This is a list of aviation-related events from 1982.
Events
January January 8 – The Airbus A300 is certified, becoming the first wide-body airliner with cockpit accommodations for only two to be certified. January 10 – A Gulfstream III, Spirit of America, flies around the world in just 43 hours 39 minutes and 6 seconds, becoming the fastest business jet to fly around the world.Mondey 1982, p. 20 January 11 – In the Iran–Iraq War, Iraqi Air Force aircraft hit the Panamanian cargo ship Success with two missiles in the Persian Gulf. Her crew abandons ship.Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran–Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, , p. 533. January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90, a Boeing 737-222, strikes the 14th Street Bridge and crashes into the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., shortly after takeoff during a snowstorm from Washington National Airport in Crystal City, Virginia, outside Washington, D.C. Seventy-four of the 79 people on board die and all five survivors are injured; four people die and five are injured in cars on the bridge. Television cameras capture the dramatic rescue of the five survivors from the frozen river by police helicopters. January 14 – An Ethiopian Air Force Antonov An-26 with an unknown registration crashed near Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, killing all 73 occupants on board. January 18 – While practicing a line-abreast loop at Indian Springs Air Force Auxiliary Field in Nevada, four T-38 Talons of the United States Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration team crash, killing all four pilots. It remains the worst accident involving show aircraft in Thunderbirds history. The Thunderbirds entire 1982 season will be cancelled, and their next performance will not take place until the spring of 1983, 18 months after their last one. January 22 – An F/A-18 Hornet makes a fully automated landing, its autopilot linked to a ground radar at Naval Air Test Center Patuxent River, Maryland. January 23 – Landing on an icy runway at Boston Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts, World Airways Flight 30, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 carrying 212 people, is unable to stop before sliding off the end of the runway. Its pilots steer it off the runway, and it skids into Boston Harbor, where its cockpit and forward galley separate from the passenger cabin and three passengers seated in the first row are thrown into the water; two of them are never found. All others aboard survive, including actress Justine Shapiro. January 27 – Cessna delivers its 1,000th business jet, a Citation II.
February February 3 – The Mil Mi-26 helicopter lifts a load weighing 57 metric tons to to break a world record for a helicopter. February 6 – Freddie Laker's Laker Airways flies for the last time. February 9 – Japan Airlines Flight 350, a Douglas DC-8, crashes into Tokyo Bay while on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 of the 174 passengers on board. The probable cause of the accident was cited as a possible breakdown by captain Seiji Katagiri, who had mental problems. After this accident, a requirement was established for every airline pilot to undergo mental as well as physical testing. February 25 – American Airlines announces it will cancel its orders for 15 Boeing 757s.
March March 11 – Widerøe Flight 933, a de Havilland Canada Twin Otter, crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway, killing all 15 people on board. Official investigation concludes that clear-air turbulence caused structural failure to the aircrafts tail, but others believe that an off-course Royal Air Force Harrier jet collided with the Twin Otter during a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) exercise. March 19 – While Ozzy Osbourne's band bus is pulled over for repairs in Leesburg, Florida, during a tour, the bus's driver – a former commercial pilot – takes band members and staff up for joyrides in a Beechcraft Bonanza F35 he had taken from an adjacent airport without permission. On the second flight, he begins to make low passes over the tour bus; on the third pass, the Bonanza's wing strikes the top of the bus, causing the plane to hit a tree and crash into the garage of a nearby mansion, where it bursts into flames, killing all three people on the plane. Guitarist Randy Rhoads is among the dead.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1980s March 20 – A Garuda Indonesia Fokker F-28 Fellowship overruns the runway and crashes on landing in very heavy rain at Tanjung Karang-Branti Airport at Bandar Lampung on Sumatra in Indonesia, killing all 27 people on board. March 22 – In the Iran–Iraq War, Iran launches its Fath al-Mubin offensive. Until it winds down a week to ten days later, Iraqi and Iranian planes and helicopters support the ground forces involved, but are generally ineffective. Iraqi Air Force fighters fly up to 150 sorties a day.Cordesman and Wagner, p. 131.
April Doubting the loyalty of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force to Irans Islamic regime, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini again replaces its commander.Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran-Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, , p. 159. April 1 – Air France flies the Concorde to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. and Caracas, Venezuela for the last time. April 2 – The Falklands War begins as Argentina invades the Falkland Islands and South Georgia Island. April 5 – Royal Navy aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible depart the United Kingdom for the Falkland Islands. April 7 – Austrian race car driver and motor sports journalist Harald Ertl is killed when a Beechcraft Bonanza piloted by his brother-in-law suffers engine failure and crashes near Giessen, West Germany. Ertl's brother-in-law and niece also die, although his wife and son survive the crash. April 21–25 – Helicopters play a major role as British forces recapture South Georgia Island from Argentine forces.Hastings, Max, and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983, no ISBN, pp. 127-131. April 27 – CAAC Flight 3303, a Hawker Siddeley Trident 2E, crashes into a mountain near Yangsuo, China, while on approach to Guilin Qifeng Airport in heavy rain. All 112 people on board die. The Chinese media report that the plane, which had taken off in Guangzhou, crashed when the pilot attempted to fight off an armed hijacker. April 29 – An Avro Vulcan bomber deploys to Ascension Island as part of the Falklands War build-up of British forces in the South Atlantic Ocean.Hastings, Max, and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983, no ISBN, p. 345. April 30 Iran begins a major ground offensive to recapture Khorramshar from Iraq. In fighting that lasts until May 24, Iraqi aircraft fly up to 100 sorties per day, but usually attack Iranian forces in groups that are too small and arrive too late to be effective.Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume II: The Iran-Iraq War, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990, , p. 139. The United Kingdom declares an air blockade of the Falkland Islands.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 258.
May
The Islamic regime in Iran blames a minor coup attempt against it on the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force. In May and June, British BAE Sea Harriers destroy 23 Argentinian Air Force aircraft without any air-to-air combat loss to themselves. May 1 A Royal Air Force Avro Vulcan bomber based on Ascension Island attacks the airfield at Port Stanley on East Falkland Island. It is the first strike of Operation Black Buck, a series of five very-long-range missions to strike Argentinian positions in the Falkland (Malvinas) Islands. Each mission requires a 16-hour round trip of almost 8,000 nautical miles (9,200 statute miles; 15,000 km); they are the longest bombing missions in world history up to that time, and are not exceeded in distance and duration until the 1991 Gulf War. BAE Sea Harriers attack Falklands targets for the first time and shoot down two Argentine Mirage III fighters. They are the first air-to-air kills of the Falklands War. American Airlines launches AAdvantage, the first frequent flyer program in history. United Airlines launches its own program, Mileage Plus, only a week later. May 3 – Iraq shoots down an aircraft bound for Tehran, Iran, carrying Algerian Foreign Minister Mohammed Seddik Benyahia and 12 of his colleagues. The incident ends an Algerian attempt to mediate between Iran and Iraq and bring an end to the Iran–Iraq War. May 4 Argentinian Navy Super Étendard aircraft fatally damage the British destroyer Sheffield with an Exocet missile southeast of the Falkland Islands. Sheffield sinks on May 10. The British lose their first Sea Harrier of the Falklands War, shot down by anti-aircraft artillery during a bombing raid over Goose Green on East Falkland Island. The pilot is killed. May 7 – The Air Transport Group of the Government of Australia′s Department of Transport becomes a separate government department in its own right as the Department of Aviation, serving as Australia′s national civil aviation authority. May 12 – Facing bankruptcy and the threat of a pilots' strike, Braniff International Airways ceases operations and its president, Howard D. Putnam, announces that the airline has filed for protection under bankruptcy laws and grounded its fleet of 71 aircraft. The final flight in Braniff's 52-year history, Flight 501 from Honolulu, operated by a Boeing 747, arrives at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport on the morning of May 13, bringing the airline's operational history to an end. May 18 – American Airlines flies its one millionth passenger. May 20 Iraqi Air Force aircraft raid Kharg Island and Shiraz in Iran, but inflict little damage. Frontier Airlines adds the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to its fleet. The other jet it operates is the Boeing 737-200. May 21 – British ground troops begin landing at San Carlos on East Falkland Island, and the Argentinian Air Force begins a seven-day-long bombing campaign against British ships in Falkland Sound and San Carlos Water; it will be the Royal Navy's largest combat engagement since the end of World War II in August 1945. On the first day, the Argentinians sink the British frigate but lose 16 aircraft.Hastings, Max, and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983, no ISBN, pp. 205, 345. May 22 – The Principe de Asturias becomes the first aircraft carrier to be launched in Spain. May 23 – Argentina loses seven aircraft during raids against British warships in Falkland Sound and San Carlos Water. May 24 The last service by a British Airways Boeing 707, from Cairo to London, is performed.Mondey 1982, p. 24 Argentinian A4B Skyhawks sink the British frigate in Falkland Sound. Two Fleet Air Arm Sea Harriers of No. 800 Squadron aboard the aircraft carrier attack four Argentinian Dassault Mirage 5 fighter-bombers off the Falkland Islands and use AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missiles to shoot down three of them in less than five seconds. May 25 North of the Falkland Islands, Argentinian Air Force A-4 Skyhawk bombers sink the British destroyer with two bomb hits and two Argentinian Navy Super Étendard strike aircraft sink the container ship SS Atlantic Conveyor with two Exocet anti-ship missile hits.Hastings, Max, and Simon Jenkins, The Battle for the Falklands, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1983, no ISBN, p. 225-229. Eleven helicopters are lost aboard Atlantic Conveyor. An RAF Jaguar of 14 Squadron crashes in farmland approximately 35 miles from its base, RAF Brüggen in Germany, having been hit by an AIM-9L Sidewinder air-to-air missile accidentally fired by an RAF McDonnell Douglas Phantom.