15, Europe: Amal guerrilla gunmen hijack a TWABoeing 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.
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.