1972 in aviation

January
January 5 - US President Richard Nixon announces $US 5.5 billion in funding for the Space Shuttle program

January 27 - Civil aviation in Canada is halted by a strike by air traffic controllers

February
February 5 - Aeroflot and Lufthansa jointly open services between Moscow and Frankfurt-am-Main

February 5 - NASA and de Havilland Canada extensively modify a C-8 Buffalo for STOL experiments

March
March 2- American space craft Pioneer 10 is launched

April
April 1 - BOAC and BEA are merged to create British Airways

April 25 - Hans-Werner Grosse sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,460 km (908 miles) in a Schleicher ASW 12

April 27 - US Air Force F-4 Phantoms destroy the Thanh Hoa Bridge with laser-guided bombs.

May
May 10 - Lts Randy Cunningham and William P. Driscoll become the first US Navy aces of the Vietnam War, adding three Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17s to their tally on this day alone.

May 26 - the United States and Soviet Union sign the SALT-1 strategic arms limitation treaty

May 26 - Cessna builds its 100,000th aircraft, the first company in the world to achieve this figure.

May 30 - three Japanese terrorists attack passengers at Tel Aviv Airport

June
June 18 - British European Airways Flight 548, a Hawker Siddeley Trident crashes with the loss of 118 lives.

June 20 - Airline pilots hold a worldwide strike, calling for tighter security

June 21 - Jean Boulet pilots a Aérospatiale Lama to a new record altitude for helicopters that remains today, 12,440 m (40,814 ft)

July
July 26 - NASA announces Rockwell International as prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Orbiter

August
August 1 - Delta Air Lines absorbs Northeast Airlines

August 11 - NATO signs a development contract for the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme, which will eventually result in the Panavia Tornado

August 28 - Cpt Richard Richie becomes the first US Air Force ace of the Vietnam War.

August 28 - Prince William of Gloucester is killed in the crash of a Piper Cherokee Arrow during the Gordonwood Trophy race.

September
September 22 - the 1,000th Boeing 727 is sold, a sales record for airliners

October
October 10 - Competitive fly-off between the Northrop YA-9 and Fairchild YA-10 begins, continuing until December 9.

October 13 - a Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild FH-227 crashes in the Andes. Survivors resort to eating dead passengers before their rescue two months later.

October 26 - Igor Sikorsky dies.

October 31 - Two pilots are killed in the crash of a Dassault Falcon 10 prototype.

November
November 10 - Southern Airways Flight 49 from Birmingham is hijacked and, at one point, is threatened with crashing into the nuclear installation at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After two days, the plane lands in Havana, Cuba, where the hijackers are jailed by Fidel Castro.
The hijacking, the most bizarre, prolonged and death defying in the annals of U.S. aviation history,is the subject of a true account reported by the author Ed Blair in the book Odyssey of Terror, published by Broadman Press in 1977.

December
December 23 - Andrei Tupolev dies, aged 86

December 26 - 117 B-52 Stratofortresses attack Hanoi in Operation Linebacker II, the largest air assault in the Vietnam War to this time.

First flights

January
January 21 - Lockheed S-3A Viking 157992

February
February 21 - AESL Airtrainer ZK-DGY

May
May 10 - Fairchild YA-10 71-1369
May 27 - Partenavia P.70 Alpha I-GIOY
May 30 - Northrop YA-9 71-1367

June
June 2 - Aérospatiale Dauphin F-WSQL

July
July 6 - SAAB-MFI 17
July 27 - McDonnell Douglas YF-15A 71-280

October
October 28 - Airbus A300 F-WUAB

December
December 23 - Aero Boero AB-260

Entered service

April
April 26 - Lockheed L-1011 with Eastern Air Lines

October
October 8 - Grumman F-14A Tomcat with VF-124 of the United States Navy