On this day in aviation — September 3

Every year on September 3, aviation history records accidents and incidents worldwide. FlightFinder surfaces 907 deduplicated entries for this calendar date from NTSB, EASA, and 70+ other official sources.

Notable events

• September 3, 1989Hull loss

  Ilyushin II-62

  Cubana de Aviacion · Cuba

  171 fatalities

  Flight CU9646 was a charter flight from Havana to Milan with an intermediate stop in Cologne, carrying Italian tourists. One hour before takeoff, a low pressure zone was located about nine km from the airport of Havana…

• September 3, 1989

  Cubana de Aviación Flight 9646

  126 fatalities

• September 3, 1962

  Aeroflot Flight 3

  86 fatalities

• September 3, 1976Hull loss

  Lockheed C-130 Hercules

  Venezuelan Air Force - Fuerza Aérea Venezolana

  68 fatalities

  While descending to Lajes Airport, the crew encountered very poor weather conditions and limited visibility due to the night, low clouds and heavy rain falls. On short final, the pilot failed to realize his altitude was…

• September 3, 1997

  Tupolev TU-134

  Vietnam Airlines · Vietnam

  65 fatalities

  On approach to Phnom Penh-Pochentong Airport, the crew encountered poor weather conditions and limited visibility due to heavy rain falls. Unable to establish a visual contact with the runway, the captain initiated a…

• September 3, 1964

  Lockheed C-130B Hercules

  Tentara Nasional Indonesia-AU (Air Force)

  55 fatalities

• September 3, 1978Hull loss

  Vickers Viscount

  Air Rhodesia

  48 fatalities

  The four engine aircraft departed Kariba Airport at 1710LT bound for Salisbury. While climbing, the crew declared an emergency after a SAM-7 missile struck the right wing. With both right engines out of service, the…

• September 3, 1968Hull loss

  Ilyushin II-18

  Transportno Aviatsionno Bulgaro-Savetsko Obedinenie - TABSO · Bulgaria

  47 fatalities

  The four engine aircraft was completing a charter flight from Berlin to Burgas with an intermediate stop in Sofia, carrying 80 East-German tourists who were flying on holidays to Burgas, on the shore of the Black Sea.…

See all 907 events for September 3:

https://himaxym.com/history/on-this-day

Contemporaneous coverage and timeline for September 3 — Recap.at:

https://recap.at/today/09-03

Data is aggregated from public investigation records and may be revised as sources are reconciled.