April 9

What happened on April 9 in aviation and space history.

• April 9, 2019

  The programme's first fatal accident: a Japanese F-35A is lost over the Pacific

  Accident — A Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-35A vanished from radar over the Pacific about 135 kilometres east of Misawa air base during a night air-combat exercise. Its pilot, Major Akinori Hosomi, was killed: the programme's first fatality. The investigation concluded that the pilot had suffered spatial disorientation and never attempted to eject.