1980 in aviation

Partial list of events that marked aviation in 1980:

• January
  • 8, in San Francisco, a Mooney 231 lands after flying coast to coast non-stop, setting a record by completing the flight in 8 hours and 4 minutes.
  • 16, in England, British Island Airways and Air Anglia merge to form Air UK.
• February
• March
  • 28, Arizona: The 1,000th production Learjet is delivered.
• April
  • 18, Zimbabwe: Air Zimbabwe is formed.
• May
• June
  • 4, St. Louis: The first of 92 F-15J eagles, built by McDonnell Douglas for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, flies.
  • 13, the last produced Concorde (number 16) is delivered to British Airways.
  • 19, Sikorsky delivers its last of the S-61 commercial helicopeters.
  • 23, India: Sanjay Gandhi, son of Indira Gandhi, dies when his private aerobatic biplane has an accident.
  • June ???, European Helicopter Industries formed.
• July
  • 6, Leicester, England: The largest light airplane meet outside the United States brings 750 small planes to the Popular Flying Associations annual meeting.
  • 12, Long Beach, California, McDonnell Douglas' first KC-10A makes its maiden flight.
  • 17, Devon, England: an Viscount plane of charter airline Alidair lands safely after suffering damage to all four engines.
  • 21, Utah: The F-16 officially nicknamed the Fighting Falcon in a ceremony.
  • 23, France: The Aerospatiale AS.366G Daulphin II copter takes off for the first time.
• August
  • 11, Tucson: The first Learjet Longhorn 50 flies for the first time.
  • 19, Riyadh: Tragedy strikes, as a Lockheed L-1011 of Saudia makes a safe emergency landing, but panicked passengers suffocate and burn in a subsequent stampede. All inside the plane died.
• September
  • 22, Iraq attacks Iran, various military bases and oil wells affected.
• October
  • 2, North Sea: A Westland Sea King performs the rescue of 22 passengers from the Swedish ship Finneagle.
• November
  • 9, Sussex, England: Dan-Air registers the last commercial flight by a Comet 4 jet. The plane flew enthusiasts on a round-trip flight from London.
• December
  • 7, Beijing: Pan Am's Boeing 747, the China Clipper, arrives from JFK International Airport in New York, to Beijing, after a stop on Tokyo. It marks the first time since 1949 that a commercial flight between the United States and mainland China is completed.
  • 17, San Francisco: The first McDonnell Douglas DC-9 series 80 enters service, with PSA from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
  • 26, U.S.S.R: Aeroflot puts the Ilyushin Il-86 into service.