On this day in aviation — October 20
673 notable aviation events on October 20 across history, drawn from official investigation records.
Every year on October 20, aviation history records accidents and incidents worldwide. FlightFinder surfaces 673 deduplicated entries for this calendar date from NTSB, EASA, and 70+ other official sources.
Notable events
- October 20, 1986
70 fatalities
Following an uneventful flight from Sverdlovsk-Koltsovo Airport, the crew started the approach to Kuybyshev-Kurumoch Airport. For training purposes, the captain decided to attempt a 'blind' approach and closed the…
- October 20, 1948
40 fatalities
The descent to Prestwick Airport was completed by night. On final approach to runway 32, the captain encountered strong winds and decided to start a go around and to follow a holding pattern. He later obtained the…
- October 20, 1968Hull loss
23 fatalities
While cruising at an altitude of 9,000 feet on a flight from Saigon to Đà Nẵng, the right engine failed. The crew was unable to feather the propeller nor to maintain the assigned altitude so the captain decided to…
- October 20, 1945
20 fatalities
The aircraft left Shanghai at 0720LT bound for Hong Kong. At 0840LT, the radio operator contacted Nanking ground control when communication was cut. The aircraft crashed on several houses in a village located about 20…
- October 20, 1968
19 fatalities
Shortly after takeoff from Feijó Airport, while climbing, the pilot informed ground about an engine failure and was cleared to return for an emergency landing. While completing a last turn to join the approach path,…
- October 20, 1989
15 fatalities
The four engine aircraft departed Ulyanovsk on a cargo flight to Leninakan, carrying 5 passengers, 10 crew members and a load of 37,2 tons of construction materials and tools. The crew was cleared to descend to 3,300…
- October 20, 1943
15 fatalities
- October 20, 1967Hull loss
14 fatalities
After liftoff at Vetluga Airport, while climbing, the aircraft stalled and struck the runway surface. The undercarriage were torn off and the airplane crashed in flames. Twelve passengers and both pilots were killed…
See all 673 events for October 20:
https://himaxym.com/history/on-this-day
Contemporaneous coverage and timeline for October 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
Get this digest by email
The same weekly safety roundup, in your inbox every Monday. No spam, one-click unsubscribe.