1979 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1979:

Events

January

• January 12 - Pilatus Aircraft acquires Britten-Norman

February

• February 26 - Production of the A-4 Skyhawk ends after 26 years, with the delivery of the 2,690th and final aircraft to the United States Marine Corps.

March

• March 10 - The US Air Force sends E-3 Sentry aircraft to monitor the civil war in Yemen
• March 25 - QANTAS retires its last Boeing 707 and becomes the world's first airline with a fleet of exclusively Boeing 747s

May

• May 25 - an American Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago during take-off, killing all 269. DC-10s are grounded across the US.

June

• June 12 - Bryan Allen flies the Gossamer Albatross across the English Channel using pedal power.
• June 27 - Israeli Air Force F-15 Eagles shoot down four Syrian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s

July

• July 23 - the British government announces plans to privatise British Airways and publicly sell British Aerospace shares.

August

• August 14 - Steve Hinton sets a new piston-engined airspeed record in a specially-modified P-51 Mustang named the Red Baron. He reaches 499 mph (803 km/h) over Nevada.

October

• October 30 - Sir Barnes Wallace dies, aged 82.

November

• November 29 - an Air New Zealand DC-10 crashes on the Mt Erebus volcano, killing all aboard.

December

• December 25 - Antonov An-12s and An-22s airlift the first Soviet troops into Afghanistan. 5,000 arrive in the first 24 hours.

First flights

March

• March 9 - Dassault Super Mirage 4000
• March 22 - CP-140 Aurora

April

• April 10 - Westland WG.30

July

• July 24 - Bell XV-15

November

• November 30 - Piper Malibu

December

• December 12 - SH-60 Seahawk
• December 14 - Edgley Optica
• December 21 - NASA/Ames AD-1
• December 22 - Aérospatiale Epsilon

Entered service

January

• January 6 - F-16 Fighting Falcon with the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing USAF.