1981 in aviation

yearbox
in?=in aviation
cp=19th Century
c=20th century
cf=21st century
yp1=1978
yp2=1979
yp3=1980
year=1981
ya1=1982
ya2=1983
ya3=1984
dp3=1950s
dp2=1960s
dp1=1970s
d=1980s
dn1=1990s
dn2=2000s
dn3=2010s

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

Events

January

* January 3 - Pan Am makes its final Boeing 707 flight.
* January 7 - a Boeing 747 of CAAC lands at JFK International Airport, marking the first time since 1949 that a flight from mainland China to the United States is performed.
* January 18 - Bell Helicopter delivers its 25,000th production helicopter.
* January 28 - Pan Am commences a weekly New York-Beijing service

February

* February 1 - Donald Douglas dies, aged 88
* February 12 - Max Anderson and Don Ida make a failed attempt to circumnavigate the world by balloon. Their craft, the "Jules Verne" only covers 2,900 miles (4,667 km) from Luxor to New Delhi
* February 18 - Jack Northrop dies

March

* March 2 - Japan Air Lines is the first airline to use a computerised flight simulator to train its crews
* March 28 - Air France pilot Michel Breton flies the airline's last Sud Aviation Caravelle service, from Amsterdam to Paris.
* March 29 - British Airways makes its last Vickers VC10 flight

April

* April 3 - Pan Am founder Juan Trippe dies in Los Angeles.
* 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 lands two days later.

June

* June 7 - Israeli Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcons make a long-range strike into Iraq to destroy the nuclear reactor at Osirak

July

* July 7 - Stephen Ptacek flies a solar-powered aircraft "Solar Challenger" across the English Channel, taking a little over five hours.
* July 17 - the Israeli Air Force attacks Beirut in retribution for Palestinian terror attacks.

August

* August 19 - two United States Navy F-14 Tomcats shoot down two Sukhoi Su-22s of the Libyan Air Force over the Gulf of Sidra.

eptember

* 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.

October

* October 2 - United States president Ronald Reagan re-starts the B-1 Lancer program by announcing the order of 100 B-1Bs for the USAF.
* October 6 - NLM Cityhopper Flight 431 encounters a tornado, loses a wing, breaks up in air, and crashes near Moerdijk, Netherlands.

November

* November 13 - Ben Abruzzo and crew make the first crossing of the Pacific Ocean by balloon, in the "Double Eagle V"
* November 21 - Aeroflot is banned from flying to the United States, after an earlier Aeroflot flight that overflew American military installations, straying from its supposed flight path.

December

* December 25 - USAF lieutenant Thomas Tiller is rescued from the Atlantic Ocean by a boat after his plane, a F-4 Phantom had an accident seven days before.

First flights

January
* January 1 - Lear Fan 2100 "N626BL"

March
* March 27 - Aerotec Tangará
* March 28 - Dornier 228 "D-IFNS"

April
* April 10 - SIAI Marchetti S.211 "I-SITF"
* April 15 - Dassault-Breguet Guardian

June
* June 18 - F-117 Nighthawk

September
* September 3 - BAe 146 "G-SSSH"
* September 26 - Boeing 767 "N767BA"

November
* November 5 - AV-8B Harrier II "161396"

December
* December 17 - Hughes NOTAR
* December 17 - NAC Fieldmaster

Entered service

*Vympel R-33 AA missile