A package containing the explosive RDX is randomly placed in the luggage of an unknowing passenger at Poprad-Tatry Airport in Slovakia as part of a bomb-detection training exercise, but police fail to remove the package afterwards, and the luggage continues onto a Danube Wings flight to Dublin Airport where the unsuspecting passenger retrieves his explosive-laden luggage and takes it to his Dublin home, resulting in a bomb alert and his arrest three days later. The man is released after the Slovak government admits he is blameless.
British Prime MinisterGordon Brown announces that commercial flights between the United Kingdom and the Yemen would be suspended, owing to British concerns over terrorist activity in Yemen, and will not resume until the security situation in Yemen improves.[2]
After setting fire to his house and leaving behind a suicide note expressing displeasure with government and taxation, Andrew Joseph Stack III crashes his Piper Dakota into an office building housing an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) field office in Austin, Texas, killing himself and an IRS manager and injuring 13 others, two of them seriously.
Aloha Airlines ceases operations and declares bankruptcy. It halts all passenger operations and transfers all of its cargo operations to Aloha Air Cargo.
Cathay Pacific Flight 780 from Indonesia to Hong Kong has some trouble with its engines. They shut down and the pilots are able to turn one engine back on, however, they are unable to adjust the speed. The plane lands at nearly twice the normal landing speed and the brakes are put through its limits, turning orange-red.[5]
The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of flying both day and night thanks to batteries charged by solar power that provide it with power during darkness, makes its first flight powered entirely by solar energy, charging its batteries in flight. The flight takes place at Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland.[10]
The first Solar Impulse aircraft, HB-SIA, the first solar-powered aircraft capable of both day and night flight thanks to its batteries charged by solar power, makes its first overnight flight, taking off from Payerne Airport outside Payerne, Switzerland, and returning after 26 hours 10 minutes 19 seconds in the air, the first overnight flight by a solar-powered aircraft and the longest flight in history up to this time by a crewed solar-powered aircraft. The flight also sets a record for the highest altitude ever attained by a crewed solar-powered aircraft, reaching 8,744 meters (28,688 feet) above ground and 9,235 meters (30,299 feet) in absolute altitude.[12][13]
The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the use, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster bombs by signatory countries, goes into effect, six months after its ratification by its 30th signatory country.
2 August
Todd Reichert of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies pilots a human-powered ornithopter, Snowbird, in Ontario, sustaining 19.3 seconds of flight, covering a distance of 145 metres (476 feet). The 42.6 kg (94 lb) craft has 32-metre (105-foot) span flapping wings.[15]
Five days of flight testing at Edwards Air Force Base, California, of alternative fuels by a United States Air ForceC-17 Globemaster III end with the C-17 flying using a blend of 50 percent conventional JP-8jet fuel, 25 percent HRJ biofuel made from beef tallow, and 25 percent coal-based fuel made through the Fischer–Tropsch process, becoming the first United States Department of Defense aircraft to fly on such a blend and the first aircraft to operate from Edwards using a fuel derived from beef tallow. The flight is a culmination of a series of test flights, with the C-17 flying using JP-8 in three of its engines and a 50/50 blend of JP-8 and biofuel in one engine on 23 August, followed by a flight with the same 50/50 blend in all four engines on 24 August.[16]
A De Havilland Tiger Moth crashes into spectators at an air show at the Lauf-Lillinghof airfield near Nuremberg, Germany, killing one person and injuring 38, five of them seriously.[17] Four years later, a trial in Hersbrucker District Court determined that the cause of the crash was pilot error, finding the pilot guilty of "… fahrlässiger Tötung und fahrlässiger Körperverletzung …" ("involuntary manslaughter and negligent injury").[18]
After Pakistani troops at a border post along the border with Afghanistan fire warning shots at North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) attack helicopters flying a combat mission over Afghan territory against Afghan insurgents near the border, the helicopters mistake them for insurgents and return fire, killing three Pakistanis.[20][21]
^Editorial Staff (31 May 2010). "Solar Impulse Flies On Pure Sunlight". Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^"Romanian stowaway found at Heathrow freed after caution". BBC News. 9 June 2010. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
^"Solar-powered plane lands safely after 26-hour flight". 8 July 2010. Retrieved 7 May 2023 – via www.bbc.co.uk.
^"Anonymous, "The FAI Ratifies Solar Impulse's World Records," fai.org, 22 October 2010, 00:23". Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^"Dreamliner lands at Farnborough". BBC News. 18 July 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2010. Retrieved 20 July 2010.
^"Human-Powered Ornithopter Project". Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
^"C-17 Conducts Flight Test With Biofuel | Aero-News Network". www.aero-news.net. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^"1 dead, 33 injured after plane crashes into audience at German air show". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
^"Flugunfall Lillinghof Strafbefehl gegen Piloten erlassen (Aircraft Accident Lillinghof issued charges against pilots)". BR Mittelfranken. Bayerischer Rundfunk. 12 September 2014. Archived from the original on 25 May 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
^"The lucky Tu-154". English Russia. 5 November 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
^Brulliard, Karin, "Pakistan Blocks NATO's Afghan-Bound Supply Trucks After Airstrike Kills 3," washingtonpost.com, 30 September 2010, 12:49 p.m. EDT
^Brulliard, Karin, and Joshua Partlow, "NATO Airstrike Strains U.S.-Pakistan Relations", The Washington Post, 27 November 2011, which corrects the death toll (reported as three in the earlier article) to two.
^"Turkey, Russia among countries rushing to Israel's aid to fight fires". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^Hradecky, Simon (15 December 2010). "Crash: Tara Air DHC6 near Okhaldhunga on December 15th 2010, aircraft impacted mountain". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
^Warnes, Alan (January 2021). "The day the Harrier died". Air International. Vol. 100, no. 1. pp. 32–39. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"XC-2 Finally Airborne". Air International. Vol. 78, no. 3. March 2010. p. 20. ISSN 0306-5634.
^Butowski, Piotr (March 2010). "Raptorski's Maiden Flight". Air International. Vol. 78, no. 3. pp. 30–37. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"Pictures & Video: Boeing's 747-8F lifts off on maiden flight". Flight International. Archived from the original on 12 February 2010. Retrieved 8 February 2010.
^"Surion Takes to the Air". Air International. Vol. 78, no. 5. May 2010. p. 16. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"Light Combat Helicopter Flies". Air International. Vol. 78, no. 5. May 2010. p. 5. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"Antonov An-158 Completes Maiden Flight". Air International. Vol. 78, no. 6. June 2010. p. 4. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"Eurocopter Reveals X3 Hybrid Helicopter Testbed". Air International. Vol. 79, no. 5. November 2010. p. 5. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"Anka MALE UAV Flown". Air International. Vol. 80, no. 2. February 2011. p. 11. ISSN 0306-5634.
^"US Air Force Retires T-43A". Air International. Vol. 79, no. 5. November 2010. p. 17. ISSN 0306-5634.
^Severn, Fran, "Aardvarks Go Extinct: Last Flight of the F-111", Flight Journal, June 2011, p. 58.