A still from video of AA587 turning onto runway 31 at JFK Airport before departing and crashing minutes later.

2001 – American Airlines Flight 587, an Airbus A300 (registered N14053) flying from JFK to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, crashes in Belle Harbor, killing all 260 on-board and 5 on the ground. The crash would be attributed to separation of the vertical stabilizer from the fuselage following overuse of rudder as the aircraft flew through wake turbulence left by the aircraft in front of it (a Japan Airlines 747). Both engines also separated from the aircraft during its 2,800ft freefall.

1996 – The Charkhi Dadri mid-air collision, between Saudi Arabian Airlines Flight 763 (a 747-100 registered HZ-AIH) and Kazakhstan Airlines Flight 1907 (an IL-76 registered UN-76435), kills a total of 349 people, making it the deadliest mid-air collision in aviation history. The Kazakh aircraft was cleared to descend to 15,000ft, but leveled off at 14,500ft instead, into the path of the departing Saudi airliner. The IL-76’s tail sliced off the 747’s wing, making the Boeing spiral towards the ground, reaching 705mph at impact. The IL-76 remained somewhat stable but still crashed in a field, with 4 passengers surviving for a short while before succumbing to their injuries.

1989 – California Polytechnic State University flies the first human-powered helicopter

1984 – Space Shuttle astronauts snare a satellite, the first ever “space salvage.”

1981 – Space Shuttle Columbia performs mission STS-2, the first time that a manned, reusable aircraft returned back into space.

Photo by Joe Pries

1980 – Delta Air Lines orders 60 Boeing 757-200s, the largest single order at the time for a single airliner type.

1980 – Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Saturn, flying 77,000 miles above its surface and taking photo of its rings.

1921 – The first air-to-air refueling is made when American Wesley May steps from the wing of one aircraft to that of another carrying a five-gallon can of gasoline strapped to his back.

1919 – Keith and Ross Smith set out to fly a Vickers Vimy, registered G-EAOU, from England to Australia, the first flight between these two places. They arrive in Darwin on December 18.

1912 – A Curtiss Triad floatplane becomes the first aircraft to be launched by catapult, at the US Navy’s Washington Navy Yard, being catapulted by a compressed air system from an anchored barge.

1903 – The 1st fully practical airship, the Lebaudy, makes a successful flight in Paris, France. The 190-foot-long airship flies 38.5 miles, achieving a speed of 25mph.