June 20
2011
RusAir Flight 9605 (Besovets / Petrozavodsk air disaster)
On June 20, 2011, RusAir Flight 9605, a Tupolev Tu-134 on a scheduled domestic service from Moscow Domodedovo to Petrozavodsk, struck trees and terrain short of Petrozavodsk Airport in dense fog near the village of Besovets. Of the 52 people on board (43 passengers and 9 crew), 47 died and 5 survived. An Interstate Aviation Committee investigation found the crew continued an instrument approach below published minima in weather requiring diversion, with inadequate crew resource management and organizational shortcomings contributing. Read more
1973
Ezeiza massacre (Masacre de Ezeiza)
On June 20, 1973, crowds gathered at Ministro Pistarini International Airport in Ezeiza to greet Juan Domingo Perón’s return from exile. What began as a mass demonstration ended in sudden, concentrated gunfire from elevated positions and vehicles, leaving a contested casualty toll (commonly cited as roughly 11–13 dead and several hundred wounded) and deepening a lethal split inside Peronism that helped set Argentina on a path toward wider political violence. Read more
1956
Linea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 (June 1956)
On June 20, 1956, a Lockheed Constellation operating as Línea Aeropostal Venezolana Flight 253 departed Idlewild Airport (now JFK) for Caracas. During the early en route phase near New York airspace the flight encountered a fatal in‑flight emergency and crashed; the airliner was destroyed and all aboard were killed. Investigators from the U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board and airline representatives undertook a formal inquiry, though some details about the exact crash location and a definitive public account remain ambiguous in secondary sources. Read more
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