This is a list of aviation-related events from 1987:

Events

January

• January 1 - US Coast Guard HH-65 Dolphins and US Navy H-3 Sea Kings help rescue people trapped inside the Dupont Plaza hotel Puerto Rico after a fire there on New Year's Eve
• January 7 - French Air Force jets attack the Libyan Air Force base in Ouadi Doum to avenge a raid by Libya against the French military 3 days before.

April

• April 2 - a Royal Air Force Vickers VC-10 sets a new record time between the UK and Australia, landing in Perth after a flight of 16 hours 1 minute.

May

• May 9 - An Ilyushin Il-62 of LOT Polish Airlines bound for New York, crashes on take-off, killing 183 persons.
• May 29 - Mathias Rust, 19 years old, a West German pilot, shocks people by landing his Cessna 172 plane in Red Square, Moscow.

June

• June 21 - Air France pilot Partick Fourticq and friend Henri Pescarolo once again walk into the record books, completing an around the world flight aboard a Lockheed 18, in 88 hours and 19 minutes.

August

• August 16 - a Douglas DC-9 of Northwest Airlines crashes on take-off for a flight from Detroit to Phoenix. 154 are killed.
• August 30 - Israel's government cancels the IAI Lavi programme

September

• September 15 - a Eurocopter Panther sets new time-to-altitude records for helicopters in its class

October

• October 23 - the last F-104 Starfighter is phased out of Luftwaffe service
• October 31 - British Airways accepts the airline's first women pilots.

November

• November 26 - a DC-9 of Continental Airlines crashes in Denver, Colorado on take-off during a snowstorm. 26 lose their lives and 56 are gravely injured.

First flights

February

• February 13 - Fokker 50
• February 22 - Airbus A320

March

• March 9 - Yakovlev Yak-141

April

• April 30 - Promavia Jet Squalus

June

• June 10 - Boeing Vertol Model 360

October

• October 9 - EHI EH101

December

• AEA Maverick
• December 29 - Scaled Composites AT³

Entered service