This Date in Aviation: September 23 - September 25

"ttyymmnn" (ttyymmnn) 09/25/2015 at 11:35 • Filed to: planelopnik, planelopnik history

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This is today’s This Date in Aviation History , getting you caught up on milestones and important historical events in aviation from September 23 through September 25.

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September 24, 1949 – The first flight of the North American T-28 Trojan. The !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! was one of the world’s truly great airplanes, and served as the primary trainer for no less than 61 nations. But even a great plane like the Texan would need to be replaced one day. The aircraft that would take its place, the North American T-6 Trojan, took its maiden flight in 1949, and almost 2000 aircraft were produced between 1950 and 1957. The T-28A began service with the US Air Force, but was quickly adopted by the US Navy and Marine Corps in two variants. The T-28B, which was similar to the Air Force version but with a more powerful engine, and the T-28C, which was designed for carrier operations with a smaller propeller and arrester hook. While the Air Force phased the Trojan out of service by the 1960s, it continued to serve the Navy and Marines well into the 1980s before being replaced by the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , which was powered by a turboprop engine. But despite its beginnings as a trainer aircraft, the Trojan proved to be an effective combat platform as well. During the Vietnam War, both the US Air Force and the South Vietnamese Air Force flew an armed version of the Trojan known as the T-28D Nomad for the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (COIN) role, as well as reconnaissance, SAR, and forward air control. The T-28D provided a rugged, flexible platform that could carry bombs, rockets or napalm for ground attack missions, and also served as an armed escort for attacks by !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! or attack helicopters. Like its predecessor, the Trojan would serve for a host of nations, twenty-eight in all. The last T-28 was retired by the US Navy in 1984, but the aircraft served for another ten years with the Philippine Air Force. (Photo by Tim Shaffer)

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September 25, 1978 – Mid-air collision between PSA Flight 182 and a Cessna 172 over San Diego, California. As commercial aviation and private aviation became ever more popular following WWII, the skies of the world became more congested with aircraft. Mid-air collisions became a tragic occurrence, and even with air traffic control (ATC) and ground-based radar, accidents still happen. One of the more notable crashes took place over San Diego, California in 1978, when a Pacific Southwest Airlines !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (N533PS) was making its approach to San Diego’s Lindbergh Field. The cockpit crew of 3 were all highly experienced, and the flight was routine. Visibility was excellent. Also operating in the area was a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! with two pilots, one of whom was practicing instrument landing system (ILS) approaches, which meant that the pilot was wearing a hood that limited his vision to the controls inside the aircraft. The other pilot, his instructor, had no limitations on his vision. ATC alerted the 727 crew to the presence of the Cessna, directing them to maintain separation from the other plane, but they soon lost sight of it and assumed it had passed out of harm’s way. They did not notify ATC that they had lost it, even though the direction from ATC requires them to maintain visual contact with the other aircraft throughout their approach. Also, the Cessna had made a 90-degree change of direction without requesting or receiving clearance to do so. Their course change put them directly ahead and below the 727, where investigators believe it may have been difficult for the 727 crew to see it against the houses below. ATC also detected a conflict alert, but did not warn the pilots since alerts of this type were common when no real danger was at hand. When the planes collided, the Cessna broke apart and crashed, and catastrophic damage was done to the right wing of the 727, rendering it unflyable. It crashed in a residential area, killing 142, including nine on the ground, making it the deadliest crash in the US until it was eclipsed just eight months later by the crash of !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! in Chicago. In the investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in a controversial finding, placed most of the blame on the PSA pilots for failing to maintain visual contact with the Cessna. ATC and the Cessna pilots were listed as contributing factors. It wasn’t until 1986, after an eerily similar !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! , that !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (TCAS) were mandated for all jets in US airspace. All light aircraft operating in high-traffic areas must now also be equipped with a Mode C transponder that reports the aircraft’s altitude to controllers. (Photo by Hans Wendt)

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Short Take Off

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September 24, 1929 – Lt. James “Jimmy” Doolittle completes the first blind takeoff, flight and landing while flying a specially prepared Consolidated NY-2 biplane. In addition to the Sperry Directional Gyro and artificial horizon, a radio range and marker beacon system developed by the Bureau of Standards and a special receiving radio allowed Mitchell to fly completely unsighted for 15 minutes before landing safely. You can read a very detailed account of this flight at the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . (Photo of model via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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September 25, 1945 – The first flight of the de Havilland Dove. A monoplane successor to the pre-WWII !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! biplane, the Dove was one of the designs to come out of the !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ’s search for a domestically produced British airliner following the war. Carrying eight passengers and built from 1946 to 1967, over 500 Doves were produced, and it proved to be one of the most successful designs of its era. (Photo by Andre Wadman via !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! )

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If you enjoy these Aviation History posts, please let me know in the comments. And if you missed any of the past articles, you can find them all at !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .

Jcarr > ttyymmnn 09/25/2015 at 11:47

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From whence my avatar pic comes.