This is a list of aviation-related events from 2006.
Events The national airline of Ecuador, Ecuatoriana de Aviación, goes out of business. It had flown from 1957 to 1993 and again since 1996.
January 1 January – The Government of Latvia reforms the Latvia Civil Aviation Administration to form the Civil Aviation Agency, which becomes Latvia's national civil aviation authority. It also creates the Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau of the Republic of Latvia, which later will become the country's Transport Accident and Incident Investigation Bureau. 5 January – Independence Air ceases operations after declaring bankruptcy. 19 January A Slovak Air Force Antonov An-24V carrying Slovak peacekeepers home from Kosovo strays off course, begins its descent toward Košice International Airport in Košice, Slovakia, too early, and crashes in northern Hungary near Hejce and Telkibánya, killing 42 of the 43 people on board and injuring the lone survivor. Jet Airways announces its purchase of Air Sahara, creating the largest domestic airline in India.
February 1 February The Transportation Safety Bureau replaces the Civil Aviation Safety Bureau of Hungary as the agency responsible for the investigation of aviation accidents in Hungary. UAL Corporation, United Airlines parent company, emerges from bankruptcy for the first time since 9 December 2002, the longest such filing in history. 8–11 February – The American adventurer Steve Fossett breaks the record for the absolute longest-distance flight without landing by taking off from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 8 February, circumnavigating the world eastbound, and, after passing over Florida, continuing across the Atlantic Ocean for a second time to land in Bournemouth, England, after a flight of 76 hours 43 minutes, covering . 16 February – Kobe Airport, a controversial offshore airport in Kobe, Japan, opens for airline service.
March 10 March – Northwest Airlines purchases the United States Department of Transportation operating certificate of bankrupt Independence Air, which had ceased operations in January. Northwest plans to use the certificate for a new subcontractor regional airline, which will begin flight operations in May 2007 as Compass Airlines. 13 March – American television personality Peter Tomarken and his wife are killed when the engine of the Beechcraft Bonanza A36 Tomarken is piloting fails due to improper maintenance just after takeoff from Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, California, and the plane crashes offshore in Santa Monica Bay as Tomarken attempts to return to the airport for an emergency landing. 14 March – The Cypriot airline Helios Airways is renamed Ajet. 16 March – New Kitakyushu Airport, a controversial offshore airport in Kitakyūshū in northeastern Kyūshū, Japan, opens for airline service. The Japanese discount airline Star Flyer makes the first flight to the new airport, arriving from Haneda, Japan. 25 March – The revolutionary scramjet engine Hyshot III, designed to fly at seven times the speed of sound is tested successfully at Woomera, Australia. 29 March – The Royal Navys Fleet Air Arm withdraws the Sea Harrier from service.
April 1 April – Swiss International Air Lines joins Star Alliance. 10 April – South African Airways joins Star Alliance. 19 April – Noted American test pilot and aircraft designer Scott Crossfield is killed when he flies his Cessna 210 into a severe thunderstorm and it breaks up in mid-air and crashes in mountainous terrain near Ellijay, Georgia. 24 April – Aeroflot joins the Skyteam airline alliance, making it the first Russian airline to join any airline alliance.
May EgyptAir Express is founded as a subsidiary of EgyptAir to offer domestic service in Egypt and on regional routes using Embraer E-170 jets. It will begin fight operations in June. 1 May – The airline Song ceases operations and turns its fleet over to its owner, Delta Air Lines. 3 May – Armavia Flight 967, an Airbus A320-211, is advised to halt its final descent into Sochi International Airport in Sochi, Russia, and begins a go-around, during which it crashes into the Black Sea, killing all 113 people on board. 6 May – The United States Air Force retires the last Lockheed Martin C-141 Starlifter in its inventory, an aircraft named Hanoi Taxi. Hanoi Taxi lands for the last time and is received in a formal retirement ceremony at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Riverside, Ohio. 18 May – The worlds biggest passenger jet, the Airbus A380, lands at Heathrow Airport for the first time, making its debut in the United Kingdom. 23 May – Boeing delivers the last two Boeing 717 airliners produced; the customers receiving them are AirTran Airways and Midwest Airlines. Boeing had manufactured 156 Boeing 717s before ceasing production in April 2006 due to slow sales. The Boeing 717 is the last commercial airplane produced at Boeing's facility in Long Beach, California.
June 1 June – EgyptAir Express, a subsidiary of EgyptAir offering domestic service in Egypt and on regional routes using Embraer E-170 jets, begins flight operations. 3 June – A Chinese KJ-200 airborne warning and control system aircraft crashes in Anhui province in the People's Republic of China. All 40 people on board die. 8 June – Australians Heather Swan and Glenn Singleman set a world record for the highest wingsuit flying BASE jump, jumping off Meru Peak in India at an altitude of . 23 June – The Royal Air Force retires its last English Electric Canberra from service. Canberras had been in service for 55 years.
July
8 July – Scientists at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, conduct the first confirmed flight of a manned ornithopter operating under its own power. 9 July – S7 Airlines Flight 778, an Airbus A310-300, crashes on landing at Irkutsk International Airport in Irkutsk, Russia, killing 124 of the 203 people on board and injuring all 79 survivors. 10 July The Korea Aviation Accident Investigation Board merges with the Railway Accident Investigation Board to form the Aviation and Railway Accident Investigation Board, which becomes the government agency responsible for aviation accident investigations in South Korea. All 45 people aboard Pakistan International Airlines Flight 688, a Fokker F27 Friendship, die in a crash on takeoff in Multan, Pakistan. Following the crash, Pakistan International withdraws all of its Fokker aircraft from service and replaces them with ATR aircraft. 21–26 July – The 17th FAI World Precision Flying Championship is held in Troyes, France. Individual winners are 1. Krzysztof Wieczorek (Poland) in a 3Xtrim, 2. Janusz Darocha (Poland) in a 23 July – A runway incursion which involved a United Airlines Boeing 737-322 and an Atlas Air Boeing 747-47UF. All 131 survive without injury. 26–31 July – The 15th FAI World Rally Flying Championship takes place in Troyes, France. Individual winners are Wacław Wieczorek/Michał Wieczorek (Poland), Jiří Filip/Michal Filip (Czech Republic), and Petr Opat/Tomas Rajdl (Czech Republic). Team winners are 1. Czech Republic, 2. Poland, and 3. France.
August 9 August – The Metropolitan Police Service arrests approximately 24 people in and around London for conspiring to detonate liquid explosives aboard at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada. 10 August – British authorities announce that a plot to simultaneously detonate bombs smuggled in hand luggage aboard ten airliners bound for the United States over the Atlantic Ocean has been foiled."Today in History," The Washington Post Express, 10 August 2011, p. 30. Tightened security measures in the United Kingdom and United States and flight cancellations which happen afterwards cause severe chaos at several London airports. 9 August Air Algérie Flight 2208, a Lockheed L-100-30 Hercules cargo aircraft, suffers an autopilot malfunction that puts it into a very steep and rapid descent over northern Italy. It crashes, killing its entire crew of three. 22 August – Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612, a Tupolev Tu-154M carrying 160 passengers and 10 crew on a domestic flight from Anapa to Saint Petersburg, Russia, descends sharply from and crashes in eastern Ukraine, killing everyone on board. It would be the deadliest aviation disaster of 2006. 25 August – The first Block 20 RQ-4 Global Hawk is rolled out at Northrop Grummans Plant 42 manufacturing facility in Palmdale, California. 27 August Comair Flight 5191, a Bombardier CRJ100 ER carrying 47 passengers and three crew members, attempts to take off from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky], using the wrong runway. The runway is too short, and the aircraft runs off the end of the runway and crashes without becoming airborne. The first officer survives in critical condition; the other 49 people on board die. The Boeing 737-900ER/9GP is unveiled. Its first operator is Lion Air. 30 August – Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson pilot the Windward Performance Perlan sailplane to a new glider absolute world altitude record of over the Patagonia region of Argentina. The record will stand until September 2017.
September One of five existing Aerocar flying cars is put up for sale for US$3.5 million 1 September – Iran Air Tours Flight 945, a Tupolev Tu-154M, crashes while attempting to land in Mashad, Iran, killing 28 of the 148 people on board. 2 September – The Royal Air Force Hawker Siddeley Nimrod XV230 catches fire in the air during a reconnaissance flight due to a fuel leak that occurs during aerial refueling and crashes in the Panjwaye District of Afghanistan, killing all 14 people on board. It is the United Kingdoms single deadliest military loss since the Falklands War of 1982. 3 September – South Ossetian forces fire at a Georgian Mil Mi-8 (NATO reporting name "Hip") helicopter carrying Georgian Minister of Defense Irakli Okruashvili and the deputy chief of staff of the Georgian armed forces as it flies over the separatist-held territory of South Ossetia. The helicopter is slightly damaged but lands safely in Georgian government-controlled territory.Georgia-South Ossetia: Helicopter attack sparks hostile words. ReliefWeb, 8 September 2006. 6 September – Lynx Aviation begins operation as a feeder airline for Frontier Airlines. 7 September – Israel lifts the air blockade of Lebanon it had imposed on 13 July. 8 September – BWIA West Indies Airways announces that it will shut down at the end of the year. 10 September – Swedish aerobatic champion Gabor Varga is killed instantly during the Aero GP race when his Yakovlev Yak-55 collides in mid-air over Marsamxett Harbour off Valletta, Malta, with an Extra EA-200 flown by Irish pilot Eddie Groggins. Groggins survives with minor injuries. 11 September – A Russian Ground Forces Mil Mi-8 helicopter crashes near Vladikavkaz, Russia, killing all 12 people on board, including Lieutenant-General Pavel Yaroslavtsev, deputy chief for army logistics, Lieutenant-General Viktor Guliaev, deputy chief of army medical units, and Major-General Vladimir Sorokin. The Ossetian rebel group Kataib al-Khoul claims to have shot the helicopter down. 15 September Mexican actor Pablo Santos is killed when he attempts an emergency landing at Toluca International Airport in Toluca, Mexico, after the Piper Malibu he is piloting runs low on fuel and crashes over a mile (1.6 km) short of the runway. One of his passengers is fatally injured and dies the following day, but his other five passengers survive.British Government publishing service