On this day

On this day in aviation — September 20

823 notable aviation events on September 20 across history, drawn from official investigation records.

Every year on September 20, aviation history records accidents and incidents worldwide. FlightFinder surfaces 823 deduplicated entries for this calendar date from NTSB, EASA, and 70+ other official sources.

Notable events

  • September 20, 1969

    Douglas C-54 Skymaster

    Air Vietnam

    77 fatalities

    Following an uneventful flight from Saigon via Pleiku, the crew started the descent to Đà Nẵng in marginal weather conditions. The visibility was relatively limited due to clouds. On final, the DC-4 was cleared to land…

  • September 20, 1946

    Curtiss C-46 Commando

    China National Aviation Corporation - CNAC

    31 fatalities

    Few minutes after its takeoff from Xichang Airport, while climbing to an altitude of 15,000 feet, the twin engine aircraft hit the slope of Mt Lochi, killing all 31 occupants. The registration and the exact type of…

  • September 20, 1950

    Douglas C-54 Skymaster

    United States Navy - USN

    26 fatalities

    Three minutes after its takeoff from runway 04 at Roi-Namur-Dyess Airport, while in initial climb by night, the four engine aircraft stalled and crashed into the sea some 2,5 km off shore. The aircraft sank by few…

  • September 20, 1943

    Douglas C-53

    United States Army Air Forces - USAAF (1941-1947)

    25 fatalities

    The crew was performing a flight from Laurinburg-Maxton AFB to Godman AFB located near Louisville, Kentucky. Shortly after take off, while climbing at a height of 300 feet, the pilot saw in front of him another Douglas…

  • September 20, 1990Hull loss

    Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante

    Government of the State of Pernambuco · Brazil

    12 fatalities

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  • September 20, 2003

    Aerospatiale AS350BA

    United States

    7 fatalities

    The pilot's disregard of safe flying procedures and misjudgment of the helicopter's proximity to terrain, which resulted in an in-flight collision with a canyon wall. Contributing to the accident was the failure of…

  • September 20, 1974

    Douglas C-47 Skytrain (DC-3)

    Nicaraguayan Air Force - Fuerza Aérea - Ejercito de Nicaragua

    7 fatalities

    The crew departed Managua-Las Mercedes Airport on a supply mission to the west coast of the country that suffered Hurricane 'Fifi'. The aircraft was carrying a crew of seven and a load of 5,000 pounds of various goods.…

  • September 20, 1963

    Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer

    Garuda Indonesian Airways · Indonesia

    7 fatalities

    Crashed in unknown circumstances somewhere in Indonesia, killing all seven occupants.

See all 823 events for September 20:

Contemporaneous coverage and timeline for September 20 — Recap.at:

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

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

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