January 9: Golden West Airlines Flight 261, a De Havilland Twin Otter DHC-6 (registered N6383) collides in mid-air with a Cessna 150 (N11421) over Whittier, California, killing a total of 26 people between the two aircraft. It is suspected that the pilot of the Twin Otter was blinded by the late, low sun.
January 12: British Airways begins Europe's first no-booking shuttle service, between London and Glasgow.
January 14: the F-16 Fighting Falcon is announced as the winner of the LWF (Light Weight Fighter) competition.
January 16: In Operation Streak Eagle, the USAF sets new climb-time records with the McDonnell Douglas F-15A aircraft, operating from Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. The Streak Eagle reaches a height of 3,000 m (9,843 ft.) in 27.57 sec., 6,000 m (19,685 ft.) in 39.33 sec., 9,000 m (929,528 ft.) in 48.86 sec., 12,000 m (39,370 ft.) in 59.38 sec. and 15,000 m (42,2132 ft.) in 1 min. 17.02 sec.
January 20: A Boeing 707, commandeered by three terrorists and flown by a crew of Air France volunteers, lands in Baghdad, Iraq. The terrorists forced the French airline to fly them out of Paris by taking ten travelers hostage yesterday, at Orly airport.
January 22: Landsat 2, an Earth Resources Technology Satellite, launched.
January 24: First flight of the Aerospatiale SA 365 Dauphin F-WVKE.
February 9: Soyuz 17 returns to earth after setting a Soviet mission-duration record of 29 days on a trip to the Salyut 4 space station.
February 22: First flight of the Sukhoi T-8-1, prototype of the Su-25 attack aircraft.
February 25: Brig. General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to break the sound barrier, flies his final US Air Force sortie.
February 26: First flight of the Cessna 404 Titan N5404J.
March 5: Shin Meiwa US-1 enters service with the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force.
March 7: First flight of the Yakovlev Yak-42 SSSR-1974.
March 12: An Air Vietnam Douglas DC-4 (XV-NUJ) is shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Pleiku, Vietnam, killing all 26 souls aboard.
March 24: Mariner 10, USA Mercury/Venus Flyby died.
March 27: First flight of the de Havilland Canada DHC-7 Dash 7.
March 31: A specially modified Royal Canadian Air Force de Havilland CC-115 (DMC-5 Buffalo) makes its first flight carrying an inflatable air-cushion landing system beneath the fuselage.
April 4: A US Air Force Lockheed C-5 Galaxy (68-0218) carrying Vietnamese orphans and American caregivers crashes while attempting an emergency landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Vietnam, killing 175 of the 311 people on board.
May 21: First flight of the Rutan VariEze N7EZ.
June 24: Eastern Air Lines Flight 66, a Boeing 727, crashed on approach for John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing 113 people. The cause was determined to be a microburst.
July 15: The first international manned space flight occurs between the Soviet Soyuz 19 and an Apollo spacecraft.
July 17: an American Apollo capsule links up to a Russian Soyuz capsule in orbit, marking the first space collaboration between the two nations. It would also be the last Apollo mission, as well as the last manned mission for six years until the launch of the first Space Shuttle in 1981.
August 3: The worst accident ever involving a Boeing 707 occurs in Morocco as a chartered Alia Royal Jordanian flight crashes on approach to Agadir-Inezgane Airport (AGA), killing all 188 on board. The plane, registration JY-AEE (formerly N797PA, Pan Am’s “Clipper Northwind”) had apparently strayed from its prescribed course as it began its descent, leading to its right wing and no. 4 engine hitting a ridge at approximately 2,500 feet.
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August 26: First flight of the McDonnell Douglas YC-15 72-1875.
September 16: The prototype of the Mikoyan MiG-31 makes its first flight.
November 28: Evergreen International Airlines commences flight operations.
December 6: The first airmail flight by a supersonic aircraft is made by the Tupolev Tu-144, carrying mail between Moscow and Alma Ata, within the U.S.S.R.
December 29: A bomb explodes at LaGuardia airport, killing 11, injuring 74.
