This is a list of aviation-related events in 2015.
Events
January 7 January Divers and an unmanned underwater vehicle discover and photograph the tail section of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 resting on the bottom of the Java Sea. It is the first discovery of a major piece of wreckage of the Airbus A320-216 since it disappeared from radar on 28 December 2014 during a flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore.
10 January The first major piece of wreckage from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, a piece of the Airbus A320-216's tail section, is brought to the surface from the bottom of the Java Sea.
12 January A volcanic eruption in Tonga sends ash into the sky, prompting the cancellation of all international flights to and from the country. Flights do not resume until 14 January. Divers retrieve the flight data recorder from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501s wreckage on the bottom of the Java Sea.
13 January Divers retrieve the cockpit voice recorder from Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501s wreckage on the bottom of the Java Sea.
14 January A remotely operated vehicle from the Singapore Navy submarine support and rescue ship MS Swift Rescue locates and photographs the fuselage of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501 on the bottom of the Java Sea from the area where the tail section had been found.
18 January A Syrian Air Force Antonov An-26 crashes at Abu adh Dhuhur Air Base in Syria, killing all 30 people on board. The Government of Syria says that it crashed due to fog, but the al Nusra Front claims to have shot it down.
19 January Indonesia AirAsia X, an airline created as a joint venture of AirAsia X and Indonesia AirAsia to provide long-haul service from Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport, makes its first flight, from Bali to Taipei, Taiwan.
20 January Olimp Air Flight 4653, an Antonov An-2 biplane crashes, killing six.
26 January A Hellenic Air Force General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon crashes into a flight line, killing 11.
28 January The United States Air Force announces that Boeing will build the next Air Force One. The aircraft is to be a Boeing 747-8 that is to become operational by 2023.Davenport, Christian, "Boeing chosen to build the next Air Force One," washingtonpost.com, 28 January 2015.
29 January A Bombardier Challenger 600 is shot down over Aruba, killing 3.
February
4 February TransAsia Airways Flight 235, an ATR 72-600 with 58 people on board, experiences an engine flameout just after takeoff from Taipei Songshan Airport in Taipei, Taiwan. After clearing an apartment building, the aircraft rolls sharply to the left at low altitude, and its left wingtip strikes a taxicab on the Huangdong Viaduct and the viaduct's guardrail before it crashes into the Keelung River in Taipei. Among people on the plane, the crash kills at least 35, with another eight missing and all 15 survivors injured. Two people in the taxicab also suffer injuries. Dashcams in several vehicles driving on the viaduct record the crash.
8 February Chilean mountaineers announce that they have discovered the wreckage of LAN-Chile Flight 621, a Douglas DC-3 carrying 24 people, including eight members of the Chilean football (soccer) team Club de Deportes Green Cross, which disappeared over the Andes Mountains in Chile during a domestic flight from Osorno to Santiago on 3 April 1961. The wreckage is in the Andes at an altitude of about about south of Santiago.
March
5 March Landing during a snowstorm at LaGuardia Airport in Queens, Delta Air Lines Flight 1086, a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 carrying 132 people, skids off the end of Runway 13, crashes through a perimeter fence, and comes to rest on an earthen embankment along Flushing Bay. Twenty-four people on board suffer injuries.
9 March Two Argentine Eurocopter AS350B3 Écureuil helicopters (registration LQ-CGK and LQ-FJQ) involved in filming the French reality television series Dropped, each carrying a pilot and four passengers, collide in mid-air at an altitude of about seconds after takeoff at Villa Castelli, Argentina, crash about apart, and burst into flame. All 10 people on board the two helicopters – the two Argentine pilots and eight French passengers – die. Among the dead are French athletes Florence Arthaud, Camille Muffat, and Alexis Vastine.
10 March Flying in dense fog, a United States Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter carrying an Army National Guard crew of four and seven United States Marine Corps personnel crashes in Florida's Santa Rosa Sound near Okaloosa Island, killing all 11 men on board.
13 March A Serbian Army Mil Mi-17 crashes, killing 7.
24 March Germanwings Flight 9525 – an Airbus A320-200 (registration D-AIPX) flying from Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport in Barcelona, Spain, to Düsseldorf Airport in Düsseldorf, Germany, crashes near Prads-Haute-Bléone, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, France. Evidence recovered from both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders suggests that the co-pilot, Andreas Lubitz, intentionally crashed the aircraft after preventing the captain from returning to the cockpit. All 150 people on board are killed.
27 March After the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525, the European Aviation Safety Agency issues a temporary recommendation for airlines to ensure that at least two crew members, including at least one pilot, are in the cockpit at all times of the flight.
29 March Air Canada Flight 624, an Airbus A320-211 (registration C-FTJP) with 138 people on board, lands short of the runway in snow and poor visibility at Halifax International Airport in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It smashes through an antenna array, loses its landing gear, severs the power line that supplies all of the airport's electricity, and slides to a stop on its belly, suffering severe damage. All aboard survive, but 23 people suffer injuries.
30 March Yemenia suspends flight operations due to military conflict at its home base, Sanaa International Airport in Sanaa, Yemen.
31 March Since 1 January, Airbus has booked gross orders for 121 aircraft, while Boeing has booked 116. However, after cancellations and conversions, Boeing has 110 net orders since 1 January compared with Airbus's 101. Since 1 January, Airbus has delivered 134 aircraft to customers, including one A350 and four A380s.Anonymous, "Also in Business," Washington Post, 8 April 2015, p. A12.
April
13 April Carson Air Flight 66, a Fairchild Swearingen Metroliner, suffers an in-flight breakup and crashes, killing all on board.
14 April Asiana Airlines Flight 162, an Airbus A320-200 (registration HL7762) with 82 people on board, loses height on final approach to Hiroshima Airport in Mihara, Japan, strikes an instrument landing system localizer antenna, and skids onto the runway on its tail, spinning 180 degrees before coming to a stop. Its landing gear collapses and it suffers damage to its left wing and left engine. No one is killed, but 20 of the people on board suffer injuries.
May
8 May To commemorate the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day – when Nazi Germany surrendered to the Western Allies at the end of World War II in Europe on 8 May 1945 – the Arsenal of Democracy Flyover takes place over Washington, D.C. Fifty-six aircraft of the World War II era take part; aircraft types represented are the Piper L-4 Grasshopper, Boeing-Stearman Model 75, Fairchild PT-19, North American AT-6 Texan, Beechcraft Model 18, Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, North American B-25 Mitchell, Consolidated PBY Catalina, Douglas SBD Dauntless, Grumman F4F Wildcat, Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Consolidated B-24 Liberator, North American P-51 Mustang, Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, Douglas C-47 Skytrain, Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, Grumman TBF Avenger, Douglas A-26 Invader, Vought F4U Corsair, and Boeing B-29 Superfortress.["Know Your World War II Airplanes" (graphic), The Washington Post, 8 May 2015, Page B2.] One Avenger suffers a mechanical malfunction as it passes the review area over the World War II Memorial and makes an immediate emergency landing at nearby Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington County, Virginia. A Pakistan Air Force Mil Mi-17 crashes, killing eight.
9 May An Airbus A400M Atlas cargo aircraft on a test flight crashes just after takeoff from Seville Airport in Seville, Spain, killing four people and seriously injuring two. Germany and the United Kingdom ground their A400M aircraft pending an investigation of the crash. Russia celebrates the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany's surrender to the Soviet Union on 9 May 1945 with a Victory Day Parade in Moscow that includes a flyover by 150 aircraft. Participating aircraft types are the Mil Mi-26, Mil Mi-17, Mil Mi-24, Mil Mi-28, Kamov Ka-50, Kazan Ansat, Mikoyan MiG-29, Mikoyan MiG-31, Sukhoi Su-24, Sukhoi Su-25, Sukhoi Su-27, Sukhoi Su-30, Sukhoi Su-34, Sukhoi Su-35, Ilyushin Il-76, Ilyushin Il-78, Tupolev Tu-22M, Tupolev Tu-95, Tupolev Tu-160, Antonov An-124 Ruslan, and Antonov An-22. Also appearing are Yakovlev Yak-130s from the new aerobatic group Crimean Wings and Sukhoi Su-27s and Mikoyan MiG-29s of the Russian Knights and Swifts aerobatics teams.
12 May A United States Marine Corps Bell UH-1Y Venom crashes, killing 13.
22 May Air Lituanica ceases flight operations. It will file for bankruptcy on 8 June.
28 May Eastern Airlines begins flight operations, flying charter flights from Miami International Airport in Miami, to José Martí International Airport in Havana. A new airline, it uses the trademarks of the original Eastern Air Lines, which had gone out of business in 1991; the new Eastern's ownership group had purchased the intellectual property, including trademarks, of the original Eastern in 2009.
June
2 June Landing his de Havilland Canada DHC-1 Chipmunk at Toronto Pearson International Airport in Toronto, Canada, retired de Havilland Canada test pilot George Neal sets the world record for oldest active licensed pilot at the age of 96 years 194 days. Neal had held a Canadian pilot's license since 1936 and flown 15,000 hours on 150 different aircraft types.Anonymous, "World's Oldest pilot," Aviation History, November 2015, p. 10.
8 June Air Lituanica files for bankruptcy. It had ceased flight operations on 22 May.
30 June An Indonesian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, just after takeoff from Soewondo Air Force Base, striking a busy road, homes, and a hotel. The crash kills all 122 people on the plane and 19 people on the ground.
July
1 July A new terminal for international civilian flights, Terminal 2, opens at Pyongyang International Airport in Pyongyang, North Korea.
9 July An eruption of Mount Raung in East Java, Indonesia, forces the closure of five airports on Java, Bali, and Lombok through 10 July because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere, greatly disrupting air traffic in the area as flights at the airports are cancelled through late in the day on 10 July. Coming when many Australians travel to Bali on vacation and many Indonesians travel for the Eid al-Fitr holiday, the airport closures strand thousands of travelers. 10 July The Airbus E-Fan X makes a flight from Lydd, England, to Calais, France, in approximately 37 minutes, flying at an altitude of around , becoming the first twin-engine, all-electric plane to cross the English Channel. The flight is made on the same route as that Louis Blériot used made when he made the first crossing of the English Channel in an airplane on 25 July 1909, but in the opposite direction.
29 July