1980 in aviation
| Years in aviation |
|---|
| 1975 |
| 1976 |
| 1977 |
| 1978 |
| 1979 |
| 1980 |
| 1981 |
| 1982 |
| 1983 |
| 1984 |
| 1985 |
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1980:
Events
January
- January 8 – a Mooney 231 lands in San Francisco, after flying coast to coast non-stop, setting a record by completing the flight in 8 hours and 4 minutes.
- January 16 – British Island Airways and Air Anglia merge to form Air UK.
February
- an Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18 flies 30,000 km (18,642 miles) from Moscow to the Molodezhnaya observatory in the Antarctic
March
- March 12-14 – two B-52 Stratofortresses make a non-stop round-the-world flight in 42.5 hours
- March 28 – The 1,000th production Learjet is delivered.
April
- April 18 – Air Zimbabwe is formed.
- April 24 – helicopters from USS Nimitz participate in the abortive Operation Eagle Claw, a plan to rescue US hostages from Iran
June
- European Helicopter Industries is formed.
- June 13 – the last produced Concorde (number 16) is delivered to British Airways.
- June 19 – Sikorsky delivers its last of the S-61 commercial helicopeters.
- June 23 – Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies when his private aerobatic biplane has an accident.
July
- July 6 – the largest light airplane meet outside the United States brings 750 small planes to the Popular Flying Associations annual meeting in Leicester.
- July 17 – a Vickers Viscount plane of charter airline Alidair lands safely in Devon after suffering damage to all four engines.
- July 17 – Cathay Pacific begins a Hong Kong-London service
- July 21 – the F-16 is officially nicknamed the Fighting Falcon in a ceremony.
August
- August 7 – Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first solar powered flight.
- August 19 – tragedy strikes, as a Lockheed L-1011 of Saudia makes a safe emergency landing in Riyadh, but panicked passengers suffocate and burn in a subsequent stampede. All inside the plane died.
September
- September 22 – Iraq attacks Iran, various military bases and oil wells affected.
- September 28 – Iraqi Tupolev Tu-22s land in Riyadh after bombing Iran
October
- October 2 – a Westland Sea King performs the rescue of 22 passengers from the Swedish ship Finneagle in the North Sea.
- October 20 – first dogfights of the Iran-Iraq War. An Iraqi Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 is shot down by Iranian F-4 Phantoms
November
- November 1 – British Airways terminates Concorde services to Bahrain and Singapore
- November 9 – Dan-Air registers the last commercial flight by a de Havilland Comet. The plane flew enthusiasts on a round-trip flight from London.
- November 12 – Delta Air Lines orders 60 Boeing 757s, the largest single order to this time for a single airliner type.
December
- December 7 – Pan Am's Boeing 747, the China Clipper, arrives from JFK International Airport in New York, to Beijing, after a stop inTokyo. It marks the first time since 1949 that a commercial flight between the United States and mainland China is completed.
First flights
May
June
July
- July 12 – KC-10 Extender
- July 23 – Aérospatiale Dauphin II
August
September
November
- November 6 – Macready Solar Challenger
Entered service
November
- November 13 – F/A-18 Hornet with VFA-125 at NAS Leemore.
December
|
List of aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers Airports | Airlines | Air forces | Aircraft weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation |
Categories: Timeline of aviation | 1980