Air Midwest Flight 5481, a
Beechcraft 1900D operating as a
US Airways Express flight, crashes into a
US Airways hangar on takeoff from
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport at
Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board and injuring one person on the ground. The accident investigation determines that the crash resulted from improper maintenance and because the aircraft was overweight, Air Midwest having used
Federal Aviation Administration-approved estimated passenger weight tables that had not been updated since 1936, when the average weight of an American passenger was 20 pounds (9.1 kg) lighter than in 2003.
May - An airport policeman, Raj Namdeo, shoots his supervisor and takes some other people hostage. His supervisor is taken to hospital but does not survive. He later surrenders in the presence of his mother and the then deputy Chief Minister. The situation took around 7 hours.[4][5]
25 May –
Boeing 727-223 tail number N844AA is stolen from
Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in
Luanda, Angola.
Ben Charles Padilla, who is suspected of having been at the controls, disappears at the same time. Despite a worldwide search by police and intelligence agencies, neither the plane nor Padilla are ever found.
26 June – The
NASA Helios Prototypeunmanned aerial vehicle breaks up in flight and crashes into the Pacific Ocean about 16 km (10 mi) west of
Kauai, Hawaii, during a remotely piloted systems checkout flight in preparation for an endurance test scheduled for July.[9]
10 July – The
Indonesian airline Wings Abadi Airlines – usually shortened to
Wings Air – begins flight operations. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Lion Air.
26 July – 3 August – The
13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in
Rustenburg, South Africa. the individual winners are 1. Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk (South Africa), 2. Janusz Darocha and Zbigniew Chrząszcz (
Poland), 3. Nathalie Strube and P. Sicard (France); the team winners are 1. South Africa, 2. France, 3. Poland.
30 July
The
Indonesian airline
Citilink becomes an independent business entity. Previously it had been a low-cost subsidiary of
Garuda Indonesia.
31 July – Jumping from an altitude of 9,000 meters (30,000 feet),
Felix Baumgartner uses a
wingpack to cross the
English Channel in 14 minutes, covering over 35 kilometers (22 miles).[10]
8 August – JAT Yugoslav Airlines renames itself
Jat Airways.
11 August – The Spirit of Butts Farm completes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled
model aircraft. The flight also sets two world records for a model aircraft, for duration (38 hours 53 minutes) and for non-stop distance (3,038 kilometres or 1,888 statute miles).
Skip Holm, flying the modified
P-51D Mustang 'Dago Red', sets a new closed-course piston-engine speed record of 507 mph (816 km/h) at the
Reno Air Races outside
Reno, Nevada.
14 September – The
United States Air ForceThunderbirds flight demonstration team's No. 6 solo aircraft crashes into the tarmac at
Mountain Home Air Force Base,
Idaho, while attempting its initial maneuver at the
Gunfighter Skies 2003 air show. The pilot ejects safely just moments before impact. Although the desert terrain is similar, the ground elevation at Mountain Home Air Force Base is over 1,000 feet (300 meters) higher than at the Thunderbirds' home base at
Nellis Air Force Base,
Nevada, and pilot error (insufficient altitude) is determined as the cause. The pilot is reassigned to the
Pentagon.
25 December –
UTA Flight 141, a severely overloaded chartered
Boeing 727-223, fails to become airborne during its takeoff attempt from
Cadjehoun Airport in
Cotonou,
Benin. It runs off the end of the runway and crashes on a beach along the
Bight of Benin, killing 141 of the 163 people on board. All 12 survivors as well as two people on the ground are injured. Newspaper reports create rumors that the Boeing 727 involved is N844AA, which had disappeared after being stolen in May, but the rumors prove unfounded; the accident aircraft is 3X-GDO.
The deadliest crash of this year was a military accident, namely the
2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash, which crashed in mountainous terrain of southeastern
Iran on 19 February, killing all 275 people on board. The deadliest civil aviation crash was
UTAGE Flight 141, a
Boeing 727 which crashed on takeoff in
Cotonou,
Benin on 25 December, killing 138 of the 160 people on board, as well as three on the ground.
Air Midwest Flight 5481, a
Beechcraft 1900D operating as a
US Airways Express flight, crashes into a
US Airways hangar on takeoff from
Charlotte/Douglas International Airport at
Charlotte, North Carolina, killing all 21 people on board and injuring one person on the ground. The accident investigation determines that the crash resulted from improper maintenance and because the aircraft was overweight, Air Midwest having used
Federal Aviation Administration-approved estimated passenger weight tables that had not been updated since 1936, when the average weight of an American passenger was 20 pounds (9.1 kg) lighter than in 2003.
May - An airport policeman, Raj Namdeo, shoots his supervisor and takes some other people hostage. His supervisor is taken to hospital but does not survive. He later surrenders in the presence of his mother and the then deputy Chief Minister. The situation took around 7 hours.[4][5]
25 May –
Boeing 727-223 tail number N844AA is stolen from
Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in
Luanda, Angola.
Ben Charles Padilla, who is suspected of having been at the controls, disappears at the same time. Despite a worldwide search by police and intelligence agencies, neither the plane nor Padilla are ever found.
26 June – The
NASA Helios Prototypeunmanned aerial vehicle breaks up in flight and crashes into the Pacific Ocean about 16 km (10 mi) west of
Kauai, Hawaii, during a remotely piloted systems checkout flight in preparation for an endurance test scheduled for July.[9]
10 July – The
Indonesian airline Wings Abadi Airlines – usually shortened to
Wings Air – begins flight operations. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of
Lion Air.
26 July – 3 August – The
13th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in
Rustenburg, South Africa. the individual winners are 1. Nigel Hopkins and Dale de Klerk (South Africa), 2. Janusz Darocha and Zbigniew Chrząszcz (
Poland), 3. Nathalie Strube and P. Sicard (France); the team winners are 1. South Africa, 2. France, 3. Poland.
30 July
The
Indonesian airline
Citilink becomes an independent business entity. Previously it had been a low-cost subsidiary of
Garuda Indonesia.
31 July – Jumping from an altitude of 9,000 meters (30,000 feet),
Felix Baumgartner uses a
wingpack to cross the
English Channel in 14 minutes, covering over 35 kilometers (22 miles).[10]
8 August – JAT Yugoslav Airlines renames itself
Jat Airways.
11 August – The Spirit of Butts Farm completes the first flight across the Atlantic by a computer-controlled
model aircraft. The flight also sets two world records for a model aircraft, for duration (38 hours 53 minutes) and for non-stop distance (3,038 kilometres or 1,888 statute miles).
Skip Holm, flying the modified
P-51D Mustang 'Dago Red', sets a new closed-course piston-engine speed record of 507 mph (816 km/h) at the
Reno Air Races outside
Reno, Nevada.
14 September – The
United States Air ForceThunderbirds flight demonstration team's No. 6 solo aircraft crashes into the tarmac at
Mountain Home Air Force Base,
Idaho, while attempting its initial maneuver at the
Gunfighter Skies 2003 air show. The pilot ejects safely just moments before impact. Although the desert terrain is similar, the ground elevation at Mountain Home Air Force Base is over 1,000 feet (300 meters) higher than at the Thunderbirds' home base at
Nellis Air Force Base,
Nevada, and pilot error (insufficient altitude) is determined as the cause. The pilot is reassigned to the
Pentagon.
25 December –
UTA Flight 141, a severely overloaded chartered
Boeing 727-223, fails to become airborne during its takeoff attempt from
Cadjehoun Airport in
Cotonou,
Benin. It runs off the end of the runway and crashes on a beach along the
Bight of Benin, killing 141 of the 163 people on board. All 12 survivors as well as two people on the ground are injured. Newspaper reports create rumors that the Boeing 727 involved is N844AA, which had disappeared after being stolen in May, but the rumors prove unfounded; the accident aircraft is 3X-GDO.
The deadliest crash of this year was a military accident, namely the
2003 Iran Ilyushin Il-76 crash, which crashed in mountainous terrain of southeastern
Iran on 19 February, killing all 275 people on board. The deadliest civil aviation crash was
UTAGE Flight 141, a
Boeing 727 which crashed on takeoff in
Cotonou,
Benin on 25 December, killing 138 of the 160 people on board, as well as three on the ground.