2016 in aviation

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Centuries:	20th century · 21st century · 22nd century
Decades:	1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s
Years:	2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019

This is a list of aviation-related events from 2016:

Events

January

• During the month, the Government of Italy gives permission for armed U.S. unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to fly strike missions from Naval Air Station Sigonella on Sicily – where the United States has based unarmed surveillance UAVs since 2001 – against Islamic State targets in Libya, but only if they are "defensive," meaning that they are flown to protect U.S. special operations forces operating in and near Libya or rescuers attempting to retrieve downed U.S. pilots. Italy continues to prohibit U.S. offensive strikes from Italian territory, and also reserves to itself the right to veto any U.S. mission.^[1]

2 January

• Indian aerial surveillance platforms detect a group of gunmen entering an Indian Air Force base at Pathankot, India, and Indian Air Force security forces exchange fire with them in a housing area. Four of the gunmen and two Indian Air Force security personnel are killed. Gunfire erupts again two hours later, and Indian helicopters fire on gunmen in the base later in the day. India security firces finally declare the base secure in the late afternoon, 14 hours after the intrusion began.^[2][3][4]

3 January

• Combat again breaks out at India's air base at Pathankot after security forces discover two militants still hiding on the base. Security forces reportedly kill the militants.^[4]
• An official at the United States Embassy in Addis Ababa announces that by mutual agreement with the Government of Ethiopia the United States had shut down its military unmanned aerial vehicle base at Arba Minch Airport in Arba Minch in southern Ethiopia in September 2015. The two countries had agreed that the base, which had opened in 2011, was no longer necessary. It is the first public announcement that the base had been closed.^[5][6]

4 January

• Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority suspends all civilian flights between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The move, which comes a day after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran, raises doubts about the future ability of Islamic pilgrims from Iran to visit Mecca and of Shiite pilgrims from Saudi Arabia to visit religious sites in Iran.^[7]
• John Boggs files suit against William Merideth for shooting down his unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) in Bullitt County, Kentucky, with a shotgun as the UAV hovered over Merideth's property, asserting that the drone was in public airspace when it was shot down and requesting $1,800 in damages and clarification as to how high above private property public airspace begins. Merideth had claimed the UAV was spying on his family and violating his privacy. The case promises to spur the U.S. judicial system to clarify where private property rights end and federal jurisdiction begins in U.S. airspace, with a significant potential impact on future private and commercial UAV operations.^[8][9]

5 January

• When two United States Air Force Sikorsky HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters attempt to evacuate wounded Afghan military personnel near Marjah, Afghanistan, one strikes a wall and is disabled and the other is ordered to abort the mission under heavy ground fire. One American is killed and two wounded in the incident; they are the first U.S. casualties in Afghanistan in 2016.^[10]

7 January

• Iran claims that an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition operating against rebel forces in Yemen struck its embassy in Sana'a overnight. Local residents and press observers report no signs of damage at the embassy.^[11]
• A report by the inspector general of the United States Department of Transportation to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) expresses a concern that airline pilots have become so reliant on automation technology to fly their aircraft that they have lost the skills necessary to take manual control of an airliner in order to deal promptly and effectively with unforeseen events. The FAA responds that it will require enhancements in pilot training for the manual flight of aircraft, and the Air Line Pilots Association endorses the need for well-trained aircrew aboard airliners.^[12][13]

8 January

• West Air Sweden Flight 294, a Canadair CL-600-2B19 Regional Jet CRJ-200PF (registration SE-DUX) on a domestic cargo flight in Norway carrying mail and packages from Oslo to Tromsø, suddenly goes into a steep descent after a brief Mayday call and crashes near Akkajaure, Sweden, killing its crew of two.^[14]

9 January

• Four air-to-ground missiles launched by Russian Federation Air Force aircraft hit a building used as a court house and prison by the Nusra Front in Maarrat al-Nu'man in Syria's Idlib Governorate. The strike kills at least 57 people, including 23 Nusra Front members.^[15]
• Tracey Curtis-Taylor completes a solo flight from Farnborough Airport in Farnborough, England, to Sydney, Australia, in the Boeing-Stearman Model 75 open-cockpit biplane Spirit of Artemis. During the 100-day, 13,000-mile (21,000-kilometer) flight, begun on 1 October 2015, she has flown over 23 countries and made 50 refueling stops. The flight recreates the 1930 Croydon-to-Darwin flight of Amy Johnson, the first solo flight between the United Kingdom and Australia by a woman.^[16][17]

10 January

• As a show of force after a 6 January nuclear weapons test by North Korea, a Guam-based U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress flies to South Korea, where it circles over Osan Air Base flanked by a U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon and a Republic of Korea Air Force F-15 Eagle before returning to Guam.^[18]

12 January

• An unarmed Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle flies near the French Navy aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle and directly over the United States Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) as they operate in international waters in the Persian Gulf. Iran will announces the flight and release purported video from it on 29 January – implying that the video had been taken earlier that day rather than on 12 January – and a United States Fifth Fleet spokesman will respond by calling the flight "abnormal and unprofessional."^[19]
• An air-and-bus bridge begins operating as a pilot program to help 8,000 Cuban immigrants stranded in Costa Rica since Nicaragua closed its border to them on 13 November 2015 by allowing them to fly out of Costa Rica and reach Mexico, from whhch they can emigrate to the United States. The first flight of the air-and-bus bridge departs Liberia, Costa Rica, during the evening as part of regional agreement to help the Cubans bypass Nicaragua.^[20]

13 January

• An Israeli Air Force aircraft strikes a group of Palestinians – members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade – on a beach in the northern Gaza Strip near the Israeli border fence, killing one and injuring three others. The Israel Defense Force claims that they were planting explosives with which to target Israeli soldiers patrolling the border on the other side of the fence.^[21]

14 January

• Air France officially retires the Boeing 747 from its fleet with Flight 744, a scenic flight by a Boeing 747-400 with 432 people on board, including 380 paying passengers, in formation with 12 Dassault/Dornier Alpha Jets of the French Air Force's Patrouille de France aerobatic team. The airliner takes off from Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and makes a clockwise circuit that takes it over Lyon, Geneva, Marseille, Montpellier, Bordeaux, and Deauville before returning to Charles de Gaulle Airport, offering passengers scenic views of Mont Blanc, Normandy, and Mont Saint-Michel along the way. The Boeing 747 had been part of the Air France fleet since 1974 and the 68 Boeing 747s the airline had operated had carried 250 million passengers. In the future plans to use its Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s for long-haul flights.^[22][23][24]
• Two United States Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463), each carrying six Marines, collide and crash in a fireball late in the evening over the Pacific Ocean north of Oahu just off Haleiwa, Hawaii, and crash, leaving all 12 Marines missing.^[25] The United States Coast Guard will call off the search for the Marines on 19 January,^[26] and the Marine Corps officially will declare them dead on 20 January.^[27]

15 January

• A late-evening U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle-launched air-to-ground missile strike kills three suspected al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula members as they drive in a car in Yemen's Shabwa Governorate.^[28]
• SpaceX successfully fires the engines of the first stage of Falcon 9 rocket it had used to launch a satellite into orbit and then landed successfully on land in December 2015, the first time in a history a rocket stage had made a soft, controlled landing. The firing of the engines demonstrates the feasibility of reusing the rocket stage, an important step in the development of reusable rockets that make space launches less expensive.^[29]

16 January

• Speaking at the conclusion of a missile exercise at Skwierzyna, Poland, involving U.S. and Polish military forces, Polish Minister of National Defense Antoni Macierewicz says that the Government of Poland wants a permanent presence of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and U.S. military forces in Poland, including MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missiles.^[30]

17 January

• After successfully launching the Jason-3 satellite into orbit from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket touches down on a landing platform in the Pacific Ocean 200 miles (322 km) off California softly enough to land successfully, but topples over when of its landing legs fails to lock in place and collapses. It is SpaceX's third attempt to land a Falcon 9 first stage at sea; the two previous attempts, both in 2015, also had been unsuccessful, although SpaceX had made history's first successful landing of a reusable rocket stage – also of a Falcon 9 – on land in December 2015.^[29]
• Just before midnight, aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition strike a police facility in Sana'a, Yemen, used by both security forces and the Houthi rebels as an assembly point, killing 26 people and injuring 15. The dead and wounded are all policemen and Houthi rebels.^[31]

21 January

• An air strike by the Saudi-led coalition against a rebel-held facility at Ras Isa on Yemen's Red Sea coast used to load tanker trucks with refined petroleum products for distribution in rebel-held areas of Yemen destroys trucks and starts a large fire, killing at least nine and perhaps as many as 16 people and injuring at least 30.^[32]

22 January

• Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition strike targets across Yemen, killing dozens of people. Houthi rebels in Saada Governorate report that the strikes kill 26 people in Dahyan, including the driver of a Doctors Without Borders ambulance. Strikes against rebel weapon depots on the mountain of Nahdeen kill another 22 people, and strikes in Hodeida targeting trucks carrying smugged oil from the port there to rebel forces kill another 10 people. Strikes also target gatherings of Houthis and rebel Yemeni Army units allied with them in Al Jawf Governorate, Dhamar, ad Taiz.^[33]
• The United States Fish and Wildlife Service announces that after the 2016 season it will end its support of the use of ultralight aircraft to lead whooping cranes on their migration from Wisconsin to the Florida Gulf Coast each autumn in Operation Migration. A conclusion by experts in whooping crane biology that human intervention such as ultralight flights impairs the ability of the cranes to learn the parenting skills necessary to raise chicks in the wild prompts the decision to end support.^[34]

23 January

• Air raids on Islamic State-held Khasham in Syria's Deir ez-Zor Governorate kill 47 people. Observers in Syria suspect Russian aircraft of having conducted the raids.^[35]

26 January

• A month-long Syrian government military campaign results in the seizure of the crossroads at Sheikh Miskeen, Syria, from rebel forces. Russian airstrikes have played a conspicuous role in the success of the campaign.^[36]
• The United States Department of the Treasury announces the lifting of major U.S. trade and travel restrictions on Cuba. The new regulations allow code sharing between U.S. and Cuban airlines, airplane-leasing deals in the United States for Cuba, and permission for U.S. airline crews to travel to Cuba.^[37]

28 January

• Iran agrees to buy 118 airliners – 73 wide-body and 45 narrow-body – from Airbus in a deal worth $27,000,000,000. The purchase consists of 12 A380, 16 A350-1000, 45 A330, and 45 A320-family aircraft. The deal is contingent on Airbus receiving export licenses from the United States, where 10 percent of parts for Airbus aircraft are manufactured. Iran, which first plans to focus on expansion of its airports and more urgent civil aviation needs, does not plan to take delivery of the airliners until ca. 2020.^[38]

29 January

• Turkey claims a Russian Federation Air Force Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name "Fullback") has violated its airspace near the border with Syria during the day, warning Russia of consequences if any further violations take place. A Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman denies any Russian intrusion into Turkey's airspace;^[39] he asserts that Turkish radar installations are incapable of identifying a particular aircraft's type or nationality and that no Russian pilot had received a verbal warning in either English or Russian, and he dismisses the Turkish claim as "pure propaganda."^[40]

February

1 February

• Two evening airstrikes by U.S. aircraft operating as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) intervention in Afghanistan level the Islamic State of Afghanistan "Voice of the Caliphate" radio station, knocking it off the air during its nightly illegal propaganda broadcast from Nangarhar Province's Achin District. The strikes combined with Afghan Army ground operations kill 29 Islamic State supporters, including eight who worked for the radio station and an associated Internet operation.^[41][42]

2 February

• Daallo Airlines Flight 159, an Airbus A321-100 (registration SX-BHS) with 81 people on board flying from Mogadishu, Somalia, to Djibouti City, Djibouti, experiences an explosion which sets one passenger on fire and blows a hole in the fuselage, through which the burning passenger is sucked from the plane at an altitude of 14,000 feet (4,267 meters). The airliner returns to Mogadishu and lands safely. The burned body of the man sucked from the plane is found near Balad, Somalia; two other people on board the plane suffer minor injuries.

4 February

• Russian aircraft support a Syrian government ground offensive which cuts a key rebel supply route to Aleppo. In what Syrian rebel fighters describe as one of the most intense periods of Russian airstrikes since the Russian air campaign in Syria began, Russian aircraft conduct 200 strikes over a 24-hour period.^[43]

7 February

• A strike by unidentified aircraft hits a medical technology college in Derna, Libya, killing four people. The area is held by a coalition of Islamic militant groups who have been defending it from the Islamic State.^[44]

8 February

• Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau announces that Canada will withdraw its six CF-18 Hornets from bombing missions against the Islamic State within two weeks, but will extend its non-combat air support to the U.S.-led air campaign against the Islamic State until 31 March 2017, using one CC-150 Polaris aerial refueling aircraft and up to two CP-140 Aurora reconnaissance planes.^[45]
• Talking to the media in Ankara, Turkey, after holding discussions about the European migrant crisis, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel says that she is "not just appalled, but horrified" at the suffering cause by airstrikes – particularly Russian airstrikes – in Syria, while Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoglu says that "No one should excuse or show tolerance toward the Russian air attacks that amount to ethnic massacres by saying ‘Turkey takes care of the Syrian refugees anyway.’"^[46] 
• A panel of the International Civil Aviation Organization proposes history's first worldwide standards for carbon dioxide emissions for aircraft; the standards would apply to all new aircraft designs beginning in 2020 and to all newly delivered aircraft beginning in 2023. Environmental groups criticize the standard for not addressing emissions by existing aircraft or new aircraft designed before 2020 or delivered before 2023.^[47]

9 February

• Testifying before a United States Senate committee, U.S. intelligence officials report that the Russian air campaign in Syria has turned the tide in the Syrian Civil War and made it more likely that the regime of Bashar al-Assad will remain in power.^[48]

10 February

• Airstrikes in Syria near Aleppo hit two hospitals. The U.S.-led coalition blames Russia for the strike; Russia responds by blaming the United States, which in turn announces that the U.S.-led coalition made no strikes in the area during the day.^[49]
• During a flight from Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic to Moscow with 355 passengers on board, an Orenair Boeing 777-200 (registration VP-BHB) experiences an engine failure and smoke in the cabin.^[50] The crew shuts down the malfunctioning engine, the smoke ceases, and the aircraft performs an emergency landing in Punta Cana during which a tire bursts and sparks appear.^[50] The passengers and crew evacuate via evacuation slides with no injuries.^[50]
• The president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), Paul Rinaldi, tells the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure that NATCA supports a United States House bill that would create a federally chartered corporation to operate the air traffic control system in the United States and transfer 38,000 U.S. federal government workers, including 14,000 NATCA air traffic controllers who work for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, to the new corporation.^[51]

11 February

• At meetings in Munich, Germany, a group of 17 countries including Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United States agree to a "cessation of hostilities" in the Syrian Civil War that is to take effect by 18 February. Under the agreement, Russia projects that it will cease airstrikes in Syria on 18 February except for strikes against the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, which it will continue, although it also ambiguously reserves to right strike any groups it deems "terrorists;" the agreement also includes humanitarian air drops of supplies in Syria that are expected to begin as early as 13–14 February, with Russia planning to use its aircraft to drop supplies in seven locations in Syria. After the agreement takes effect, a task force of countries headed by Russia and the United States is to establish geographic and other limits on airstrikes in Syria, adjudicate differences of opinion about which targets remain legitimate for airstrikes, and select targets for airstrikes, the first time the United States has agreed o do more than "deconflict" its air operations over Syria with those of Russia. Neither the Government of Syria or any of the rebel groups fighting against it take part in the meetings or are parties to the agreement.^[49][52][53]

12 February

• Syrian government and Russian aircraft strike targets in rebel areas in many locations across Syria, including targets north of Aleppo in support of a 10-day-old Syrian government ground offensive seeking to surround and cut off rebel-held Aleppo.^[53]

15 February

• Aircraft hit at least two schools and four hospitals in northern Syria with air-to-ground missiles, killing nearly 50 people. Russia responds to reports that its aircraft were responsible by blaming the United States for the strikes, as does the Government of Syria. The United States responds that no aircraft of the U.S.-led coalition was operating in the area at the time.^[54][55]
• Villagers and rebel forces in southwestern Somalia claim that a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has crashed in a village there. The United States responds that all of its UAVs have returned safely from their missions and are accounted for.^[56]

17–18 February

• Turkish Air Force jets bomb Kurdish camps in northern Iraq hours after a suicide car bomb killed 28 people in Ankara, Turkey, on 17 February.^[57]

18 February

• The United States Government grants Boeing a license allowing the company to enter into talks with airlines in Iran about sales of airliners. Iran's aging airliner fleet and lack of Boeing 777s raises the possibility of significant sales for Boeing, although the company will require additional approval from the United States Government ensuring the legitimacy of any transactions before actually selling Iran any aircraft.^[58]

19 February

• Flying from bases in the United Kingdom, United States Air Force F-15 Eagles strike an Islamic State camp on the outskirts of Sabratha, Libya, killing Islamic State leader Noureddine Chouchane and 48 other Islamic State personnel.^[59][60]
• A deadline established on 12 February for a "cessation of hostilities" in Syria except for strikes against those targets mutually agreed to by Russia and the U.S.-led coalition passes without the ceasefire going into effect. Russia and the U.S.-led coalition have been unable to agree on what constitutes a "terrorist" target, with Russia taking the view that all groups opposing the Syrian government are terrorists and the U.S.-led coalition limiting the definition of terrorists in Syria to the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, leading to problems in determining which areas of Syria will be subject to Russian and U.S.-led coalition airstrikes after the "cessation of hostilities" begins; Turkey's insistence on targeting Kurdish forces in Syria adds to the disagreement over legitimate targets.^[61]
• In a ceremony in a hangar in Mojave, California, Sir Richard Branson unveils Virgin Galactic's new VSS Unity, a SpaceShipTwo-class rocket-powered suborbital spaceplane.^[62]

20 February

• The Government of Serbia claims that the 19 February U.S. airstrike in Sabratha, Libya, killed two Serbian diplomats. The United States Department of Defense responds that it does not believe the Serbians were at the targeted location during the airstrike and that the condition of their bodies is inconsistent with death in the airstrike.^[63]
• A day after the United Nations Security Council rejected a Russian draft resolution calling for an immediate end to Turkey’s shelling of and other military actions against Syria, Russia's Ministry of Defense announces that five additional Russian Federation Air Force Mikoyan MiG-29 (NATO reporting name "Fulcrum") fighters and a Mil Mi-8MT (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter have arrived at a military base outside Yerevan, Armenia, and soon will be sent to Erebuni Airport outside Yerevan – only 40 km (25 miles) from the Turkish border – to reinforce the 18 MiG-29s and seven Mil Mi-24P (NATO reporting name "Hind") attack helicopters already based there. After assembly, the additional aircraft are expected to begin practice flights from Erebuni Airport in mid-March.^[64][65]

21 February

• British Royal Navy test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown dies at the age of 97 at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, England. Surviving 11 plane crashes and the 1941 sinking of the escort aircraft carrier HMS Audacity (D10), he is credited with flying 487 different types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history, and with making 2,407 aircraft carrier landings, also a world record, as well as with making the first carrier landing in history, landing a de Havilland Sea Vampire aboard HMS Ocean (R68) in 1945. Although he had retired in 1970, he had continued flying until 1994.^[66][67]

22 February

• The United States and Russia announce that they have agreed on a partial ceasefire in Syria under which they will establish a "hotline" which they will use to share informnation allowing them to delineate the boundaries of areas controlled by specific groups in Syria. They also agree to limit airstrikes to areas controlled by the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra, or any other group that the United Nations designates as a terrorist group. Other rebel groups in Syria and the Government of Syria have until 26 February to inform the United States or Russia that they agree to the terms of the ceasefire; if they do not, they run the risk of coming under renewed air attack by Russia or the U.S.-led coalition.^[68]
• Russia requests permission to fly surveillance flights over the United States under the Treaty on Open Skies using Tupolev Tu-154 (NATO reporting name "Careless") aircraft equipped with new, high-powered digital cameras. The request prompts a debate within the United States Government over whether it is a small concession worth making in order to keep the treaty viable or a violation of the spirit of the treaty that would allow surveillance unintended when the treaty was signed in 1992. The treaty, signed by 34 countries, has been in force since 2002.^[69]

24 February

• Tara Air Flight 193, a de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter on a domestic flight in Nepal from Pokhara Airport in Pokhara to Jomsom Airport in Jomsom, crashes and burns near Dana in Myagdi District ten minutes after take off, killing all 23 people on board.

25 February

• In the morning, Turkish Army Bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopters attack a group of Kurdistan Workers Party personnel as they travel through a mountainous area near the İdil district of Turkey's Şırnak Province, killing nine of them.^[70]
• In the evening, Turkish Air Force jets based at Diyarbakir, Turkey, strike Kurdistan Workers Party logistical centers, ammunition depots, and shelters in northern Iraq,^[71]

26 February

• An Azur Air Boeing 767-300 makes a safe emergency landing in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, during a flight from Moscow to Phuket, Thailand, after an indicator shows low engine oil pressure.^[72]
• A few minutes after a final Russian airstrike hits Kafr Hamrah, a ceasefire goes into effect in the Syrian Civil War. Under its terms, the U.S.-led coalition is to continue airstrikes against the Islamic State and the Russian Federation Air Force is to continue to hit both Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra targets, with the United States and Russia coordinating their understanding of the boundaries of territories held by the two groups so that strikes do not occur against any of the other groups in Syria unless they have been declared terrorist groups by the United Nations.^[73]
• Solar Impulse 2, grounded at Kalaeloa Airport in Kalealoa, Hawaii, since 3 July 2015 due to battery damage caused by overheating during its attempt to become the first manned solar-powered aircraft to circumnavigate the Earth, makes it first test flight after repairs. Taking off from Kalealoa Airport, Solar Impulse 2 flies over the Pacific Ocean for 90 minutes, reaching an altitude of 8,000 feet (2,438 meters) before returning. The Solar Impulse team plans to resume the circumnavigation in late April 2016 with a flight from Hawaii to Phoenix, Arizona.^[74][75]

27 February

• Airstrikes attributed to the Saudi-led coalition targeting advancing rebel forces hit a market area in the Nehm region outside Sana'a, Yemen, killing at least 30 people and injuring at least 30 more.^[76]
• Russia announces a 24-hour cessation of all Russian airstrikes in Syria, reserving the right to continue airstrikes targeting the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra.^[77]

28 February

• On the second day of a planned two-week cessation of airstrikes in Syria, Russian aircraft based in northwestern Syria resume strikes in Syria, hitting six towns and villages in Aleppo, Hama, and Idib Governorates.^[77]

29 February

• An American tourist turns over to authorities in Mozambique what appears to be part of the skin of a Boeing 777 horizontal stabilizer found over the preceding weekend on a sandbar in the Indian Ocean just off the country's coast, raising expectations that it will turn out to be debris from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, a Boeing 777 missing since 8 March 2014.^[78]
• In the United States, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces that it has awarded a $20 million contract to Lockheed Martin to develop a quiet supersonic demonstration passenger aircraft using Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST). NASA hopes that the new technology, which allows aircraft flying at supersonic speeds to make only a soft thump instead of a loud and damaging sonic boom, will prompt the development of a new generation of "low-boom" supersonic transports that can fly over populated areas at supersonic speeds.^[79]
• The United States has conducted 135 airstrikes in Yemen since its air campaign there began, five of them since 1 January. The strikes have killed more that 650 al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula personnel and 105 civilians.^[80]

March

3 March

• A man finds a 40-by-40-centimeter (about 15.5-by-15.5-inch) square-shaped piece of debris with a blue border on a beach on Réunion in the Indian Ocean in almost the same place he found a flaperon from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in July 2015. He turns it in to authorities the following day, raising hopes that it is also from Flight 370, missing since 8 March 2014.^[81]

4 March

• In a sudden change of policy, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe agrees to suspend construction of a United States Marine Corps air station at Henoko Bay, Okinawa, and settle out of court on three lawsuits related to its construction. However, he also says that he remains committed to closing Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Okinawa, and moving its operations elsewhere and that Henoko Bay is the only practical alternative.^[82]
• A series of airstrikes by U.S. manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles in Shaddadi, Syria, kills 13 Islamic State personnel, likely including Abu Omar al-Shishani.^[83][84]
• Rebel groups in Syria complain that despite the ceasefire in the Syria Civil War – which excludes only groups deemed terrorist groups by the United Nations, notably the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra – that went into effect on 27 February, they are under attack by Syrian government forces supported by airstrikes they believe the Russian Federation Air Force is conducting. One rebel in Latakia Governorate in northwestern Syria claims that his group is "getting bombarded by 50 airstrikes a day by the Russians."^[85]
• SpaceX successfully launches a satellite payload into space using an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket, but its attempt to land the rocket's first stage on a floating platform - termed an "autonomous space port droneship" by SpaceX founder Elon Musk – is only partially successful: although the first stage lands on the platform, the landing is too hard for a successful recovery.^[86]

5 March

• A series of U.S. airstrikes by manned aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles against an Al-Shabaab training camp in Raso, Somalia, kills over 150 Al-Shabaab personnel.^[60]

7 March

• Unidentified aircraft strike a rebel-held fuel depot in Syria's Idlib Governorate, killing at least 12 and perhaps as many as 15 people.^[87]
• African Parks Network announces that the remains of its employee, American anti-poaching pilot Bill Fitzpatrick, have been recovered from a crash site in Cameroon. Fiztpatrick had disappeared on 22 June 2014 during a flight to a job in Odzala-Kokoua National Park in the Republic of the Congo. Local residents had discovered the wreckage of Fitzpatrick's plane in April 2015, but the remote site and dense vegetation in the area had made it difficult for helicopters to land there and bureaucratic procedures of the Government of Cameroon also had delayed the recovery of Fitzpatrick's remains.^[88]
• Boeing announces that it has filed a patent for a self-cleaning airplane lavatory which can sanitize itself in three seconds using far-ultraviolet light. The lavatory also features a hands-free faucet, soap dispenser, trash flap, toilet lid, toilet seat, and hand dryer, and Boeing reports that it also is designing a hands-free door latch and is studying the design of a hands-free system to lift and close the toilet seat so that all surfaces are exposed to the far-ultraviolet light during the cleaning cycle. Once Boeing offers the new lavatories to customers, it is expected to take years for airlines to update their fleets with them.^[89]

8 March

• U.S. Special Operations Forces conduct a joint U.S.-Somali helicopter raid against al-Shabaab in Somalia. The United States Department of Defense announces that U.S. forces play only an advisory role and do not accompany the Somali forces on the raid, although the helicopters employed are U.S military helicopters flown by U.S. crews.^[90]

9 March

• A True Aviation Antonov An-26 cargo plane (registration S2-AGZ) carrying a cargo of shrimp suffers the failure of an engine shortly after takeoff from Cox's Bazar Airport in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, and crashes into the Bay of Bengal five minutes after takeoff while attempting to return to the airport, killing three of the four people on board and critically injuring the only survivor.

12 March

• A South African family announces that it contacted aviation authorities in South Africa during the previous week to report a piece of debris their teenaged son had found on a beach in Mozambique on 30 December 2015 which they had taken home to South Africa. Aviation officials plan to examine it to see if it is from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.^[91]
• In response to a rocket attack on Israel from the Gaza Strip the previous evening, the Israeli Air Force conducts airstrikes against four Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip. In one of the aistrikes, an air-to-ground missile strikes a family home on the perimeter of one of the sites, killing two Palestinian children.^[92]

13 March

• As a result of the accident investigation into the 25 March 2015 crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, French aviation authorities call for stricter international monitoring of the mental health of pilots as well as guidelines under which doctors would be required to report pilots whose psychological condition might put flight safety at risk. In their report, the French also urge German authorities to limit the legal penalties imposed on doctors who breach patient confidentiality in good faith in order to report psychological problems among pilots and to clearly define the types of health issues in airline pilots that can represent an “imminent danger” to flight safety.^[93]

14 March

• In response to a suicide car bomb explosion in Ankara, Turkey, that killed at least 37 people the previous day, Turkish Air Force jets strike at least 18 Kurdistan Workers Party positions in northern Iraq, including ammunition depots, bunkers, and shelters.^[94]
• President of Russia Vladimir Putin makes a surprise, unilateral announcement that Russia will withdraw the "main part" of its military forces from Syria beginning on 15 March. However, Russia is to keep its air and naval bases in Syria open after the withdrawal, and it is not clear that the withdrawal will mean an end to Russian airstrikes in Syria.^[95]

15 March

• Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition conduct two airstrikes on a busy market in Mastaba in Yemen's Hajja Governorate, killing at least 119 people and wounding 47.^[96][97]
• Russian aircraft withdraw from Syria and return to Russia, where their crews receive a hero's welcome, at the time apparently bringing an end to the Russian air campaign there that began on 30 September 2015, although a Russian announcement on 18 March will clarify that Russian airstrikes in Syria continue and imply that a substantial number of Russian combat aircraft remain in Syria. The Russian armed forces also maintain an S-400 surface-to-air missile force in Syria and keep Russian naval and air bases there open after the withdrawal of the aircraft.^[98][99]
• An Ecuadorian Air Force IAI Arava carrying 22 members of the Ecuadorian Army for parachute training and an air force crew of three crashes in Hacienda la Palmira near Shell Mera, Ecuador, killing all on board.^{[100][101][102][103]}

16 March

• New United States Department of the Treasury regulations go into effect that among other things allow increased travel to Cuba by American citizens and allow U.S. airlines to open offices in Cuba. The changes are expected to improve the market for commercial air travel between the United States and Cuba.^[104]

17 March

• Saudi Arabia announces that its military coalition will scale back its operations against Houthi rebels in Yemen – maintaining only "small" teams of coalition forces on the ground to advise, train, and equip Yemeni forces – but will continue to provide air support to Yemeni forces battling the rebels.^[97]
• Boasting that Russia's 167-day intervention in Syria saved the regime of Syrian President Basher al-Assad from defeat at a coast of only $480 million, Russian President Vladimir Putin says that Russia could restore its military presence in Syria in a metter of hours if necessary and will maintain a powerful surface-to-air missile force there. He warns that Russia will respond with force if any rebel group breaks the Syrian ceasefire and or any attacks against Russian forces still in Syria occur, and suggests that Russia will intervene militarily in Syria again if it believes the Assad regime is in danger of losing power.^[105]

19 March

• A Flydubai aircraft from Dubai to Rostov-on-don crashed on landing, killing all 55 passengers on board.^[106]

18 March

• A Russian Armed Forces General Staff spokesman announces that Russia continues airstrikes in Syria, targeting Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra positions in support of an offensive by the Syrian Arab Army to retake Palmyra. Russia's 20 to 25 airstrikes per day are well below the 100 per day prior to the announced Russian withdrawal of its aircraft from Syria on 15 March, suggesting that Russia actually still maintains a substantial number of combat aircraft at Khmeimim Airbase in Latakia Governorate, its airbase in Syria.^[99]

19 March

• Flydubai Flight 981, a Boeing 737-8KN (registration A6-FDN), aborts two landing attempts in poor visibility at Rostov-on-Don Airport in Rostov-on-Don in southern Russia, making a go-around after each attempt. During its second go-around, it suddenly goes into a rapid descent from an altitude of 4,050 feet (1,234 meters) and crashes, killing all 62 people on board. It is the first fatal accident in Flydubai's seven-year history.
• Unidentified aircraft strike Islamic State-held ar-Raqqa, Syria, killing at least 39 – and perhaps as many as 43 – people and reportedly injuring at least 50 others. Different observers report the attacking aircraft as either Russian Federation Air Force or Syrian Air Force jets.^[107]
• Unidentified aircraft strike Islamic State targets in Palmyra, Syria, killing seven Islamic State personnel during a Syrian Arab Army offensive to retake Palmyra.^[107]

21 March

• The Russian Ministry of Defense warns that it will act unilaterally against rebel groups it believes are breaking the ceasefire in Syria, with airstrikes beginning as soon as 22 March if the United States does not address Russian proposals for dealing with ceasefire violations.^[108]
• A South African archaeologist finds a piece of debris on a beach in southern South Africa. The following day, Malaysia's Minister of Transport, Liow Tiong Lai, will announce the discovery and that the debris bears an aircraft engine manufacturer's and logo and will be examined to determine whether it is from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370.^[109]

22 March

• Two terrorist bombs detonate at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, killing at least 11 people and injuring around 100 others. The airport will remain closed until 3 April, with flights re-routed to nearby cities. A third bomb later explodes at Maelbeek (or Maalbeek) metro station in the City of Brussels, killing another 20 people and injuring another 130. The Islamic State claims responsibility for all three bomb blasts.^{[110][111][112]}
• U.S. aircraft conduct a strike against an al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula training camp in the mountains of Yemen. The United States Department of Defense announces that the attack killed "dozens" of the group's personnel.^[80]

27 March

• Suspected U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle strikes hit courtyards in two villages in Yemen with air-to-ground missiles, killing eight al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula members. Later in the day, a U.S. aircraft bombs a former Yemeni government intelligence building in Yemen's Abyan Governorate that al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is using as a base, killing 14 members of the group.^[113]
• Russian airstrikes support Syrian government troops as they retake Palmyra, Syria, from the Islamic State.^[114]
• The Russian Ministry of Defense announces that Russian forces have conducted 500 sorties in Syria since 7 March, hitting 2,000 Islamic State targets.^[115]

27–28 March (overnight)

• Aircraft of the Saudi-led coalition strike rebel targets in the suburbs of Aden, Yemen.^[116]

28 March

• Unidentified aircraft thought to belong to the Saudi-led coalition strike rebel targets in Yemen's Hadhramaut region southeast of Al Mukalla.^[116]

29 March

• A man claiming to be wearing an explosive belt hijacks EgyptAir Flight 181 – an Airbus A320-200 (registration SU-GCB) with 61 other people on board on a domestic flight in Egypt from Alexandria to Cairo – and forces it to fly to Larnaca International Airport in Larnaca, Cyprus, which is closed to all traffic after the hijacked airliner's arrival. The man is arrested and no one aboard the airliner is harmed.^[117]
• A chartered Aero Teknic Mitsubishi MU-2 flying in bad weather crashes into the Gulf of St. Lawrence on approach to Îles-de-la-Madeleine Airport in the Magdalen Islands in Quebec, Canada, killing all seven people on board. Canadian television commentator and former Minister of Transport Jean Lapierre, his wife, two of his brothers, and a sister are among the dead. They had been traveling to Lapierre's father's funeral in eastern Quebec.^[118]

30 March

• Unidentified aircraft strike the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area east of Damascus, Syria, killing at least 23 people.^[114]

31 March

• Heavy airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition support the beginning of an offensive by Iraqi military forces to take the city of Hīt, Iraq, from the Islamic State. Over the previous week, the coalition has conducted 17 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in the Hīt area in preparation for the offensive.^[119]
• An airstrike by a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle 20 miles (32 km) from Jilib, Somalia, hits a ground vehicle carrying senior Al-Shabaab leader and al-Qaeda member Hassan Ali Dhoore and two other Al-Shabaab members.^[120]
• The Russian Ministry of Defense releases videos that reveal that Russian Mil Mi-28N (NATO reporting name "Havoc") attack helicopters are operating in Syria. The videos show the helicopters destroying Islamic State armored vehicles near Palmyra.^{[115][121][122][123]}

April

2 April

• Since it began in October 2015, the U.S.-led coalition in Operation Tidal Wave II has conducted over 200 airstrikes against Islamic State oil wells, oil refineries, oil pipelines, and tanker trucks. Tidal Wave II is intended to degrade the Islamic State's finances.^[124]

3 April

• The Government of Australia announces that debris apparently from the interior of Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 – a Boeing 777 missing since March 2014 – found by hotel guests on Mauritius during the previous week will be examined to ascertain whether or not it is from the missing airliner. It would be the first piece of the debris from the aircraft's interior to be recovered.^[125]
• Supported by Russian Federation Air Force airstrikes, Syrian Arab Army troops on the offensive against Islamic State forces retake Qaryatain, Syria.^[126]
• A U.S. airstrike against a senior al-Qaeda operational meeting in Syria′s Idlib Governorate at the headquarters of Jund al-Aqsa, which fights alongside the Nusra Front in the Syrian Civil War, kills 21 Islamic militants, including senior al-Qaeda member Abu Firas al-Souri.^[126]
• On a limited basis, flight operations resume at Brussels Airport in Zaventem, Belgium, for the first time since the terrorist bombings there on 22 March. Only three flights, all Brussels Airlines departures, operate from the airport during the day.^[112]

4 April

• During takeoff from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia, Batik Air Flight 7703, a Boeing 737-8GP(WL) (registration PK-LBS) carrying 56 people, collides with a TransNusa Air Services ATR 42-600 (registration PK=TNJ) being towed to a hangar with four people on board. The Boeing 737′s left wing slices off the ATR 42′s vertical stabilizer and outer left wing, and the Boeing 737′s badly damaged left wing bursts into flames. All aboard both aircraft evacuate safely.^[127]
• Supported by heavy airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition targeting Islamic State forces and position, Iraqi government forces enter the city of Hīt, Iraq, a week after operations to retake it from the Islamic State began.^[128]
• The Syrian Arab Army releases video revealing that Russian Kamov Ka-52 Alligator (NATO reporting name "Hokum B") attack helicopters are operating in Syria. The video – purportedly the first video of the Ka-25 in combat ever made public – shows Ka-25s firing rockets at Islamic State forces in Syria near Qaryatain.^[121][123]
• A Bell 206 sightseeing helicopter crashes in the Smoky Mountains near Sevierville, Tennessee, and Great Smoky Mountains National Park, killing all five people on board.^[129]
• Alaska Air agrees to buy Virgin America for $2,600,000,000; including debt and aircraft leases, the deal is worth about $4,000,000,000. The combined airline will have 1,200 daily departures and hubs in Anchorage, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon, and San Francisco and Los Angeles, California. Virgin America had operated since 2007.^[130]

5 April

• A surface-to-air-missile fired from rebel-held territory in Syria near Aleppo shoots down a Syrian Arab Air Force reconnaissance plane. Its pilot ejects.^[131]

6 April

• A panel commissioned by the United States Government recommends that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration lift its ban on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, or "drones") flying over people and issue new regulations that require only that UAVs fly no lower than 20 feet (6.1 meters) above people and come no closer to people than 10 feet (3 meters) while taking off or landing.^[132]

8 April

• After several unsuccessful attempts, SpaceX successfully lands the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket on a platform – which SpaceX refers to as an "autonomous spaceport drone ship" – floating in the Atlantic Ocean off Florida after a launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The landing occurs nine minutes after liftoff.^[133]

10 April

• Unidentified aircraft conduct airstrikes around Ar-Raqqa, Syria, killing dozens of Islamic State personnel and civilians.^[134]

12 April

• A Russian Mil Mi-28N (NATO reporting name "Havoc") attack helicopter crashes in Syria, killing its two-man crew. The Russian Ministry of Defense announces that the helicopter was not shot down and blames the crash on bad weather. The increasing number of reports of Russian helicopter operations in Syria since late March have led Western military analysts to conclude that Russia′s supposed withdrawal of its military aviation forces from Syria in mid-March was in reality merely the replacement of some Russian Federation Air Force jets there with attack helicopters more suitable to the support of Syrian Arab Army ground operations against rebel forces.^[123]

13 April

• A Sunbird Aviation Britten-Norman BN-2T Turbine Islander crashes 1 km (0.6 mile) short of the runway at Kiunga, Papua New Guinea, killing all 12 people on board.

17 April

• Air France resumes flights to Iran after an eight-year hiatus with a flight from Paris to Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran, beginning a three-times-per-week service. Air France joins Lufthansa and Austrian Airlines in providing commercial air passenger service between Europe and Iran.^[135]
• In the first incident of its kind in the United Kingdom, the pilot of a British Airways Airbus A320 with 127 people on board reports that an object that he believes to be an unmanned aerial vehicle struck the front of his plane at an altitude of 1,700 feet (518 meters) over Richmond Park, London, while his airliner was on approach to land at Heathrow Airport.^[136][137] On 21 April, British Minister of State for Transport Robert Goodwill will announce that the object the airliner hit may have been a plastic bag.^[137]

19 April

• Four United States Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II (nicknamed "Warthog") close air support aircraft of the 51st Fighter Wing fly a patrol over the South China Sea west of Luzon from Clark Air Base in the Philippines. The maritime patrol mission is an unusual one for the A-10, but the U.S. Department of Defense announces that it is only the first of a planned series of joint South China Sea air patrols by U.S. and Philippine forces with goals of "air- and maritime-domain awareness, personnel recovery, combating piracy, and [the] assurance [that] all nations have access to the regional air and maritime domains in accordance with international law." The People's Republic of China, which claims the areas to be patrolled as its internal waters, condemns the planned patrols as reflecting a "Cold War mentality."^[138]
• A pro-Syrian-government aircraft strikes the main market in Maarat al-Nu'man, Syria, with two air-to-ground rockets while it is crowded with people shopping for fruits and vegetables, killing at least 37 people. It is unclear whether the attacking jet belonged to the Syrian Arab Air Force or the Russian Federation Air Force.^[139]

20 April

• United States Central Command reveals that the authority to order airstrikes that might endanger civilians, originally given only to its top commander, has been delegated to its commander in Baghdad and his deputies.^[140]

21 April

• After a delay of almost 10 months, Solar Impulse 2 (registration SB-HIB) takes off from Kalaeloa Airport in Kalaeloa, Hawaii, bound for Mountain View, California, on the ninth leg of its round-the-world flight to resume its attempt to become the first solar-powered aircraft to fly around the world and the first aircraft to do so without using a drop of fossil fuel. The flight, with Bertrand Piccard at the controls, is expected to take about 62 hours. Solar Impulse 2 had been at Kalaeloa since completing the eighth leg of its flight on 3 July 2015, delayed first by repairs necessitated by damage caused by an overheated battery and then by the need to wait for spring in the Northern Hemisphere, when periods of daylight become long enough for the plane to charge its batteries in flight.^[141][142]
• The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismisses an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit seeking access under the Freedom of Information Act to details of the Central Intelligence Agency′s program of lethal airstrikes using unmanned aerial vehicles (or "drones") outside of the ongoing War in Afghanistan and Iraqi Civil War. The court finds that releasing such details to the public "could reasonably be expected to damage national security," and that "[t]he agency’s explanations as to why the records are classified are both ‘logical’ and ‘plausible’ and uncontroverted by evidence in the record."^[143]
• Doug Hughes is sentenced to four months in prison for an unauthorized gyrocopter flight from Pennsylvania he made on 15 April 2015 that ended with a landing on the United States Capitol Building grounds in Washington, D.C. He made the flight to protest the influence of money in American politics.^[144]

22 April

• Syrian Arab Air Force raids on rebel-held parts of Aleppo kill at least 19 people. Additional government airstrikes in Idlib Governorate also kill people in areas under rebel control.^[145]
• U.S. Central Command announces that between 10 September 2015 and 2 February 2016 its airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed 20 civilians and injured 11 more. The airstrikes killed two civilians in Kabisa, Iraq, on 10 September 2015; eight in Atshanah, Iraq, while hitting an Islamic State mortar position on 5 October 2015; one in Ramadi, Iraq, during a strike against Islamic State combat personnel on 12 November 2015; one near ar-Raqqa, Syria, on 10 December 2015; five in Ramadi while hitting an Islamic State checkpoint on 12 December 2015; one in Tishreen, Syria, on 24 December 2015; one in Mosul, Iraq, on 11 January 2016; and one in Al Ghazli, Syria, on 2 February 2016. In a previous announcement, the United States Department of Defense had acknowledged killing 15 civilians and wounding 15 more during earlier airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.^[140]

23 April

• Syrian Arab Air Force planes strike rebel-held areas of Aleppo for a second straight day. They hit a residential area and a market in the city′s Tareeq al-Bab district, killing at least 12 people.^[146]
• Piloted by Bertrand Piccard, Solar Impulse 2 completes the ninth leg of its around-the-world flight attempt, landing at Moffatt Field in Mountain View, California, after a nonstop flight from Kalaeloa, Hawaii, of 62 hours 29 minutes, covering 2,206 nautical miles (2,537 miles; 4,086 km) at an average speed of 35.31 knots (40.61 mph; 65.39 km/h) and reaching a maximum altitude of 28,327 feet (8,634 meters).^[147][148]

24 April

• Syrian Arab Air Force planes strike rebel-held areas in Aleppo for the third straight day, killing 16 people.^[149]
• Ground forces of the Saudi-led coalition begin a ground offensive against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula forces in southern Yemen, advancing toward Mukalla and surrounding areas. Coalition aircraft supporting the offensive strike targets in Mukalla, hitting the city′s cultural center and Riyan Airport.^[150]

25-26 April (overnight)

• An air-to-gound missile strike suspected to have been made by a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle kills three prominent al-Qaeda leaders in Zinjibar, Yemen.^[151]

26 April

• The Yemeni government announces that Yemeni ground troops have retaken Mukalla from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) forces, adding that heavy airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition combined with artillery fire had driven many AQAP members out of the city.^[151]

27 April

• Airstrikes by unidentfied aircraft against rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria, collapse a hospital operated by Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross, killing at least 50 people, including patients and at least six hospital staff members. A dentist and two medical doctors, one of them one of the area′s last pediatricians, are among the dead.^[152][153]

28 April

• The Russian Ministry of Defense denies Russian involvement in the 27 April airstrike against a hospital in Aleppo, Syria.^[152]

29 April

• Airstrikes against rebel-held areas in Aleppo, Syria, by unidentified aircraft destroy a medical clinic and hit other targets. Airstrikes against rebel-held areas and rebel mortar barrages have combined to kill more than 200 people in Aleppo during the preceding week.^[153]
• Russia and the United States announce a renewed ceasefire in two parts of Syria where fighting in violation of the 27 February ceasefire has escalated during April and that it is scheduled to begin at midnight on 29-30 April. The Russian Ministry of Defense announces that the ceasefire applies to Latakia Governorate and will last 72 hours, while the United States Department of State later announces that it also includes East Ghouta outside Damascus and has no expiration date. The agreement excludes Aleppo, where the heaviest fighting since the 27 February ceasefire has broken out.^[154]
• A Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma helicopter (registration LN-OJF) operated by CHC Helikopter Service loses its main rotor in flight while carrying oil workers from the Gullfaks B oil field in the North Sea to Bergen Airport, Flesland, in Bergen, Norway, and crashes on Norway′s Skitholmen islet between the islands of Turøy and Toftøy, killing all 13 people on board.
• The commander of United States Central Command, United States Army General Joseph Votel, announces that a U.S. Department of Defense investigation into a United States Air Force airstrike against a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, on 3 October 2015 did not amount to a war crime because American military personnel responsible for the strike attacked the hospital by mistake while attempting to support Afghan troops and U.S. Army Special Forces in combat against Taliban forces. The incident resulted in 16 American military personnel facing disciplinary action for their role in it, but the investigation found that their misjudgments did not involve any criminal intent.^[155]

30 April

• Nearly 30 airstrikes hit rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria. It is the ninth day of lethal bombardments in the city, and they have killed nearly 250 people since beginning on 22 April.^[156]

First flights

• 29 January - Boeing 737 MAX 8 - N8701Q^[157]
• 6 February - Enstrom TH180 - N180TH^[158]
• 9 February - Airbus A321neo - D-AVXB
• 2 March - AgustaWestland AW109 Trekker - I-AGGR^[159]

Entered service

• 25 January – Airbus A320neo with Lufthansa

Retirements

14 January

• The Boeing 747 from the Air France fleet; the final aircraft are Boeing 747-400s registered F-GITD, F-GITE, and F-GITJ.

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86. Davenport, Christian, "After a series of delays, SpaceX launches upgraded Falcon 9 rocket," washingtonpost.com, March 4, 2016, 6:58 p.m. EST.
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120. Lamothe, Dan, "Pentagon: U.S. military launches drone strike on al-Shabab leader in Somalia," washingtonpost.com, April 1, 2016, 5:59 PM EDT.
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140. Lamothe, Dan, "U.S. military doubles the number of civilians it admits killing in anti-ISIS fight," washingtonpost.com, April 22, 2016, 1:39 p.m. EDT.
141. Molko, David, "Solar Impulse 2 plane takes off from Hawaii to California -- with no fuel," cnn.com, April 21, 2016, 12:36 PM EDT.
142. Rice, Doyle, "Sun-powered Solar Impulse resumes its round-the-world flight," usatoday.com, April 21, 2016, 1:12 PM EDT.
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146. Anonymous, "At least 31 killed as violence spikes in Syria," Associated Press, April 23, 2016, 12:17 PM EDT.
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150. al-Mujahed, Ali, and Hugh Naylor, "War in Yemen takes a major turn with offensive against al-Qaeda," washingtonpost.com, April 24, 2016, 3:35 p.m. EDT.
151. Anonymous, "Yemeni forces take back coastal city from al-Qaeda," Associated Press, April 26, 2016.
152. Cunningham, Erin, "Airstrike destroys Syrian hospital amid fears of ‘catastrophic’ turn in fighting," washingtonpost.com, April 28, 2016.
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