2004 in aviation

yearbox
| in?=in aviation
cp=20th Century
c=21st century
cf=22nd century
yp1=2001
yp2=2002
yp3=2003
year=2004
ya1=2005
ya2=2006
ya3=2007
dp3=1970s
dp2=1980s
dp1=1990s
d=2000s
dn1=2010s
dn2=2020s
dn3=2030sThis 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.

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* 12 - The last F-4 Phantom fighters are withdrawn from service with the Israeli Air Force.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. Jiří Filip & Michal Filip (Czech), 2. František Cihlář & Milos Fiala (Czech), 3. Krzysztof Wieczorek & Krzysztof Skrętowicz (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 16 - NASA's X-43 reaches a record speed of Mach 10 (7,000 mph, 11,200 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