This is a list of aviation-related events from 1978:

Events

January

• January 1 - British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley, and Scottish Aviation are absorbed into British Aerospace

April

• April 1 - The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team officially becomes the 431 Air Demonstration Squadron.
• April 18 - the Vickers Viscount becomes the first turboprop airliner to see 25 years in service
• April 20 - a Korean Airlines Boeing 707 makes a crash landing after being attacked by Soviet fighters over the Kola Peninsula. Two passengers are killed.

May

• May 20 - McDonnell Douglas delivers its 5,000th F-4 Phantom aircraft, twenty years after the first flight of the prototype.

July

• July 1-19 - Frank Haile Jr and William Wisner fly two Beechcraft Bonanzas around the world in formation.
• July 11 - the UK government agrees to fund development of the BAe 146
• July 14 - after receiving orders from United Airlines, Boeing begins full-scale development of the Boeing 767

August

• August 12-17 - Ben Abruzzo and crew make the first transatlantic crossing by balloon, taking 5 days 17 hours to travel from Presque Island, Maine USA to Evreux, France in the Double Eagle II

September

• September 3 - an Air Rhodesia Vickers Viscount is shot down by members of Joshua Nkomo's Patriotic Front using a SA-7 surface-to-air missile. The ten passengers who survived the crash are shot dead.

October

• October 30 - the Indian government approves the purchase of the SEPECAT Jaguar for the Indian Air Force

November

• November 20 - the US Air Force orders development of the KC-10 Extender

December

• December 29 - Freddie To makes the first flight of a solar-powered aircraft, the Solar One

First flights

January

• January 11 - American Jet Industries Hustler

March

• Dassault Mirage 2000 2000-01

April

• April 10 - Sikorsky S-72

July

• July 6 - NASA QSRA

August

• August 12 - Pilatus PC-7 HB-HAO

September

• September 13 - Aérospatiale Super Puma F-WZJA

November

• November 8 - Canadair CL-600 Challenger C-GCGR-X
• November 18 - F/A-18 Hornet 160775

December

• December 30 - General Avia Canguro

Entered service

January

• January 26 - Westland Lynx with No. 702 Squadron FAA

April

• HU-25 Guardian with US Coast Guard

June

• June 28 - Dassault Super Etendard with the Aéronavale

August

• August 20 - BAe Sea Harrier