This is a list of aviation-related events from 1986:

Events

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.

March

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 a Air Lanka Lockheed L-1011
• May 7 - Al Mooney dies, aged 80.
• May 25 - a prisoner in a Parisian jail escapes when his wife rescues him in a helicopter

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 - a Boeing 234 crashes in the Shetland Isles, killing 45 people. It is history's worst 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 Rutan 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

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