1986 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1986:

Events

January

January 9 - the UK Defence Secretary, Michael Heseltine, resigns amidst a political furore over the future of Westland Helicopters. Two weeks later, Leon Brittan, the Trade and Industry Secretary, will also resign.
January 28 - the Space Shuttle Challenger is destroyed at launch
January 31 - Boeing completes purchase of de Havilland Canada

February

February 12 - US Navy aircraft carriers commence exercises in the Gulf of Sirte, off the coast of Libya, challenging that country's territorial claims to those waters.

April

April 2 - a bomb planted by a Palestinian terrorist group explodes aboard a TWA Boeing 727 on a flight between Rome and Athens. Four passengers are killed and nine more injured, but the aircraft lands safely.
April 14-15 - United States Air Force and United States Navy jets attack Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon. The U.S. Air Force component of the raid is the first U.S. bomber mission launched from British soil since 1945.
April 18 - Marcel Dassault (real name, Marcel Bloch) dies at 94.
April 28 - Pan Am returns to the Soviet Union, using a Boeing 747 from JFK International Airport in New York.

May

May 3 - 20 passengers die after an explosion caused by Tamil Tigers separatists aboard an Air Lanka Lockheed L-1011
May 7 - Al Mooney dies, aged 80.
May 16 - Top Gun (film) opens in theaters in United States
May 26 - Helicopter prison escape from a Parisian jail. Escapee Michel Vaujour was flown to freedom via his wife, a newly graduated helicopter pilot.

June

May 29-June 1 - the 5th FAI World Rally Flying Championship in Castellx³n de la Plana, Spain.

Individual winners: 1. Krzysztof Lenartowicz & Janusz Darocha (Poland), 2. Carlos Eugui Aguado / Jose Anizonda (Spain), 3./4. Wacław Nycz & Marian Wieczorek (Poland) / Witold Świadek & Andrzej Korzeniowski (Poland). Team winners: 1. Poland, 2. West Germany, 3. Spain.

June 17 - Last flight ever by a Boeing B-47 Stratojet when B-47E-25-DT, 52-0166, was restored to flight status for a one-time-only ferry move from Naval Weapons Center China Lake, California to Castle Air Force Base, California for museum display.

August

August 11 - a modified Westland Lynx sets a new helicopter world speed record of 249 mph (401 km/h)
August 20 - first test-flight of a propfan engine, the General Electric GE-36
August 26 - the CFM56 turbofan is flight tested for the first time.

October

October 21 - British Airways is offered for public sale by the British government

November

November 3 While attempting to land at Zahedan airport, an Iranian Hercules C-130 army transport plane crashes into a mountain; all 103 passengers are killed.
November 6 - Sumburgh disaster, a British International Helicopters Boeing 234LR Chinook crashes in the Shetland Isles, killing 45 people. It is history's worst civlian helicopter disaster.

December

December 2 - an Air France Concorde returns to Paris after an 18-day around the world trip with 94 passengers.
December 14-23: First non-stop flight around the planet without refueling - the Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, on a distance of 26,366 statute miles (the FAI accredited distance is 40,212 km)

First flights

February

February 15 - Beechcraft Starship

April

April 27 - Partenavia Mosquito
April 25 - Air Tractor AT-503

July

July 4 - Dassault Rafale

August

August 6 - BAe ATP
August 8 - British Aerospace EAP

September

September 13 - Piaggio P.180 Avanti

November

November 30 - Fokker F100

December

December 31 - IAI Lavi

Entered service

May

May 1 - Dassault Mirage IVP with Armée de l'Air

October

October 1 - AH-64 Apache with the US 6th Cavalry Brigade

1986 in Aviation Pictures

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia