1980 in aviation

Years in aviation:	1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983
Centuries:	19th Century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades:	1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years:	1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1980:

Events

• Summer 1980 – The British Aerospace Sea Harrier enters operational service with the Fleet Air Arm, providing the British Royal Navy with its first high-performance fixed-wing aircraft capability since the retirement of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal in December 1978.

January

• January 8 – A Mooney 231 lands in San Francisco, after flying coast-to-coast non-stop across the continental United States, 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.
• January 21 – While on approach to Mehrabad Airport in Tehran, Iran, in fog and snow, an Iran Air Boeing 727-86 crashes in the Alborz Mountains, killing all 128 people on board.

February

• An Aeroflot Ilyushin Il-18 flies 30,000 km (19,000 mi) from Moscow in the Soviet Union to the Molodyozhnaya Station observatory in East Antarctica.
• February 21 – Australia experiences its first fatal airline accident since 1968 when an Advance Aviation Beechcraft King Air 200 suffers the failure of an engine shortly after takeoff from Sydney Airport in Mascot, Australia, due to water in the fuel tank and crashes into a seawall while trying to return to the airport. All 13 people on board die.
• February 27 – A China Airlines Boeing 707 originating from Taipei crash-lands in Manila, Philippines and is destroyed by fire. All 124 passengers and 11 crew members survive.

March

• March 12–14 – Two United States Air Force B-52 Stratofrotresses make a non-stop round-the-world flight in 42.5 hours
• March 14 – The Ilyushin Il-62 Mikołaj Kopernik, operating as LOT Flight 7, crashes into the moat of a military fortress near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw, Poland, as the crew attempts a go around after a mechanical failure forces them to abort a landing. All 87 people on board die, including Polish singer Anna Jantar, American ethnomusicologist Alan P. Merriam, and a contingent of the United States amateur boxing team.
• Match 28 – The 1,000th production Learjet is delivered.

April

• April 3 – The prototype of the Bombardier Challenger 600 crashes in the Mojave Desert in California, killing its pilot.
• April 12 – On a night approach to Hercilio Luz International Airport in Florianópolis, Brazil, during a severe thunderstorm, Transbrasil Flight 303, a Boeing 727-27C, crashes into a hill, killing 55 of the 58 people on board.
• April 18 – Air Zimbabwe is formed in Zimbabwe.
• April 24 – To rescue 52 Americans held hostage in Tehran, Iran, during the Iran hostage crisis, the United States Armed Forces mount Operation Eagle Claw, an attempt to carry United States Army Delta Force rescue team to Tehran in eight United States Navy RH-53D Sea Stallion helicopters manned by United States Marine Corps personnel flying from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) in the Persian Gulf. The plan requires the helicopters to meet six United States Air Force aircraft – three special operations MC-130E Combat Talon I penetration/transport aircraft and three EC-130E Hercules – on the ground at the secret "Desert One" airstrip inside Iran for refueling. After only six of the helicopters arrive at Desert One and one of them proves mechanically incapable of continuing, the operation is aborted and, as the aircraft prepare to leave, an RH-53 crashes into an EC-130, killing eight men and destroying both aircraft. The five surviving helicopters are abandoned and all the surviving personnel evacuate Desert One in the remaining MC-130s and EC-130s.
• April 25 – Dan-Air Flight 1008, a Boeing 727-46, turns the wrong way in a holding pattern and crashes into high terrain while on approach to Tenerife North Airport on the island of Tenerife in Spain's Canary Islands, killing all 146 people on board. It is the largest loss of life aboard an aircraft registered in the United Kingdom.
• April 27 – Thai Airways Flight 231, a Hawker Siddeley HS 748, crashes after entering a thunderstorm while on approach to Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, killing 44 of the 53 people on board and injuring all nine survivors.

May

• May 1 – A United States Marine Corps AV-8A Harrier crashes spectacularly at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. During a vertical takeoff the aircraft rolls, drops to the runway, bounces into a ditch, bursts into flames, flips, and slides through a hangar and into a parking lot, where it damages more than 20 vehicles.
• May 8–12 – Maxie Anderson and his son, Kristian Anderson, make the first nonstop balloon crossing of North America, flying from Fort Baker in California to Sainte-Félicité, Quebec, Canada.

June

• European Helicopter Industries is formed.
• June 13 – The last Concorde to be produced, number 16, is delivered to British Airways.
• June 19 – Sikorsky Aircraft delivers the last of its S-61 commercial helicopters.
• June 23 – Piloting a new aerobatic biplane of the Delhi Flying Club, Sanjay Gandhi, the son of Prime Minister of India Indira Gandhi, loses control at the top of a loop he is performing over his office near Safdarjung Airport in New Delhi, India. He and his passenger die in the subsequent crash.
• June 27 – Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15, crashes in the Tyrrhenian Sea near the Italian island of Ustica, killing all 81 people on board. Various theories will be put forward suggesting that the airliner was destroyed in flight by a bomb or was accidentally shot down during a military exercise.

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, England.
• July 17 – A Vickers Viscount of charter airline Alidair lands safely in Devon, England, after suffering damage to all four engines.
• July 17 – Cathay Pacific begins a Hong Kong-London service
• July 21 – The General Dynamics F-16 is officially named the "Fighting Falcon" in a ceremony.

August

• August 7 – Janice Brown pilots the MacCready Gossamer Penguin on its first solar powered flight.
• August 19 – A fire breaks out in the aft cargo compartment of Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011-200 TriStar, a few minutes after takeoff from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The plane returns to the airport and makes a safe emergency landing, but instead of ordering an immediate emergency evacution, the flight crew taxis onto a taxiway before stopping. Engine shutdown takes another 3 minutes 15 seconds, by which time all or most of the pssengers and crew apparently have been overcome by smoke and fire. By the time airport emergency personnel get one of the plane's doors open 23 minutes after engine shutdown, all 301 people on board have died. It remains the second-deadliest single-aircraft accident in history, the deadliest in Saudi Arabian history, and the deadliest involving an L-1011.
• August 28–31 – The 3rd FAI World Rally Flying Championship is held in Aschaffenburg, West Germany. Individual winners are 1. Witold Świadek / Andrzej Korzeniowski (Poland), 2. Otto Höfling / Michael Amtmann (West Germany), 3. Luckerbauer / Meszaros (Austria). Team results are 1. Poland, 2. West Germany, 3. Austria.

September

• September 9 – Island Air begins operations in Hawaii.
• September 12 – Florida Commuter Airlines Flight 65, Douglas DC-3A, crashes in the Atlantic Ocean near West End Settlement, Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas, killing all 34 people on board. Fifteen bodies are recovered before search-and-rescue operations cease on September 15.
• September 22 – The Iran-Iraq War begins as Iraq attacks various military bases and oil wells in Iran.
• September 28 – Iraqi Air Force Tupolev Tu-22 bombers land in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after bombing Iran.

October

• October 2 7ndash; A Westland Sea King helicopter rescues 22 passengers from the Swedish ship Finneagle in the North Sea.
• October 12 – Mesa Airlines commences operations.
• October 20 7ndash; The first dog fights of the Iran–Iraq War take place. Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-4 Phantom IIs shoot down an Iraqi Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21.

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 flies 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.
• November 21 – Continental Micronesia Flight 614, a Boeing 727-92C, skids off the runway and crashes when its right main landing gear separates from the airliner as it lands at Yap International Airport on Yap in the western Caroline Islands. A fire subsequently destroys the plane, but all 73 people on board evacuate, three of them with serious injuries.

December

• December 7 – The Pan American World Airways Boeing 747 China Clipper arrives in Beijing, China, from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York after a stop in Tokyo, Japan. It marks the first time since 1949 that a commercial flight between the United States and mainland China is completed.
• December 19 – New York Air begins airline operations.
• December 22 – Saudia Flight 162, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar with 292 people on board, suffers an explosive decompression over the Persian Gulf off Qatar, killing two people and injuring seven.

First flights

May

• May 13 - Antonov An-3

June

• June 4 – Mitsubishi F-15J
• June 20 – Beechcraft Commuter
• June 24 – Microturbo Microjet 200 F-WZJF

July

• July 12 - KC-10 Extender 79-0433
• July 23 - Aérospatiale Dauphin II

August

• August 11 - Learjet Longhorn 50
• August 16 - EMBRAER Tucano 1300
• August 19 - Boeing-Vertol Model 234

September

• September 26 - Shanghai Y-10

November

• November 6 - MacCready Solar Challenger

Entered service

October

• The MD-80 series enters airline service.

November

• November 13 - F/A-18 Hornet with VFA-125 at NAS Lemoore.

December

• December 26- Ilyushin Il-86 with Aeroflot

Retirements

• North American F-100 Super Sabre by the United States Air National Guard

[vi:Hàng không năm 1980]