2004 in Aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2004:

Events

January

2 - Several British Airways flights from London Heathrow Airport to Washington D.C. and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia are cancelled due to security fears.
3 - Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashes into the Red Sea off the coast of Egypt, killing all 148 aboard.
13 - An Uzbekistan Airways plane crashes in Uzbekistan's capital of Tashkent, killing all 37 aboard.

February

February 12 - United Airlines created another airline, this time called Ted (airline).

March

March 27 - NASA's X-43 pilotless plane breaks world speed record for an atmospheric engine by briefly flying at 7,700 kilometers (4,780 miles) per hour (seven times the speed of sound)

April

April 4 - Alaska Airlines discontinues service between San Francisco and Tucson.

May

May 5 - Air France and Netherlands-based KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines) merge, the two airlines are now known as Air France-KLM.
9 - Southwest Airlines begins service to Philadelphia International Airport.
12 - The last F-4 Phantom fighters are withdrawn from service with the Israeli Air Force.
23 - Frontier Airlines begins service to Philadelphia, Billings, Montana and Spokane, Washington.
27 - Delta Air Lines begins service between Cincinnati and New Haven.

June

1 - America West Airlines starts service between Phoenix and Anchorage.
6 - Alaska Airlines starts service between Denver and Anchorage and discontinues service between San Jose and Tucson.
20 - Frontier Airlines begins service to Nashville, Tennessee.
21 - SpaceShipOne is the first non-government built spacecraft to transport a person into space and return safely to earth.

July

14-20 - the 14th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: 1. JiÅ™x­ Filip & Michal Filip (Czech), 2. František Cihlx¡Å™ & Milos Fiala (Czech), 3. Krzysztof Wieczorek & Krzysztof SkrÄ™towicz (Poland); team winners: 1. Czech Republic, 2. Poland, 3. France.
19-24 - the 16th FAI World Precision Flying Championship in Herning, Denmark. Individual winners: Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) - 3Xtrim, 2. Petr Opat (Czech) - Cessna 152, 3. Wacław Wieczorek (Poland) - PZL Wilga 2000; team winners: 1. Poland, 2. Czech Republic, 3. France.

August

24 - Volga-AviaExpress Flight 1303 and Siberia Airlines Flight 1047 explode south of Domodedovo International Airport in Moscow. The Russian government declares the explosions to have been caused by Chechen terrorists

October

4 - SpaceShipOne successfully makes her 3rd flight into space and proves to be a plausible option for space tourism, thus winning the Ansari X-Prize

November

November 1 - Pan American Airways, or Pan Am III, turned down operations once again, but gave operations to Boston-Maine Airways.
November 16 - NASA's X-43 reaches a record speed of Mach 9.8 (7,546 mph, 12,144 km/h)

December

December 9 - The U.S. Army issues a request for proposals (RFP) for the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH).
December 10 - Two CT-114 Tutors from Canada's Snowbirds aerobatic team collide while training near Mossbank, Saskatchewan. Captain Miles Selby is killed and Captain Chuck Mallet is injured.
December 10 - The United States Federal Aviation Administration issues an Emergency Airworthiness Directive effectively grounding the entire U.S. fleet of Beechcraft T-34 Mentor aircraft. The AD is in response to fatal in-flight structural failure accidents during simulated aerial combat flights.

First flights

Aero-Cam Slick 360

March

March 5 - Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer

May

May 29 - Aceair AERIKS 200

June

June 18 - Airblue flies its first flight, a private airline in Pakistan
June 21 - First sub-orbital flight of SpaceShipOne

July

July 15 - Aermacchi M-346
July 20 - Aerocomp Comp Air Jet

Entered service

2004 in Aviation Pictures

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia