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.
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2008: ExpressJet Airlines ended operations as an independent carrier.
