1919: American Leslie Irvin makes the first jump from an airplane using a free-type (to be opened at will by a rip chord) back pack parachute and lands at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. The parachute is designed by Floyd Smith.

1924: Imperial Airways inaugurates its London/Paris service.

1927: The first airmail service north of the Arctic Circle begins between Fairbanks and Wiseman, Alaska.

1937: The first commercial flight across the Pacific is made as a Pan-American Boeing 314 Clipper seaplane arrives in Hong Kong.

1948: The first non-stop Paris/New York flight is made by an Air France sleeper Constellation; the journey from Orly airport, near Paris, takes 16 hours, 1 minute.

1961: Little Joe 5-B launched Mercury spacecraft from Wallops Station, which provided abort test under severe atmospheric flight conditions.

1967: Douglas Aircraft Company and McDonnell Aircraft Corporation officially merge to form McDonnell Douglas.

1977: An Aviateca Convair 240 crashes near Guatemala City, Guatemala killing all 28 people on board.

1979: Air Berlin’s first flight between Berlin and Palma Mallorca.

1986: Pan Am returns to the Soviet Union, using a Boeing 747 from JFK International Airport in New York.

1988: Aloha Airlines Flight 243 was a scheduled Boeing 737-297 flight between Hilo and Honolulu in Hawaii. The aircraft suffered extensive damage after an explosive decompression in flight, but was able to land safely at Kahului Airport on Maui. A senior flight attendant, Clarabell Lansing, was the sole fatality as she was blown out of the airplane, whereas another 65 passengers and crew were injured. The safe landing of the aircraft with such a major loss of integrity was unprecedented and remains unsurpassed. Subsequent investigations concluded that the accident was caused by metal fatigue.

1999: Hamburg International commences operations.