Partial list of events that marked aviation in 1985:
(See also List of years in aviation)- January
- February
- 19, Spain: An Iberia Boeing 727 crashes in Bilbao, killing 148. The plane got tangled with some television equipment as it tried to land.
- 20, Pacific Ocean: An China Airlines Boeing 747 miraculously survives the shut down of all four engines and a 30,000 feet plunge.
- March
- 11, England; ARV Aviation's ARV Super 2 flies for the first time.
- 15, Dallas, Texas: American Eagle, a commuter subsidiary of American Airlines, begins service.
- April
- 22, United States: Pan Am reaches a deal with United Airlines, which buys Pan Am's Pacific Ocean routes for 750 million dollars.
- 24, Warsaw: LOT Polish Airlines inaugurates flights to JFK International Airport in New York.
- May
- June
- 15, Europe: Amal guerrilla gunmen hijack a TWA Boeing 727 en route from Rome to Athens. The plane, which includes some Jewish passengers, is then re-routed and taken to Algiers, Beirut, and Algiers again before setting in Beirut.
- June 23, Ireland: An Air India Boeing 747 explodes off the Irish coast, killing all passengers.
- July
- August
- 2, Dallas; A Delta Airlines TriStar crashes within inches of the runway at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport, exploding and killing 133 persons, including a car driver who had been struck by the plane just before it exploded.
- 13, Tokyo: Japan Airlines' flight 123, from Tokyo to Osaka, crashes. The Boeing 747 had an explosion, then hit Mount Otsuka, killing 520 of 524 people on board. Rescuers are later shocked and saddened to find farewell notes that the passengers had written for their family and friends, next to the bodies.
- 22, Manchester, England: A Boeing 737 of British Airtours explodes before taking off, killing 54 of the 134 people on board and punctuating commercial aviation's worst month in history.
- September
- October
- November
- December
- 12, Newfoundland: A McDonnell Douglas DC-8 of charter airline Arrow Air crashes while taking 250 soldiers back to the United States for Christmas, killing everyone on board.
