1858: Samuel King introduces the 1st dragline in America. It is a long rope attached to the basket, which helps to stabilize altitude by dragging on the ground when the balloon is flying very low.
1891: The 1st parachute descent by a Canadian woman is made when Nellie Lamount jumps from a hot-air balloon during a fair in Quebec.
1910: Blanche Scott, the 1st woman pilot in the United States, makes a solo flight at Lake Keuka, Hammondsport.
1916: Airplanes communicate in flight for the first time via radio.
1998: Swissair Flight 111, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11, crashed into the sea near Halifax, Nova Scotia in Canada, due to smoke in the cockpit caused by insulation burning in the shell. All 229 people on board perished.
Read more...
2008: ExpressJet Airlines ended operations as an independent carrier.