1986 in aviation

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 - US Navy jets attack Libya in Operation El Dorado Canyon

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 Castellón 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.[1]

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