled stopover in Win ...

, the Boeing 707-344C ''Pretoria'', crashes just after takeoff from J. G. Strijdom International Airport in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

, South-West Africa (now

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

), killing 123 of the 128 people on board. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Namibia. * April 21 – National Airlines retires the last of its Lockheed L-188A Electra propjets and becomes an all-jet airline, operating a fleet of

and

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

airliners. * April 22 – An Aeroflot

Ilyushin Il-18V The Ilyushin Il-18 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-18; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known and most durable Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the world ...

on a training flight strikes

overhead power line An overhead power line is a structure used in electric power transmission and distribution to transmit electrical energy across large distances. It consists of one or more uninsulated electrical cables (commonly multiples of three for three-p ...

s and crashes near Moskva Domodedovo Airport outside Moscow, killing all five people on board. * April 28 – A Beechcraft 65 Queen Air crashes and burns near Beaumont, Texas, killing all seven people on board – all six members of the Lamar Tech track team and the pilot. * April 29 – The Royal Netherlands Navy decommissions its last aircraft carrier, HNLMS ''Karel Doorman'' (R81). She will be sold to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on October 15. * April 30 – A

Pakistan Air Force , "Be it deserts or seas; all lie under our wings" (traditional) , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = ...

Lockheed L-100 Hercules The Lockheed L-100 Hercules is the civilian variant of the prolific C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft made by the Lockheed Corporation. Its first flight occurred in 1964. Longer L-100-20 and L-100-30 versions were developed. L-100 pr ...

breaks up in turbulence and crashes near PAF Base Chaklala in

Chaklala Chaklala is a major suburban town of Rawalpindi in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is situated astride the Airport Road, to the east of Grand Trunk Road on the main railway line. The town has its own railway station Chaklala Railway Station w ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

, killing all 22 people on board.

May

* The

begins to use the AGM-78 Standard Antiradiation Missile (ARM) against North Vietnamese

SA-2 Guideline The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

surface-to-air missile and

antiaircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based ...

sites. * The United States deploys

electronic intelligence Signals intelligence (SIGINT) is intelligence-gathering by interception of '' signals'', whether communications between people (communications intelligence—abbreviated to COMINT) or from electronic signals not directly used in communication ...

aircraft to

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...

. *

serves 122 airports, more than any other U.S. airline. Frontier Airlines is second, serving 100 airports. * May 3 –

Braniff Flight 352 Braniff International Airways Flight 352 was a scheduled domestic flight from William P. Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, United States, to Dallas Love Field in Dallas; on May 3, 1968, a Lockheed L-188A Electra flying on the route, registration ...

, a Lockheed L-188A Electra, breaks up in midair after flying into a severe

thunderstorm A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are some ...

and crashes near Dawson,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, killing all 85 people on board. Among the dead is Joseph E. Lockridge of the

Texas House of Representatives The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Texas Legislature. It consists of 150 members who are elected from single-member districts for two-year terms. As of the 2010 United States census, each member represents abo ...

. * May 5 – A

Grumman Gulfstream II The Gulfstream II (G-II) is an American twin engine business jet designed and built by Grumman and then in succession, Grumman American and finally Gulfstream American. Its Grumman model number is G-1159 and its US military designation is C-11A ...

becomes the first executive jet to cross 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 ...

. * May 7 – The

of a

Armstrong Whitworth AW.660 Argosy C.1 strikes an obstruction as the aircraft conducts a

flypast A flypast is a ceremonial or honorific flight by an aircraft or group of aircraft. The term flypast is used in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth. In the United States, the terms flyover and flyby are used. Flypasts are often tied in wi ...

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

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. The Argosy crashes onto the runway, cartwheels, and bursts into flames, killing all 11 people on board. * May 12 – Participating in the evacuation of South Vietnamese civilians from the camp at Kham Duc, South Vietnam, during the

Battle of Kham Duc The Battle of Kham Duc was a major battle of the Vietnam War. The event occurred in Khâm Đức, now district capital of Khâm Đức District, then in Quảng Tín Province (now part of Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam), from 10–12 May 196 ...

, a

C-130B Hercules takes off from the Kham Duc airstrip under heavy

fire. It is shot down immediately after takeoff and crashes about a mile (1.6 km) from the end of the runway, killing all 155 people on board. It is the deadliest aircraft crash in history at the time. * May 16 – Air Micronesia begins flight operations. * May 17 –

in South Vietnams A Shau Valley comes to an end. The U.S. Armys 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) has captured a large amount of North Vietnamese equipment and supplies but has faced the heaviest enemy antiaircraft fire it has encountered thus far in the Vietnam War, losing 21 helicopters shot down during the operation. * May 22 –

Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 was a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter that crashed at 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday May 22nd 1968 in the city of Paramount, California. All twenty passengers and three crew members were killed. The aircraft was destroyed b ...

, a Sikorsky S-61L, crashes in a dairy farm in

Paramount Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to: Entertainment and music companies * Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS. The following busin ...

, killing all 23 people on board. It was the worst helicopter accident in the history of the United States at the time. * May 23 – A ship-launched surface-to-air missile destroys an enemy aircraft for the first time in history when the U.S. Navy

guided-missile cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

shoots down a North Vietnamese MiG flying over North Vietnam with a

RIM-8 Talos Bendix RIM-8 Talos was a long-range naval surface-to-air missile, and was among the earliest surface-to-air missiles to equip United States Navy ships. The Talos used radar beam riding for guidance to the vicinity of its target, and semiactive r ...

missile at a range of 65 nautical miles (75

statute mile The mile, sometimes the international mile or statute mile to distinguish it from other miles, is a British imperial unit and United States customary unit of distance; both are based on the older English unit of length equal to 5,280 Engli ...

s; 120 km).Treadway, James A.
''Hard Charger! The Story of the USS'' Biddle ''DLG-34''
Lincoln, Nebraska: iUniverse, 2005, p. 119, .Friedman, Norman, "The Navy's Ramjet Missile," ''Naval History'', June 2014, p. 11. It is the first of three North Vietnamese aircraft shot down by Talos missiles during the Vietnam War. * May 28 – A Garuda Indonesia Convair CV-990-30A-5 Coronado (registration PK-GJA) dives almost vertically into the ground minutes after takeoff from Santacruz Airport in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, north of the airport, killing all 29 people on board and one person on the ground.

June

* The 101st Airborne Division is redesignated as the U.S. Armys second

airmobile Air assault is the movement of ground-based military forces by vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft—such as the helicopter—to seize and hold key terrain which has not been fully secured, and to directly engage enemy forces behind ...

division and renamed the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile). Its conversion into an airmobile division will not be complete for a year. * June 5 – North Vietnam demands an unconditional end to American bombing of its territory. * June 12 – After the flight crew of

Flight 1, the

Boeing 707-321C The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20 ...

''Clipper Caribbean'' (registration N798PA), misunderstands the

barometric pressure Atmospheric pressure, also known as barometric pressure (after the barometer), is the pressure within the atmosphere of Earth. The standard atmosphere (symbol: atm) is a unit of pressure defined as , which is equivalent to 1013.25 millibars, 7 ...

sent to them by

while on approach to

Dum Dum Airport Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport is an international airport located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, serving the Kolkata Metropolitan Area and is the aviation hub for eastern and northeastern India. It is located approximatel ...

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, and sets their instruments to the wrong pressure, giving them false altitude readings, the airliner descends too quickly, strikes a tree, and crashes short of the runway. The crash results in a

hull loss A hull loss is an aviation accident that catastrophically damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss. The term also applies to situations in which the aircraft is missing, the search for their wreckage is terminate ...

of the aircraft and kills six of the 63 people on board. * June 18 – After a missed approach to San Sebastián Airport in San Sebastián,

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 ...

, in poor weather during a demonstration flight for

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

industrialist

Lino Zanussi Lino Zanussi ( Pordenone, February 15, 1920 - San Sebastián, June 18, 1968) was an Italian businessman and appliance manufacturer. Company history Beginnings Antonio Zanussi (Lino's father) was the son of a blacksmith. At the age of 26, in 19 ...

, a Piaggio PD.808 (registration I-PIAI) fails to follow established procedures by turning right instead of left. It crashes into the

Jaizkibel Jaizkibel is a mountain range of the Basque Country located east of Pasaia, north of Lezo and west of Hondarribia, in Spain, with at the highest point (peak Alleru). The range stretches south-west to north-east, where it plunges into the sea at ...

mountains, killing all six people on board, including Zanussi. * June 19 – Fifteen minutes after taking off from

Santo Domingo , total_type = Total , population_density_km2 = auto , timezone = AST (UTC −4) , area_code_type = Area codes , area_code = 809, 829, 849 , postal_code_type = Postal codes , postal_code = 10100–10699 ( Distrito Nacional) , webs ...

in the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...

for a flight to Curaçao with 81 people on board, a

Viasa Venezolana Internacional de Aviación Sociedad Anónima ( en, JSC Venezuelan International Airways), or VIASA for short, was the Venezuelan flag carrier airline between 1960 and 1997. It was headquartered in the Torre Viasa in Caracas. Launch ...

Douglas DC-9 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

is hijacked and forced to fly to

. * June 26 –

Flying Tiger Line Flying Tiger Line, also known as Flying Tigers, was the first scheduled cargo airline in the United States and a major military charter operator during the Cold War era for both cargo and personnel (the latter with leased aircraft). The airline w ...

takes delivery of its first

. * June 29 – A hijacker commandeers

Southeast Airlines Southeast Airlines was established in 1993 as Sun Jet International and was founded by Tom Kolfenbach. It was a low fare public charter airline in the United States, headquartered in Largo, Florida, operating regular service to various vacation ...

Flight 101 during a flight from

to Key West,

, with 17 people on board and forces it to fly him to Cuba.

July

* July 1 **

Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A Seaboard World Airlines Flight 253A was a military charter flight carrying 214 American troops bound for South Vietnam. On July 1, 1968, the plane was intercepted by Soviet jets after it unintentionally violated Soviet airspace. It was forced to ...

, a chartered Douglas DC-8 Super 63CF carrying 214 American troops on their way to South Vietnam and a crew of 24, strays into

airspace during a flight from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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 ...

, to

Yokota Air Base , is a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) and United States Air Force (USAF) base in the Tama Area, or Western Tokyo. It occupies portions of Akishima, Fussa, Hamura, Mizuho, Musashimurayama, and Tachikawa. The base houses 14,000 perso ...

in Japan. Soviet

MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 w ...

( NATO reporting name "Fresco") fighters intercept the DC-8 and force it to land at Burevestnik airfield on

Iturup Island , other_names = russian: Итуру́п; ja, 択捉島 , location = Sea of Okhotsk , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Islands , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 3139 , length_km = 200 , width_km = 27 , coastline = , highest_moun ...

in the

Kurile Islands The Kuril Islands or Kurile Islands (; rus, Кури́льские острова́, r=Kuril'skiye ostrova, p=kʊˈrʲilʲskʲɪjə ɐstrɐˈva; Japanese: or ) are a volcanic archipelago currently administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast in the ...

, where it spends two days before being allowed to proceed to Japan. **A Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation operated by the

International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

crashes short of the airstrip at

Uli Uli may refer to: *Uli, Iran, a village *Uli, Anambra, a town in Nigeria * Uli I of Mali * Uli (design), by the Igbo people of Nigeria * Uli figure, from New Ireland, Papua New Guinea *Uli (food), a rice-based food * ISO 639 code for the Ulithian ...

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 ...

, in poor weather conditions, killing one of the four people on board and destroying tons of medical supplies destined for

Biafra Biafra, officially the Republic of Biafra, was a partially recognised secessionist state in West Africa that declared independence from Nigeria and existed from 1967 until 1970. Its territory consisted of the predominantly Igbo-populated form ...

. ** Homesick for his native

since arriving in the

in July 1967, Mario Velazquez uses a .38-caliber revolver he smuggled aboard in a milk carton to hijack

Northwest Orient Airlines Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWA) was a major American airline founded in 1926 and absorbed into Delta Air Lines, Inc. by a merger. The merger, approved on October 29, 2008, made Delta the largest airline in the world until the American Airlines ...

Flight 714 – a Boeing 727-051 (registration N475US) with 92 people on board – as it descends toward

, at the end of a flight from

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

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, demanding to be flown to Cuba. Escorted by

fighters – unknown to its flight crew, because the fighters never make visual or radio contact with the airliner – the plane lands at

José Martí International Airport José Martí International Airport , sometimes known by its former name Rancho Boyeros Airport, is an international airport located southwest of the centre of Havana, Cuba, and is a hub for Cubana de Aviación and Aerogaviota, and former Latin ...

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba, becoming the first Boeing 727 ever to land in Cuba. Cuban soldiers board the airliner and arrest Velazquez. Cuban authorities allow the Boeing 727 and its crew to return to the United States on the morning of July 2, but require the passengers to transfer by bus to Varadero Airport in Varadero, Cuba, where they board an

Airlift International Airlift International was an American airline that operated from 1945 to 1991. Airlift's headquarters were on the grounds of Miami International Airport in unincorporated Miami-Dade County, Florida."World Airline Directory." ''Flight International' ...

Douglas DC-7C The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

without enough seats for all them for the flight back to the United States, and they arrive at Miami early on the afternoon of July 2. * July 3 – A BKS Air Transport

Airspeed Ambassador The Airspeed AS.57 Ambassador is a British twin piston-engined airliner that was designed and produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Airspeed Ltd. It was one of the first postwar airliners to be produced. The Ambassador was developed in ...

carrying eight racehorses belonging to businessman William Hill crashes while landing at

. The aircraft cartwheels into the incomplete

Heathrow Terminal 1 Heathrow Terminal 1 is a disused airport terminal at London Heathrow Airport that was in operation between 1968 and 2015. When it was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in April 1969 it was the largest new airport terminal in western Euro ...

, striking and damaging two parked and empty

British European Airways British European Airways (BEA), formally British European Airways Corporation, was a British airline which existed from 1946 until 1974. BEA operated to Europe, North Africa and the Middle East from airports around the United Kingdom. The a ...

Hawker Siddeley Trident 1 airliners along the way. Six of the eight people aboard the plane and all eight horses are killed. * July 4 – A lone hijacker takes control of Trans World Airlines Flight 329, a

with 71 people on board flying from Kansas City,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. * July 8 – A Saudi Arabian Airlines Convair CV-340 crashes after aborting its third approach at Dhahran International Airport due to visibility problems created by blowing dust. The crash kills all 11 people on board. * July 12 **Over

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the B ...

, 33-year-old Oran Richards pulls out a .45-caliber pistol aboard

Flight 977 – a Convair CV-880 with 55 people on board flying from

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

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 ...

, to

Houston 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 i ...

– and points it at the first person he sees walking toward the aisle, who happens to be

United States Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

James Eastland of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

. Richards claims to be dying of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and demands to be flown to

. The flight engineer talks him out of it, and Richards surrenders his gun, curls up on the floor of the cockpit and weeps. ** As an Island City Flying Service

Cessna 210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development The early Cessn ...

flies from Key West to Miami, Florida, 33-year-old Leonard Bendicks pulls out a gun and forces it to fly to Havana, Cuba, where he is arrested. He gives no reason for the hijacking. Cuba will deport him to

in September 1969, and shortly afterward he will be arrested in the

. * July 13 – A

Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...

Boeing 707 cargo aircraft (registration OO-SJK) strikes trees and crashes on approach to

Lagos Airport Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) ( yo, Pápá Ọkọ̀ Òfurufú Káríayé Múrítàlá Mùhammẹ̀d) is an international airport located in Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria, and is the major airport serving the entire state. The ai ...

, killing all seven people on board. * July 17 – A lone hijacker commandeers National Airlines Flight 1064, a

with 63 people on board flying from

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, to Miami, Florida, and forces it to fly him to Cuba. * July 21 – Flying in poor weather, an Aeroflot

Antonov An-2R 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 Bureau ...

(registration CCCP-32209) strays off course and crashes into a steep mountain slope at an altitude of , southwest of Sufi-Kurgan in the

′s

Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic The Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic (Kirghiz SSR; ky, Кыргыз Советтик Социалисттик Республикасы, Kyrgyz Sovettik Sotsialisttik Respublikasy, ky, Кыргыз ССР, Kyrgyz SSR, russian: Киргизск ...

, killing all 14 people on board. * July 23 – History's first

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 ...

hijacking of an aircraft for purposes of political extortion takes place when three members of the ''Al-Asifa'' ("The Storm") unit of the

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine ( ar, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين, translit=al-Jabhah al-Sha`biyyah li-Taḥrīr Filasṭīn, PFLP) is a secular Palestinian Marxist–Leninist and revolutionary so ...

hijack El Al Flight 426, a Boeing 707 with 48 other people on board, during a flight from

in the

Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard. People Notable people with the name include: * Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian Renaissance scientist ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and divert it to

Algiers Airport Houari Boumediene International Airport ( ar, مطار هواري بومدين الدولي, Maṭār Hawwārī Būmadyan al-Duwaliyy) , also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving A ...

Dar El Beïda Dar El Beïda ( ar, الدار البيضاء) is a suburb of Algiers, Algeria. It is the seat of the district with the same name. During French colonial times, it was officially called by its French name ''Maison Blanche'' (), which meant the ...

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

, just outside Algiers. announcing that they have named the airliner ''Liberation of Palestine''. They release the 26 non-Israeli passengers the following day and 10 more women and children five days later. They release the 12 remaining hostages unharmed on 1 September in exchange for between 16 and 24

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

prisoners held in

, after which an

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

crew flies the airliner back to Israel. * July 28 – During its descent to Recife/Guararapes International Airport in

Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize = 250px , map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco , pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, a

C-124C Globemaster II The Douglas C-124 Globemaster II, nicknamed "Old Shaky", is an American heavy-lift cargo aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company in Long Beach, California. The C-124 was the primary heavy-lift transport for United States Air Force (USAF ...

crashes into a 1,890-foot-tall (576-meter-tall) hill, killing all 10 people on board. * July 30 – While its crew is practicing an emergency descent from during am aerial refueling training mission, a U.S. Air Force KC-135A-BN Stratotanker′s

vertical stabilizer A vertical stabilizer or tail fin is the static part of the vertical tail of an aircraft. The term is commonly applied to the assembly of both this fixed surface and one or more movable rudders hinged to it. Their role is to provide control, s ...

separates from the aircraft during a sharp turn. The tanker aircraft crashes in a forest on

Mount Lassen Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...

, east of

Red Bluff Red Bluff(s) may refer to several places in North America: Places Canada *Red Bluff, British Columbia, a community near Quesnel, British Columbia, Canada ** Red Bluff First Nation, a First Nations band government headquartered near Quesnel, ...

, killing all nine people on board.

August

* The British government purchases Beagle Aircraft to ensure the continued development and production of light aircraft in the

. * August 2 – Drifting off course in bad weather on approach to

Milan–Malpensa Airport Milan Malpensa Airport is the largest international airport in northern Italy, serving Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria, as well as the Swiss Canton of Ticino. The airport is northwest of Milan, next to the Ticino river dividing Lombardy and Pie ...

′s

Milan metropolitan area The Milan metropolitan area, also known as Grande Milano ("Greater Milan"), is the largest metropolitan area in Italy and the 54th largest in the world. It is the largest transnational metropolitan area in the EU. The metropolitan area describ ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

Flight 660, a Douglas DC-8-43 (registration I-DIWF) crashes into a wooded hillside, resulting in the aircraft's

and killing 13 of the 95 people on board. * August 3 – Flying in rain and poor visibility, Aeroflot Flight 961, an Antonov An-2 (registration CCCP-01118) crashes into a wooded slope in the

Skalisty Range The Skalisty Range (russian: Скалистый хребет; sah, Скалистай) is a range of mountains in far North-eastern Russia, part of the East Siberian System. Administratively the mountain chain belongs to the Sakha Republic. The ...

northeast of Psebai in the

′s

, killing all 14 people on board. * August 4 – Absent without leave from the

, 27-year-old Willis Jessie kidnaps his two-year-old daughter from his ex-wife and hires a

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Once the plane is airborne, he pulls out a pistol and orders the pilot to fly to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. Jessie is imprisoned after arriving in Havana, and his daughter is placed in a foster home. They both will return to the

in January 1969. * August 9 – A

British Eagle International Airlines British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Vickers 739A Viscount (registration G-ATFN) suffers a generator failure while over

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

which makes it impossible for its crew to maintain awareness of its flight attitude. The crew loses control of the airliner, its

s and

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

fracture, and it crashes on the

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

highway, breaking up on impact and killing all 48 people on board. * August 10 – On approach to Charleston-Kanawha County Airport in Charleston,

Piedmont Airlines Piedmont Airlines, Inc. is an American regional airline headquartered at the Salisbury Regional Airport in unincorporated Wicomico County, Maryland, near the city of Salisbury. The airline is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the American Airline ...

Flight 230, a Fairchild FH-227B (registration N712U), strikes trees from the runway threshold, then strikes up-sloping terrain short of the runway and continues up the hill until it comes to rest beyond the threshold and from the right edge of the runway. The crash kills 35 of the 37 people on board – the deadliest accident involving an FH-227 – and results in the first

of an FH-227. * August 13 – Swedish Count

Carl Gustav von Rosen Count Carl Gustaf Ericsson von Rosen (19 August 1909 – 13 July 1977) was a Sweden, Swedish pioneer aviator, humanitarian, and mercenary pilot. He flew relief missions in a number of conflicts as well as combat missions for Finland (whose fi ...

defies Nigerian air defences to fly in supplies to the

n rebels * August 14 –

Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 was a Sikorsky S-61 helicopter that crashed on August 14, 1968 in the city of Compton, California. All eighteen passengers and three crew members were killed. The aircraft was destroyed by impact and fire. Accord ...

crashes at Compton, California, resulting in the loss of 21 lives. The accident aircraft was the prototype of the Sikorsky S-61L. * August 18 – A

United Arab Airlines United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * United (2011 film) ...

Antonov An-24B (registration SU-AOL) flying from

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the Capital city, capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, List of ...

to Damascus crashes into 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 ...

at – about 180 km (97 nautical miles) south of

– killing all 40 people on board. * August 20–21 (overnight) – Soviet

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

s seize Prague Ruzyně International Airport in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, facilitating the arrival there by air of additional Soviet troops and equipment as the

and

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

begin their

invasion of Czechoslovakia The Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia refers to the events of 20–21 August 1968, when the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic was jointly invaded by four Warsaw Pact countries: the Soviet Union, the Polish People's Republic, the People's Rep ...

. * August 28 –

McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own merger with Boeing in 1997, it pro ...

completes the 3,000th F-4 Phantom II. * August 31 – The Rolls-Royce RB.211 is successfully ground-tested.

September

* The United States introduces the

Rockeye ''Rockeye'' is the fifth album by the British band, The Outfield. It was the band's second album to be released under the MCA label. "Going Back" became a hit single in South Africa on Adult Contemporary radio and the opening track, "Winning It ...

cluster bomb into service, employing it in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...

. * The U.S. Navy introduces the EKA-3B Skywarrior into service, employing it over

. It is configured to serve both as an

aerial tanker 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 ...

and as an

electronic countermeasures An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

aircraft. * The U.S. Navy

shoots down a North Vietnamese MiG flying over North Vietnam with a

surface-to-air missile at a range of 61 nautical miles (70

s; 113 km). It is the second of three North Vietnamese aircraft shot down by Talos missiles during the Vietnam War and the first since 23 May 1968. * Air Moorea is formed in French Polynesia. * September 3 – When its crew tries to descend below clouds to make a visual approach to

Burgas Airport Burgas Airport () is an international airport in southeast Bulgaria and the second largest in the country. It is near the northern neighbourhood of Sarafovo approximately from the city centre. The airport principally serves Burgas and other ...

Burgas Burgas ( bg, Бургас, ), sometimes transliterated as ''Bourgas'', is the second largest city on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast in the region of Northern Thrace and the fourth-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia, Plovdiv, and Varna, with a pop ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

, a Bulair

Ilyushin Il-18E The Ilyushin Il-18 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-18; NATO reporting name: Coot) is a large turboprop airliner that first flew in 1957 and became one of the best known and most durable Soviet aircraft of its era. The Il-18 was one of the wor ...

flies into the ground, killing 47 of the 82 people on board. * September 11 **

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacif ...

flies T. H. Williams, Sir

Charles Kingsford Smith Sir Charles Edward Kingsford Smith (9 February 18978 November 1935), nicknamed Smithy, was an Australian aviation pioneer. He piloted the first transpacific flight and the first flight between Australia and New Zealand. Kingsford Smith was b ...

's navigator, to Sydney to commemorate the 40th anniversary of their first trans-Tasman flight. **

Air France Flight 1611 __NOTOC__ Air France Flight 1611 (AF1611) was a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III en route from Ajaccio, in the island of Corsica, to Nice, France, on 11 September 1968 when it crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off Nice, killing all 95 on ...

, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III, catches fire in mid-air and crashes into the

off

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

, killing all 95 people on board. Among the dead is the

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 Force ...

Général de division Divisional general is a general officer rank who commands an army division. The rank originates from the French (Revolutionary) System, and is used by a number of countries. The rank is above a brigade general, and normally below an army corps ...

'' René Cogny. ** Wanted for a

bank robbery Bank robbery is the criminal act of stealing from a bank, specifically while bank employees and customers are subjected to force, violence, or a threat of violence. This refers to robbery of a bank branch or teller, as opposed to other bank- ...

in Ladonia,

, and armed with a .22-caliber

Colt Colt(s) or COLT may refer to: *Colt (horse), an intact (uncastrated) male horse under four years of age People * Colt (given name) *Colt (surname) Places *Colt, Arkansas, United States *Colt, Louisiana, an unincorporated community, United States ...

revolver, Charles Lavern Beasley hijacks an

Air Canada Air Canada is the flag carrier and the largest airline of Canada by the size and passengers carried. Air Canada maintains its headquarters in the borough of Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec. The airline, founded in 1937, provides scheduled an ...

Vickers Viscount The Vickers Viscount is a British medium-range turboprop airliner first flown in 1948 by Vickers-Armstrongs. A design requirement from the Brabazon Committee, it entered service in 1953 and was the first turboprop-powered airliner. The Vi ...

with 22 people on board during a domestic flight in

from Saint John,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, and demands to be flown to

. After the flight crew convinces him that they need to refuel first, the airliner lands at

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

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 ...

, where Beasley releases two passengers and two stewardesses and eventually surrenders peacefully to the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

. * September 19 – A U.S. Navy F-8C Crusader fighter of Fighter Squadron 111 (VF-111) shoots down a North Vietnamese

MiG Russian Aircraft Corporation "MiG" (russian: Российская самолётостроительная корпорация „МиГ“, Rossiyskaya samolyotostroitel'naya korporatsiya "MiG"), commonly known as Mikoyan and MiG, was a Russi ...

fighter. It is believed to be the last American air-to-air victory in the

until March 1970. *September 20 **At the Farnborough Air Show at Farnborough,

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

, six members of the French Air Force die when their

Breguet 1150 Atlantic Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

crashes while performing a demonstration of the aircrafts ability to fly on a single engine. ** A hijacker takes control of

Eastern Airlines Eastern Air Lines, also colloquially known as Eastern, was a major United States airline from 1926 to 1991. Before its dissolution, it was headquartered at Miami International Airport in an unincorporated area of Miami-Dade County, Florida. Ea ...

Flight 950, a

Boeing 720 The Boeing 720 is an American narrow-body airliner produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Announced in July 1957 as a 707 derivative for shorter flights from shorter runways, the 720 first flew on November 23, 1959. Its type certificate was ...

with 53 people on board, during a flight from San Juan,

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, to

, and forces it to fly him to Cuba. *September 22 ** Shortly after an

Boeing 727-59 (registration HK-1401) with 77 people on board takes off from Baranquilla for a domestic flight in Colombia to Cartagena, a male passenger hijacks it and forces it to fly him to Camagüey, Cuba. ** A male passenger hijacks Avianca Flight 654, a Douglas C-54A-5-DC Skymaster (registration HK-172) with 56 people on board flying in Colombia from Baranquilla to Santa Marta, and forces it to fly him to

in Cuba. * September 24 – After a

Boeing KC-135A-BN Stratotanker carrying Strategic Air Command personnel from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

to the

develops engine trouble over 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 contin ...

, its crew opts to divert to

Wake Island Airfield Wake Island Airfield is a military air base located on Wake Island, which is known for the Battle of Wake Island during World War II. It is owned by the U.S. Air Force and operated by the 611th Air Support Group. The runway can be used for emer ...

Wake Island Wake Island ( mh, Ānen Kio, translation=island of the kio flower; also known as Wake Atoll) is a coral atoll in the western Pacific Ocean in the northeastern area of the Micronesia subregion, east of Guam, west of Honolulu, southeast of T ...

. On final approach to Wake Island Airfield, the KC-135A contacts the ocean's surface, bounces onto the runway, strikes

instrument landing system In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

aerials, and bursts into flames, killing 11 of the 56 people on board. * September 28 – A

Pan African Airlines Pan African Airlines is an airline based in Nigeria and owned by the Bristow Group. They mainly provide helicopter and fixed-wing services to the oil industry. History Pan African Airlines was founded in Nigeria in 1961. The Nigerian governmen ...

Douglas C-54B-1-DC Skymaster on final approach to

Port Harcourt Airport Port Harcourt International Airport is an international airport located in Omagwa, a suburb of Port Harcourt, the capital city of the Rivers State in Nigeria. The airport has two terminals for both international and domestic flights. The new ...

in Port Harcourt,

, strikes trees and crashes in a village, killing all 57 people on board and one person on the ground. The plane's cargo of munitions explodes, causing a massive fire. * September 29 – A

Grumman Goose The Grumman G-21 Goose is an amphibious flying boat designed by Grumman to serve as an eight-seat "commuter" aircraft for businessmen in the Long Island area. The Goose was Grumman's first monoplane to fly, its first twin-engined aircraft, and i ...

on a routine air taxi flight in

from

to Santa Catalina Island piloted by

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...

Bill Bridgeman William Barton Bridgeman (June 25, 1916 – September 29, 1968) was an American test pilot who broke aviation records while working for the Douglas Aircraft Company, testing experimental aircraft. In July 1951, the United States Navy announced t ...

crashes into the

, killing Bridgeman. His body is never found. * September 30 – The first Boeing 747 is rolled out.

October

Air Jamaica Air Jamaica was the national airline of Jamaica. It was owned and operated by Caribbean Airlines from May 2011 until the cessation of operations in 2015. Caribbean Airlines Limited, headquartered in Piarco, Trinidad and Tobago, had administrati ...

is established. It will begin flight operations in April 1969. * October 1 – A

KC-135A-BN Stratotanker loses power in one engine on takeoff from U-Tapao airfield in

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

and crashes, killing its entire crew of four. * October 3 – A U.S. Air Force C-7B Caribou carrying troops collides during its initial climb after takeoff from

Camp Evans Camp Evans Historic District is an area of the Camp Evans Formerly Used Defense Site in Wall Township, New Jersey. The site of the military installation () is noted for a 1914 transatlantic radio receiver and various World War II/Cold War labo ...

in South Vietnam at an altitude of with a

CH-47A Chinook helicopter approaching the camp for a landing with troops and mail on board. Both aircraft crash, killing all 13 people on the Caribou and all 11 on the Chinook. * October 6 – Three

commandeer an Aeromaya Hawker Siddeley HS 748-230 Series 2 (registration XA-SE) during a domestic flight in

from

Cozumel Cozumel (; yua, Kùutsmil) is an island and municipality in the Caribbean Sea off the eastern coast of Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, opposite Playa del Carmen. It is separated from the mainland by the Cozumel Channel and is close to the Yucat� ...

to Mérida and force it to fly them to

. * October 7 – On approach to Paso Canoas Airport in

Paso Canoas Paso Canoas is an international city shared between Puntarenas Province in Costa Rica and Chiriquí Province in the west of Panama. The border between Costa Rica and Panama crosses Paso Canoas from north to south, with the result that the city i ...

, Costa Rica, an Aerovias del Valle Britten-Norman BN-2 Islander crashes on a beach at the mouth of the Rio Grande de Terraba west of the airport, killing all 10 people on board. * October 11 – The

CSA Czech Airlines Czech Airlines j.s.c. (abbreviation: ČSA, cz, České Aerolinie, a.s.) is the flag carrier of the Czech Republic. Its head office is located in the Vokovice area of Prague's 6th district and its hub is Václav Havel Airport Prague. The comp ...

Avia 14-32A ''Svit Gottwaldov'' (registration OK-MCJ) crashes near Ptice,

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, just after takeoff from Prague Ruzyně International Airport in

, killing 11 of the 40 people on board. * October 20 **A U.S. Air Force C-47D Skytrain suffers an in-flight engine failure and crashes south of Buôn Ma Thuột, South Vietnam, killing all 23 people on board. **A

Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul Serviços Aéreos Cruzeiro do Sul was the second oldest airline of Brazil, tracing its origins to 1927, when it was founded as Syndicato Condor, a subsidiary of Deutsche Luft Hansa. Syndicato Condor retained rights and interests of a former Ger ...

C-47A-25-DK Skytrain (registration PP-SAD) suffers an engine failure after takeoff from Feijó Airport in Feijó,

, and crashes while attempting to return to the airport, killing all 19 people on board. * October 22 – During a night approach to

Ching Chuan Kang Air Base Ching Chuan Kang Air Base ( zh, t=清泉崗空軍基地, CCK) is a Republic of China Air Force (ROCAF) base located in Taichung, Taiwan. It is the home to the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing, with three squadrons of AIDC F-CK-1 Ching-kuo fi ...

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

, a U.S. Air Force KC-135A-BN Stratotanker flies into the side of a 7,300-foot (2,225-meter) mountain from the base, killing all six people on board. * October 23 – Under extreme financial stress, Alben Truitt, a grandson of the late

Vice President of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

Alben W. Barkley, charters a Cessna 177 at Key West,

, claiming that he wishes to make an aerial sightseeing trip to the

Dry Tortugas Dry Tortugas National Park is a national park located about west of Key West in the Gulf of Mexico. The park preserves Fort Jefferson and the seven Dry Tortugas islands, the westernmost and most isolated of the Florida Keys. The archipelago's c ...

and take aerial photographs of Fort Jefferson. Halfway through the trip, he produces an

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mecha ...

and orders the pilot to fly him to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba, where he is arrested upon arrival, despite claiming that he wishes to write a nonfiction book about Cuba. * October 24 – National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) pilot William "Bill" Dana pilots the 199th flight of the North American X-15. Although not planned as such, it will be the last X-15 flight.Hallion, Richard P., "Across the Hypersonic Divide," ''Aviation History'', July 2012, p. 42. * October 25 – Northeast Airlines Flight 946, a

Fairchild Hiller FH-227 The Fairchild F-27 and Fairchild Hiller FH-227 were versions of the Fokker F27 Friendship twin-engined turboprop passenger aircraft manufactured under license by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. The Fairchild F-27 was similar to the standa ...

, crashes on Moose Mountain near Etna,

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

, while descending on approach to a refueling stop at

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 Lebanon–Syria border, the north and east and Israel to Blue ...

, New Hampshire. Thirty-two of the 42 people on board die, and all 10 survivors suffer injuries. * October 30 – A hijacker takes over a SAESA Curtiss C-46 Commando during a domestic flight in Mexico from

Tampico Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fifth ...

Reynosa Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality. The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Me ...

. The airliner flies him to Brownsville,

November

* November 1 **

s administration suspends all American bombing of North Vietnam;

Operation Rolling Thunder Operation Rolling Thunder was a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the United States (U.S.) 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) against the Democratic R ...

is suspended. **Ansett-ANA is renamed Ansett Airlines of Australia. * November 2 – A 17-year-old boy armed with a 16-

gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...

shotgun who had boarded

Flight 284, a

with 50 people on board, at

Mobile Mobile may refer to: Places * Mobile, Alabama, a U.S. port city * Mobile County, Alabama * Mobile, Arizona, a small town near Phoenix, U.S. * Mobile, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Mobile ( ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

, enters the cockpit while the airliner is on the ground at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, Alabama, preparing for departure for

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

, and demands to be flown to South Vietnam. The flight crew overpowers him. * November 4 – After changing from business attire into the clothing favored by the Black Panther Party in a

lavatory Lavatory, Lav, or Lavvy may refer to: *Toilet, the plumbing fixture *Toilet (room), containing a toilet *Public toilet *Aircraft lavatory, the public toilet on an aircraft *Latrine, a rudimentary toilet *A lavatorium, the washing facility in a mon ...

shortly after takeoff aboard National Airlines Flight 186 – a

with 65 people on board flying from

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, to

– Raymond Johnson uses a .38-caliber revolver to hijack the airliner. He identifies himself as a "

black nationalist Black nationalism is a type of racial nationalism or pan-nationalism which espouses the belief that black people are a race, and which seeks to develop and maintain a black racial and national identity. Black nationalist activism revolves aro ...

freedom fighter" and demands that the plane fly to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba. During the flight, Johnson announces that he has renamed the plane ''

Republic of New Africa The Republic of New Afrika (RNA), founded in 1968 as the Republic of New Africa (RNA), is a black nationalist organization and black separatist movement in the United States popularized by black militant groups. The larger New Afrika movement ...

'', and he robs the passengers of $405, which he says will be a donation for "the revolution," and he forces the flight attendants to count the money on the cabin floor. After the plane lands in Havana, Cuban authorities arrest Johnson and return the stolen money to National Airlines. In 1986, Johnson will return to the

, saying that he was a fool to have hijacked the airliner. * November 6 – As

Philippine Air Lines Philippine Airlines (PAL), a trade name of PAL Holdings, Inc. ( PSEPAL (Philippine Air Lines until 1970), is the flag carrier airline of the Philippines. Headquartered at the PNB Financial Center in Pasay, the airline was founded in 1941 and i ...

Flight 158A, a

Fokker F27 The Fokker F27 Friendship is a turboprop airliner developed and manufactured by the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker. It is the most numerous post-war aircraft manufactured in the Netherlands; the F27 was also one of the most successful Europe ...

with 43 people on board flying from

Cebu Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

in the

, begins its descent to Manila, four armed passengers enter the cockpit and hijack the plane. As they move through the cabin, robbing the passengers, a federal policeman on the plane draws a gun, and one passenger is killed during an ensuing gun battle. The airliner lands at

Manila International Airport Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA , ; fil, Paliparang Pandaigdig ng Ninoy Aquino or ''Pandaigdigang Paliparan ng Ninoy Aquino''; ), originally known and still commonly referred to as Manila International Airport (MIA), is the main ...

, where the hijackers force the flight crew to taxi to a remote part of the airport, disembark with the captain and two passengers as hostages, release the hostages at the airport fence, and escape in a waiting getaway car. * November 7 – A Philippine Air Force

C-47 Skytrain The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (RAF, RAAF, RCAF, RNZAF, and SAAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II and remained in f ...

crashes into a mountainside in the

Zambales Mountains The Zambales Mountains is a mountain range on western Luzon island in the Philippines. The mountains separate Luzon's central plain from the South China Sea. Its most prominent section is known as the Cabusilan Mountain Range composed of Mount ...

Luzon Luzon (; ) is the largest and most populous island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the Philippines archipelago, it is the economic and political center of the nation, being home to the country's capital city, Manila, as ...

in the

, killing all 11 people on board. * November 8 – Two Italian men claiming to be members of the "International Command for

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

" hijack an

Olympic Airlines Olympic Airlines ( el, Ολυμπιακές Αερογραμμές, ''Olympiakés Aerogrammés'' – OA), formerly named Olympic Airways for at least four decades, was the flag carrier airline of Greece. The airline's head office was located ...

Boeing 707 during a flight from

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

with 128 other people on board, threatening the flight crew with a gun and a hand grenade, and force the cabin to crew to hand out pamphlets expressing opposition to the rule of the Greek military ''junta''. Announcing that the passengers are being punished for traveling to Greece, they order the airliner to return to Paris, where they surrender to French police officers at

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (french: Aéroport de Paris-Orly), commonly referred to as Orly , is one of two international airports serving the French capital, Paris, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly ...

. * November 18 – Two

commandeer a

Mexicana de Aviación Compañía Mexicana de Aviación, S.A. de C.V. (usually shortened to Mexicana de Aviación or simply Mexicana) was Mexico's oldest airline and one of the List of airlines by foundation date, oldest continuously single-branded airlines (after ...

with 18 passengers on board during a domestic flight in

from Mérida to

Villahermosa Villahermosa ( , ; "Beautiful Village") is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Tabasco, and serves as the municipal seat (governing county) of the state. Located in Southeast Mexico, Villahermosa is an important city because o ...

and force it to fly to Havana, Cuba. * November 22 – Attempting to land at San Francisco International Airport in

San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City is the county seat, and the third most populated city following Daly ...

, a Douglas DC-8-62 operating as

Japan Airlines Flight 2 Japan Air Lines Flight 2 was a scheduled passenger flight on November 22, 1968. The plane was a new Douglas DC-8-62 named , flying from Tokyo International Airport (Haneda) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Due to heavy fog and other ...

unintentionally

lands Land is the solid surface of the Earth that is not covered by water. Land, lands, The Land, or the Lands may also refer to: Entertainment and media Film * ''Land'' (1987 film), a British television film by Barry Collins * ''Land'' (2018 film), ...

in San Francisco Bay short of the runway. All 107 people on board survive the mishap, and the aircraft itself is recovered 55 hours later. * November 23 ** Four passengers hijack

Flight 73, a

with 90 people on board flying from Chicago, Illinois, to

, and force it to fly to Havana, Cuba. **A Cable Commuter de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter 200 on approach to Santa Ana-Orange County Airport in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

, California, strikes a light pole on the

Newport Freeway Newport most commonly refers to: *Newport, Wales *Newport, Rhode Island, US Newport or New Port may also refer to: Places Asia * Newport City, Metro Manila, a Philippine district in Pasay Europe Ireland *Newport, County Mayo, a town on th ...

and crashes north of the airport, killing all nine people on board. * November 24 – Four men hijack Pan Am Flight 281, a Boeing 707, during a flight from

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 City 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 Un ...

to San Juan,

, and force it to fly them to Havana, Cuba. U.S. jet fighter aircraft follow the airliner until it reaches Cuban airspace. * November 25 – An Air America C-46D-20-CU Commando suffers an engine failure just after takeoff from

Savannakhet Airport Savannakhet Airport is an international airport near Savannakhet, Laos. Overview This airport is now served by Lao Airlines as an intermediate stop in its 3 times/week Pakse-Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakho ...

near

Savannakhet Savannakhet (ສະຫວັນນະເຂດ), officially named Kaysone Phomvihane ( lo, ໄກສອນ ພົມວິຫານ; th, ไกสอน พมวิหาน) since 2005 and previously known as ''Khanthaboury'' (ຄັນທະ ...

, Laos, and crashes from the airport, with one of its

s separating and catching fire and the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

coming to rest inverted. The crash kills 26 of the 28 people on board. * November 30 – A hijacker commandeers Eastern Airlines Flight 532, a

with 45 people on board flying from Miami, Florida, to

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

, Texas, and forces it to fly to Cuba.

December

* December 2 – Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55, a Fairchild F-27B, suffers structural failure after encountering severe

turbulence In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to a laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers, with no disruption between ...

and crashes into Spotsy Lake at

Pedro Bay Pedro Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lake and Peninsula Borough, Alaska, United States. The population was 43 as of the 2020 census, slightly up from 42 in 2010. Geography Pedro Bay is located at . It is at the head of Pedro Bay, on th ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, killing all 39 people on board. * December 3 – Armed with a .45-caliber pistol and what appears to be a hand grenade, Cuban exile Eduardo Canteras hijacks National Airlines Flight 1439 – a

with 35 people on board flying from

– as it prepares to land at Miami and orders it to bypass Miami and fly on to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

. When the flight crew tells him that the airliner will run out of fuel and crash into the sea before reaching Cuba, he allows it to land at Key West, Florida, to refuel. Local police offer to shoot out the plane's tires while it is on the ground at Key West, but National Airlines officials refuse to let them, citing concerns that Canteras will detonate his grenade. The plane takes off again and flies on to Havana, where Cuban authorities arrest Canteras. The other passengers and crew are held for 24 hours before being allowed to return to the

. * December 11 – Armed with a pistol, 20-year-old James Joseph Patterson hijacks Trans World Airlines Flight 496 – a Boeing 727 flying from Nashville,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, to Miami, Florida, with 39 people on board, including actor and entertainer

Tex Ritter Woodward Maurice Ritter (January 12, 1905 – January 2, 1974) was a pioneer of American country music, a popular singer and actor from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter acting family (son John, grandsons Jason and ...

and

er Mason Rudolph – and forces it to fly to Cuba, where he and his 19-year-old wife Gwendolyn disembark. * December 12 –

Boeing 707-321B ''Clipper Malay'', operating as Flight 217, crashes into 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 ...

near Caracas,

, killing all 51 people on board. Among the dead is former

Miss Venezuela Miss Venezuela (Spanish: ''Organización Miss Venezuela'') is the national beauty pageant of Venezuela, traditionally held in September. It is preceded by two or three months of preliminary events, with the awarding of corporate prizes. The fi ...

Olga Antonetti Olga "Olguita" Antonetti Núñez (February 19, 1945 – December 12, 1968) was a Venezuelan beauty pageant titleholder for 1962, and the official representative of Venezuela to the Miss International 1962 pageant held in Long Beach, Californi ...

. * December 16 – The

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 PT Sempati Air Transport is founded. It will begin flight operations in March 1969, and in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

it will change its name to

Sempati Air Sempati Air was an airline based in Indonesia. Partially owned by friends and family of President Suharto of Indonesia, the airline ceased operations due to bankruptcy after its owner Suharto's May 1998 presidential resignation. Its IATA code has s ...

. * December 17 **After suffering fuel transfer difficulties leading to engine problems, a

C-123B-11-FA Provider crashes south-southwest of

Chu Lai Air Base Chu Lai Air Base was a military airport in Chu Lai, Vietnam, operated by the United States Marine Corps between 1965 and 1970. It was located near Tam Kỳ city, the largest city in Quảng Nam Province. Abandoned after the end of the Vietnam Wa ...

Chu Lai Chu Lai is a seaport, urban and industrial area in Núi Thành District, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam. The city is served by Chu Lai International Airport. It is also the site of the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone (Vietnamese: ''Với Khu Kinh T� ...

, South Vietnam, killing 14 of the 44 people on board. * December 17 – The last surviving

XB-70 Valkyrie The North American Aviation XB-70 Valkyrie was the prototype version of the planned B-70 nuclear-armed, deep-penetration supersonic strategic bomber for the United States Air Force Strategic Air Command. Designed in the late 1950s by North Ame ...

– the U.S. Air Force's XB-70A Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – makes its last supersonic flight. * December 19 – Accompanied by his three-year-old daughter, who he had abducted from his ex-wife, and claiming to have a gun and

nitroglycerine Nitroglycerin (NG), (alternative spelling of nitroglycerine) also known as trinitroglycerin (TNG), nitro, glyceryl trinitrate (GTN), or 1,2,3-trinitroxypropane, is a dense, colorless, oily, explosive liquid most commonly produced by nitrating ...

, 27-year-old Thomas George Washington hijacks

Flight 47, a

with 151 people on board flying from

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, to Miami, Florida, and forces it to fly to

Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

, Cuba. He says he wishes to leave the

"because of all the hatred and prejudice." He apologizes to the other passengers before disembarking at Havana. * December 20 – At Edwards Air Force Base,

, X-15 program personnel attempting a 200th flight of the North American X-15 find the base covered by snow. Deeming the highly unusual snowfall an omen, they decide against the flight and simply retire the aircraft instead. It is the end of the X-15 program. * December 24 ** Apollo 8 orbits the moon carrying

Frank Borman Frank Frederick Borman II (born March 14, 1928) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) colonel (United States), colonel, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, businessman, and NASA astronaut. He was the commander of Apollo 8, the first missio ...

James Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the f ...

, and

William Anders William Alison Anders (born 17 October 1933) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, t ...

. **

Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 was a regularly scheduled flight that crashed while attempting to land at Bradford Regional Airport in Bradford, Pennsylvania on December 24, 1968. Twenty of the 47 occupants on board were killed. Aircraft and cre ...

, a

Convair CV-580 Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, i ...

(registration N5802), strikes trees while on approach to

Bradford Regional Airport Bradford Regional Airport is 11 miles south of Bradford, in Lafayette Township, McKean County, Pennsylvania. It has scheduled airline service subsidized by the Essential Air Service program. The airport is owned by the Bradford Regional Airpor ...

outside Bradford,

. It crashes inverted southeast of the airport and about from its first contact with the trees, killing 20 of the 47 people on board. * December 26 **Two members of the

(PFLP) attack El Al Flight 253, a Boeing 707, with a submachine gun and hand grenades as it prepares to depart

, killing one passenger and seriously wounding a flight attendant before being arrested. **An Exportada de Sal S.A. (ESSA) Douglas DC-3 crashes into the side of a mountain east of Ensenada,

, killing all 12 people on board. * December 27 – North Central Airlines Flight 458, a

, crashes into a

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 ...

at O'Hare International Airport in

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

, while attempting a

go around In aviation, a go-around is an aborted landing of an aircraft that is on final approach or has already touched down. A go-around can either be initiated by the pilot flying or requested by air traffic control for various reasons, such as an unsta ...

in poor weather at night, killing 27 of the 45 people on board and killing one and injuring six people on the ground. * December 28 – In retaliation for the 26 December PFLP attack on El Al Flight 253,

Sayeret Matkal General Staff Reconnaissance Unit (formerly Unit 269 or Unit 262), more commonly known as Sayeret Matkal ( he, סיירת מטכ״ל) is the special reconnaissance unit (''sayeret'') of Israel's General Staff (''matkal''). It is the prime special ...

special forces conduct a raid against Beirut International Airport in

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 ...

. They destroy eight passenger aircraft (a

Vickers VC10 The Vickers VC10 is a mid-sized, narrow-body long-range British jet airliner designed and built by Vickers-Armstrongs (Aircraft) Ltd and first flown at Brooklands, Surrey, in 1962. The airliner was designed to operate on long-distance route ...

, a

Boeing 707-320C The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

, two Sud Aviation Caravelle VINs, three de Havilland Comet 4Cs, and one

) belonging to

Middle East Airlines Middle East Airlines – Air Liban S.A.L. ( ar, طيران الشرق الأوسط ـ الخطوط الجوية اللبنانية ''Ṭayyarān al-Sharq al-Awsaṭ – al-Khuṭūṭ al-jawiyyah al-lubnāniyyah''), more commonly known as Middle ...

, four passenger aircraft (two Convair CV-990 Coronados and two

Douglas DC-7 The Douglas DC-7 is an American transport aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company from 1953 to 1958. A derivative of the DC-6, it was the last major piston engine-powered transport made by Douglas, being developed shortly after the earl ...

s) belonging to

Lebanese International Airways Lebanese International Airways was a Lebanese airline based in Beirut.Le ...

, and two cargo planes (a

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1 ...

and a

) belonging to Trans Mediterranean Airways. There are no deaths or injuries during the raid. The lost aircraft have an insurance value estimated at

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

43.8 million. * December 31 – MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750, a Vickers Viscount Type 720, loses more than half of its right

near the end of a flight from

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

Port Hedland A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ha ...

, Australia, and crashes 28 nautical miles () south of Port Hedland, killing all 26 people on board.

First flights

* Bell 212

March

*March 20 – LFU 205Taylor 1969, p. 93.

April

*April 22 –

Cessna 187 The Cessna 187 was a light aircraft proposed by American manufacturer Cessna in the 1970s. As the newer Model 177 had been intended to replace the 172, so the 187 was intended to replace the 182. Design The Model 187 shape was similar to the ...

May

* May 13 – Piper PA-35 Pocono * May 25 –

Grumman EA-6B Prowler The Northrop Grumman (formerly Grumman) EA-6B Prowler is a twin-engine, four-seat, mid-wing electronic-warfare aircraft derived from the A-6 Intruder airframe. The EA-6A was the initial electronic warfare version of the A-6 used by the United ...

June

* June 30 – Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

July

* Nord N 500 (tethered)

August

* August 2 –

Aérospatiale SA 341 Gazelle Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...

September

* September 8 – SEPECAT Jaguar * September 11 –

Dassault Hirondelle The Dassault M.D.320 Hirondelle was a French 14-seat utility transport aircraft of the 1960s, designed and built by Dassault Aviation, in prototype form only. Design and development In 1967 the French Air Force, investigating replacement aircra ...

October

* October 4 –

Tupolev Tu-154 The Tupolev Tu-154 (russian: Tyполев Ту-154; NATO reporting name: "Careless") is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian ...

Taylor 1969, facing p.1. * October 23 – Indraéro Aéro 30 * October 26 –

Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante The Embraer EMB 110 Bandeirante (English: ''pioneer'') is a Brazilian general purpose 15–21 passenger twin-turboprop light transport aircraft designed by Embraer for military and civil use. The EMB 110 was designed by the French engineer Max ...

November

* November 1 –

Cessna 414 The Cessna 414 is an American light, pressurized, twin-engine transport aircraft built by Cessna. It first flew in 1968 and an improved variant was introduced from 1978 as the 414A Chancellor. Design and development The pressurized 414 was dev ...

* November 4 –

Aero L-39 Albatros The Aero L-39 Albatros is a high-performance jet trainer designed and produced in Czechoslovakia by Aero Vodochody. It is the most widely used jet trainer in the world; in addition to performing basic and advanced pilot training, it has also flo ...

* November 7 – Conroy Stolifter * November 13 –

Northrop HL-10 The Northrop HL-10 was one of five US heavyweight lifting body designs flown at NASA's Flight Research Center (FRC—later Dryden Flight Research Center) in Edwards, California, from July 1966 to November 1975 to study and validate the concept of ...

December

* December 3 – Anahuac Tauro ''XB-TAX'' * December 31 –

Tupolev Tu-144 The Tupolev Tu-144 (russian: Tyполев Ту-144; NATO reporting name: Charger) is a Soviet supersonic passenger airliner designed by Tupolev in operation from 1968 to 1999. The Tu-144 was the world's first commercial supersonic transport ai ...

Entered service

January

* January 22 – Schweizer QT-2 with the

February

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton Factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the Boeing 707, 7 ...

with Lufthansa

March

* March 6 – Bell CH-118 (ex-CUH-1H) with Canadian Armed Forces Mobile Command

April

* April 12 –

Beagle Pup The Beagle B.121 Pup is a 1960s British 2–4 seat single-engined training and touring aircraft built by Beagle Aircraft Limited at Shoreham Airport and Rearsby Aerodrome. Design The Pup was designed as a single-engined all-metal two-seat ae ...

with Shoreham Flying School

May

* May 2 – Beechcraft Model 99 with

Commuter Airlines Commuter Airlines was a commuter airline based in Binghamton, New York from the 1960s to 1984. Broome County Aviation Commuter Airlines began as Broome County Aviation, Inc, owned by Jerry Winston. The airline's second highest ranking execu ...

Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 103.

Retirements

* Beriev Be-10 ( NATO reporting name "Mallow") by the 2nd Squadron of

Soviet Naval Aviation Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, for ''Авиация военно-морского флота'' in Russian, or ''Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota'', literally "aviation of the military maritime fleet") was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Na ...

′s 977th Independent Naval Long-range Reconnaissance Air Regiment

December

* December 20 – North American X-15

References

* * Taylor, John W. R. ''Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1969–70''. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co. Ltd., 1969. {{Aviation timelines navbox Aviation by year