Bah, there's a report of an earlier one in Ovid's Metamorphoses from 8 CE.

http://messybeast.com/dragonqueen/icarus-accident.htm

Surprisingly, the article does not mention that Selfridge field in Michigan is named after Lieutenant Selfridge. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selfridge_Air_National_Guard_B....

When KLM started flying Amsterdam-Batavia in the 1930s it was dangerous but people preferred it to spending weeks on a ship.