January 28

2012 -- Hundreds of passengers were grounded in several Spanish airports today after the airline Spanair abruptly ended its activities, canceling all flights.

2012 -- Switzerland and Germany on Saturday paved the way for an agreement on a long-standing dispute over flight noise from Zurich airport. 

2012 -- Each day, thousands of passengers are stuck on planes at the airports — Kennedy, La Guardia and Newark Liberty International — sitting in line behind a dozen other planes waiting to take off or circling overhead until they get clearance to land.

And the delays persist, despite changes in procedures and schedules by the airlines, airports and Federal Aviation Administration over the years. (In the latest move, the F.A.A. last fall created new flight paths out of Kennedy to speed up departures.) Even a significant drop in the number of flights since the economy slowed has not helped much. Flight delays last year in New York were as bad as they were five years ago

 2011 -- Three private jets have left Cairo International Airport in Egypt, under heavy guard that prevented the passengers from being seen by the public.

The passengers in an escorted convoy of black luxury sedans arrived at terminal 4 at Cairo International Airport where the jets were waiting.

2011 -- The Polish airline LOT has said it has canceled a flight from Warsaw to Cairo because of the curfew introduced in the Egyptian capital.

2002 –- TAME Flight 120, a Boeing 727-134 (HC-BLF) crashes into the side of the Cumbal Volcano in Colombia, killing all 94 aboard.

The cause was attributed to the Captain’s decision to continue the approach into Colonel Luis. A Mantilla Airport in poor weather, and poor navigation as well.

1998 -- Andy Nelson and navigator Bertrand Piccard, in the Breitling Orbiter II set the world record for endurance at nine days and 17 hours - or, to be exact, 233 hours, and 55 minutes.

But the journey was stopped when they were not allowed to over-fly China. The preparation took more than four years with a team of 13 people. Bertrand is the grandson of the balloon flight pioneer, Auguste Piccard. With Brian Jones, Bertrand accomplished the first complete non-stop round-the-world flight on 21 Mar 1999 in the Breitling Orbiter 3.

1993 -- Royal Flying Corps Sopwith Dolphin American flying Ace Captain James William Pearson died at Montclair, New Jersey, U.S.A.

Before his death, he was believed to be the last surviving Ace of WW I.

1991 -- The explosion of a large stockpile of Iraqi ammunition, set off by a coalition forces air strike, was so massive that it registered on military DSP satellites as having the force of an atomic bomb explosion.

Both the Soviet Union and Israel contacted the United States to verify whether a tactical nuclear weapon had been used in battle.

1991 -- ERIS, the Exoatmospheric Reentry-vehicle Interception System developed by Lockheed Corporation received its first successful test.

An unarmed American Minuteman missile was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and the ERIS missile was fired from Kwajalein Atoll. The ERIS intercepted the Minuteman at a point over the Pacific Ocean less than eight minutes later. A second successful test took place on March 13, 1992, but the ERIS project, part of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative, was cancelled after the end of the Cold War.

1986 -- Astronauts Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Michael Smith, Gregory Jarvis, and Francis Scobee were killed when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded¹ within seconds after its launch. [Video]

Also killed was Christa McAuliffe, a teacher who was going aboard as a civilian. In the aftermath of the explosion, President Ronald Reagan appointed a special commission to determine what went wrong with Challenger and to develop future corrective measures. The presidential commission was headed by former secretary of state William Rogers, and included former astronaut Neil Armstrong and former test pilot Chuck Yeager. The investigation determined that the explosion was caused by the failure of an "O-ring" seal in one of the two solid-fuel rockets. The elastic O-ring did not respond as expected because of the cold temperature at launch time, which began a chain of events that resulted in the massive explosion. As a result of the explosion, NASA did not send astronauts into space for more than two years as it redesigned a number of features of the space shuttle.

1981 -- Pan Am commences a weekly New York-Beijing service.

1968 -- A recovery team is searching for wreckage from an American Air Force B-52 bomber armed with four hydrogen bombs which crashed into the sea near the Arctic air base of Thule in Greenland.

The American defence department did not release details of the Thule crash for 18 hours.
It feared "serious political difficulties" with Denmark over the crash. The Danish authorities, which control Greenland, were informed in 1965 that the Americans had been storing nuclear weapons at Thule - against their wishes. Although Thule was no longer used as a weapons store, it was still embarrassing for the U.S. to admit planes carrying nuclear weapons were regularly flying in Danish airspace. It took 700 men over nine months to remove all the contaminated material including snow from the crash site. America subsequently ended the airborne alert which kept some B-52 bombers in the air at all times in case of surprise nuclear attack

1973 -- 28--Aircraft from U.S. carriers Enterprise and Ranger flew 81 combat sorties on the first day of the Vietnam cease-fire against lines-ofcommunication targets in Laos.

The corridor for overflights was between Hue and Danang in SVN

1968 -- Radiation alert following B-52 crash.  A recovery team is searching for wreckage from an American Air Force B-52 bomber armed with four hydrogen bombs which crashed into the sea near the Arctic air base of Thule in Greenland.

Investigators are searching the area eight miles west of Thule for radioactive debris. The accident happened a week ago when the plane caught fire and the crew bailed out before the plane crashed through the ice.  The American defencs department did not release details of the Thule crash for 18 hours. It feared "serious political difficulties" with Denmark over the crash.  The Danish authorities, which control Greenland, were informed in 1965 that the Americans had been storing nuclear weapons at Thule - against their wishes.  Although Thule was no longer used as a weapons store, it was still embarrassing for the US to admit planes carrying nuclear weapons were regularly flying in Danish airspace.  It took 700 men over nine months to remove all the contaminated material including snow from the crash site.

1967 -- Apollo 204 Review Board established by NASA's Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr., to investigate the Apollo 204 accident that had killed the 204 prime crew January 27. The Board would report to the NASA Administrator.

1964 -- A U.S. Air Force T-39 Sabreliner strays into East Germany and is shot down by Soviet MiG-19s near Erfurt, killing all 3 crewmembers.

The Soviets responded with charges that the flight was a "gross provocation," and the incident was an ugly reminder of the heightened East-West tensions of the Cold War era.

1964 -- The United States and Spain agreed to the construction and operation of a $1.5 million space tracking and data acquisition station about 48 kilometers (30 miles) west of Madrid, Spain.

Linked with the NASA Deep Space Instrumentation Facility, the station included a 26-meter (85-foot)-diameter parabolic antenna and equipment for transmitting, receiving, recording, data handling, and communications with the spacecraft.

1964 -- Maj. Robert A. Rushworth flew the 100th X-15 flight near Edwards AFB, California.

He flew 3,682 mph and 107,000 feet in altitude in this mission.

1963 -- WW I French Air Service Ace Sous Lieutenant René Paul Louis Dousinelle died.

1963 -- Swiss-American chemical engineer and balloonist Jean-Felix Piccard died at age 79.

He conducted stratospheric flights for the purpose of cosmic-ray research. His first balloon ascent was with his twin brother, Auguste Piccard in 1914. On October 1934, With his wife, he made the first successful stratosphere flight through clouds, ascending to a height of 11 miles (18 km). In 1936, Piccard flew the first successful plastic film balloon, which he invented and developed, the precursor of the plastic film balloon for high altitude experiments still used for scientific purposes. In 1937, he made an ascent of 11,000 feet (3,350 m) to test a metal gondola attached to a cluster of 98 balloons. He also developed a frost-resistant window for balloon gondolas and an electronic system for emptying ballast bags.

1962 -- Royal Naval Air Service Major Robert John Orton Compston credited with 25 victories during WWI died.

He was one of only seven airman in this war who won three awards of the Distinguished Service Cross.

1959 -- Third U.S. space balloon test.

Nike-Cajun successfully launched 12-foot-diameter test inflatable sphere to a height of 75 miles over NASA Wallops Island, the sphere inflating satisfactorily.

1948 –- A DC-3 flight chartered by the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service crashes into hills west of Coalinga, California, killing 32. The crash became the impetus of the Woody Guthrie song Deportee.

1945 -- Eighth Air Force celebrated its third birthday with a 1,000-plane raid on Germany. By this time, the Eighth had flown more than 250,000 bomber and 210,000 fighter sorties to deliver 518,000 tons of bombs and destroy 13,000 enemy planes.

1942 -- 

The “Flying Wing” Takes To The Air (Mechanix Illustrated, Jan, 1942).

This was the third in a series of Flying Wings by Jack Northrop that began in 1929 with the first onesuccessfully flying in 1930.

1938 -- Capt. Robert O. D. Sullivan flew from New York to Marseilles, France, to make his first flight across the Atlantic through January 29. On December 1942, he made his "100th" flight across the Atlantic.

1918 -- Canadian Royal Flying Corps Captain Frank Ormond Mongoose Soden scored his 14th victory.

1918 -- Italian Air Service Tenente Silvio Scaroni scored his 11th victory.

Other Italian Air Service Aces who scored victories this day in 1918 were: Sergente Marziale Cerutti (#4 & #5); Tenente Mario Fucini (#3); and Sergente Antonio Reali (#2 & #3).

1912 -- Lloyd William Standley is born.

He was Chief of Mechanical Design for the Atlas.

1908 -- Lts. Frank P. Lahm, Henry W. Alden, and J. G. Obermeier made a two-hour, 20-minute balloon trip in the Ohio from Canton, Ohio, to Oil City, Pennsylvania, covering about 100 miles.

1905 -- Luther George Simjian is born.

In WW II, his Range Estimation Trainer provided a simulator for pilots to learn to identify aircraft types, their distance and speed. It used synchronized moving mirrors, controlled lighting and a miniature airplane to present various speeds, lighting, and angles.

1884 -- Auguste Piccard is born.

Swiss-born Belgian physicist notable for his exploration of both the upper stratosphere and the depths of the sea in ships of his own design. In 1930 he built a balloon to study cosmic rays. In 1932 he developed a new cabin design for balloons and in the same year ascended by balloon in a pressurised gondola to 16,916 m (55,000 feet). On later flights he reached 72,000 feet. He coined the word bathyscaphe for his navigable deep-diving vessel.

1884 -- Jean-Felix Piccard is born.

Swiss-born American chemical engineer and balloonist who conducted stratospheric flights for the purpose of cosmic-ray research. His first balloon ascent (1913) was with his twin brother, Auguste Piccard. With his wife, on 23 Oct 1934, he made the first successful stratosphere flight through clouds, ascending to a height of 11 miles (18 km). In 1936, Piccard flew the first successful plastic film balloon, which he invented and developed, the precursor of the plastic film balloon for high altitude experiments still used for scientific purposes. In 1937, he made an ascent of 11,000 feet (3,350 m) to test a metal gondola attached to a cluster of 98 balloons. He also developed a frost-resistant window for balloon gondolas and an electronic system for emptying ballast bags.

1871 -- The last balloon to leave Paris during the Persian siege takes off with orders for the French fleet to bring food and supplies to replenish the French capital, an armistice having been signed. The flight of the General Cambronne ends a period of almost exactly 5 months during which the advantages of balloons were put to efficient use.

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¹  President Reagan was scheduled to give the State of the Union address before Congress that evening,m but instead focused solely on the seven crew members who lost their lives--the first American astronauts ever to die in flight.

Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union,but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans.  Today is a day for mourning and remembering.  Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger.  We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country.  This is truly a national loss.
    Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground.  But we've never lost an astronaut in flight.  We've never had a tragedy like this.  And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle.  But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, overcame them, and did their jobs brilliantly.  We mourn seven heroes:  Micahel Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe.  We mourn their loss as a nation together.
    To the families of the seven:  We cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy,  But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much.  Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy."  They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths.  They wished to serve, and they did.  They served all of us.  We've grown used to wonders in this century.  It's hard to dazzle us, but for twenty-five years the United States space program has been doing just that.  We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun.  We're still pioneers.  They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
    And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff.  I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen.  It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery.  It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons.  The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave.  The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
    I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it.  We don't hide our space program.  We don't keep secrets and cover things up.  We do it all up front and in public.  That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute.  We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space.  Nothing ends here.  Our hops and our journeys continue.  I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them, "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades, and we know ofy our anguish.  We share it.
    There's a coincidence today.  On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama.  In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it."   Well today we can say of the Challenger crew, Their dedication was, like Drake's complete.
    The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God."