1981 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1981:

Years in aviation: 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s
Years: 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984

Events

January

February

  • February 1 – American aircraft industrialist Donald Douglas, founder of the Douglas Aircraft Company, dies at the age of 88.[3]
  • February 7 – Taking off with a center of gravity that is beyond certified limits thanks to improperly seated passengers and poorly secured cargo that shifts, a Soviet Navy Tupolev Tu-104A (NATO reporting name "Camel") rolls inverted and crashes immediately after takeoff from Pushkin Airport south of Leningrad in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, killing all 51 people on board. Some of the dead are high-ranking Soviet Navy officials returning to Vladivostok after visiting Leningrad for a naval exercise.[4]
  • February 12–14 – The American balloonists Maxie Anderson and Don Ida attempt a round-the-world balloon flight, setting off from Luxor, Egypt in the helium balloon Jules Verne on February 12, and landing 145 kilometres (78 nmi; 90 mi) east of New Delhi, India after a flight of 4,667 kilometres (2,520 nmi; 2,900 mi).[3]
  • February 18 – American aircraft designer and industrialist Jack Northrop, founder of the Northrop Corporation, dies at the age of 85.
  • February 24 – On approach in rain and high winds to Val de Cans International Airport in Belém, Brazil, a VOTEC Serviços Aéreos Regionais Embraer EMB-110P Bandeirante strikes a ship in dry dock, then hits two barges before breaking in half, with its forward portion crashing onto a tug and its after portion sinking. The crash kills 11 of the 14 people on board.[5]
  • February 26 – A United States Air Force Lockheed MC-130EY Hercules making a low-level run crashes into the sea off Tabones Island in the Philippines, killing 23 of the 24 people on board.[6]

March

April

  • April 3 – Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe dies in Los Angeles, California.[9]
  • April 4 – In the Iran–Iraq War, the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force strikes deep into Iraqi territory, destroying 46 Iraqi aircraft at Al-Walid Air Base. Iraq later claims that the Syrian Air Force provided cover for the attack.[10]
  • April 10 – Japan Air Lines carries its 10 millionth passenger
  • April 12 – The Space Shuttle Columbia takes off. It marks the first time an American space shuttle flies operationally. It glides to a landing two days later.[9]
  • April 17 – Air US Flight 716, a Handley Page HP.137 Jetstream (registration N11360), collides over Larimer County, Colorado, 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) east-southeast of Fort Collins–Loveland Municipal Airport with a Sky's West Parachute Center Cessna TU206 (registration N4862F) on a skydiving flight. The collision kills two skydivers on the Cessna; the other three skydivers on board and the pilot parachute to safety before the Cessna crashes. The Jetstream crashes almost nose-down in an open field about 4,000 feet (1,219 meters) of the Cessna's wreckage, killing all 11 people on board.[11]
  • April 28 – Despite forecasted icing conditions, an Aeroflot Antonov An-2TP (registration CCCP-92864), takes off from Batagay Airport in Batagay in the Soviet Union's Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic for a flight to Lazo. While flying over mountainous terrain at an altitude of 1,500 meters (4,921 feet), it encounters snow squalls, begins to descend, and crashes into a cloud-covered mountainside at an altitude of 860 meters (2,821 feet), killing all 12 people on board.[12]
  • April 30

May

June

July

August

September

  • September 2 – An overloaded Taxi Aéreo El Venado Embraer EMB-110P1 Bandeirante (registration HK-2651) fails to gain altitude after takeoff from Juan Jose Rondon Airport in Paipa, Colombia. Maneuvering to avoid trees and buildings, it stalls, crashes 3 kilometers (1.9 miles) from the airport, and catches fire. The crash and fire kill 17 of the 22 people on board immediately, and four of those pulled alive from the wreckage die of their injuries within a day of the accident.[35]
  • September 3 – McDonnell Douglas delivers the 1,000th DC-9 produced; it was ordered by Swissair.
  • September 10 – British Airways CEO Roy Watts announces a financial crisis for the airline. He states that the company is losing £UK 200 per minute.
  • September 18 – An Aeroflot Yakovlev Yak-40 (registration CCCP-87455) on approach to Irkutsk Airport in Irkutsk collides over the Soviet Union with an Aeroflot Mil Mi-8 helicopter (registration CCCP-22268) on a training flight at an altitude of 400 meters (1,312 feet) 11 kilometers (6.9 miles) from Zheleznogorsk-Ilimskiy. Both aircraft crash, killing all 33 people on the Yak-40 and seven people on the helicopter.[36]
  • September 29 – An Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force Lockheed C-130H Hercules crashes at Kahrizak, Iran, during a flight from the Iran–Iraq War's front line to Tehran, killing 80 people. Iran's minister of defense, his chief of staff, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army chief of staff, and the regional commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are among the dead.[37][38]

October

November

December

  • December 1 – A chartered Yugoslavian McDonnell Douglas MD-81 operating as Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 crashes into Mount San Pietro on Corsica, killing all 180 people on board.
  • December 5 – December 8 – Jerry Mullins sets a closed-circuit distance record for piston engined aircraft, piloting the Javelin Phoenix, a modified Bede BD-2, a distance of 8,695.9 nautical miles (10,007.1 mi; 16,104.8 km) in a circuit between Oklahoma City and Jacksonville.[42]
  • December 12 – Maxie Anderson and Don Ida launch from Luxor, Egypt, in the balloon Jules Verne to begin the first serious attempt at a circumnavigation of the world by balloon. They are forced to end their attempt on December 14 at Hansa, India, after a flight of 2,676 miles (4,316 km).[43]
  • December 25 – U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Thomas Tiller is rescued from the Atlantic Ocean by a boat. He had floated at sea for seven days after his plane, an F-4 Phantom II, had crashed on December 18.

First flights

January

February

March

  • March 28 – Dornier 228 D-IFNS[46]

April

  • April 10 – SIAI Marchetti S.211 I-SITF[47]
  • April 15 – Dassault-Breguet Guardian[48]

May

June

July

August

September

November

  • November 5 – AV-8B Harrier II 161396[50]

December

Entered service

January

April

December

Retirements

References

  1. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 114.
  2. Taylor 1981, p. 32.
  3. Taylor 1981, p. 33.
  4. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  5. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  6. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  7. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  8. Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982, Part One: The Western Powers, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1983, ISBN 0-87021-918-9, p. 66.
  9. Taylor 1981, p. 36.
  10. Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran–Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8133-1330-9, p. 119.
  11. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  12. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  13. Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume I: The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, ISBN 0-8133-1329-5, p. 187.
  14. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  15. Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, ISBN 0-87021-026-2, p. 216.
  16. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  17. Cordesman and Wagner, pp. 143, 533.
  18. planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1980s
  19. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  20. Malone, Julia, "Congress investigates military drug use in wake of USS Nimitz accident ," Christian Science Monitor, June 18, 1981.
  21. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  22. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 209.
  23. Brogan, Patrick, The Fighting Never Stopped: A Comprehensive Guide to Global Conflict Since 1945, New York: Vintage Books, 1990, ISBN 0-679-72033-2, p. 262.
  24. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  25. The Bloody Border by James Oberg
  26. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  27. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  28. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  29. Cordesman and Wagner, p. 118.
  30. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  31. Barnes, Nart, "Robert Poli, who led 1981 strike that led Reagan to fire traffic controllers, dies at 78," Washington Post, September 23, 2014
  32. Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: A Premier Fighter," Naval History, April 2012, p. 14.
  33. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  34. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  35. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  36. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  37. Cordesman and Wagner, p. 125.
  38. Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  39. Cordesman and Wagner, p. 127.
  40. "Today in History," The Washington Post Express, October 22, 2013.
  41. Carlson, Mark, "The Last Rocket Pilot," Aviation History, November 2017, p. 13.
  42. Taylor 1982, p. [67].
  43. Florida International University Around the World By Balloon Archived 2009-05-17 at the Wayback Machine
  44. Taylor 1982, p. 399.
  45. Taylor 1982, p. 11.
  46. Taylor 1982, p. 84.
  47. Taylor 1982, p. 140.
  48. Taylor 1982, p. 69.
  49. Taylor 1981, p. 60.
  50. Taylor 1982, p. [65].
  51. David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 110.
  52. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 115.
  53. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 104.
  54. Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 88.
  • Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1982–83. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1982. ISBN 0-7106-0748-2.
  • Taylor, Michael J. H., ed. (1981). Jane's 1981–1982 Aviation Annual. London: Jane's Publishing Company. ISBN 0-7106-0138-7.
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