What happened in 1982

World2

• Aug 12Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.
• Sep 14Princess Grace of Monaco dies after having suffered a car crash a few days previously.

Japan1

• Feb 9Japan Airlines Flight 350 crashes in Tokyo Bay due to thrust reversal on approach to Tokyo International Airport, killing 24 among the 174 people on board.

North America15

• Jan 13Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., United States, then falls into the Potomac River, killing 78 people.
• Jan 24The San Francisco 49ers defeat the Cincinnati Bengals to win Super Bowl XVI at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
• Feb 19The Boeing 757 is flown for the first time.
• Mar 29The 54th Academy Awards, hosted by Johnny Carson, are held at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. Chariots of Fire wins Best Picture and 3 other Academy Awards.
• Mar 30Space Shuttle Columbia ends an eight-day mission, STS-3, by landing at White Sands Space Harbor near Alamogordo, New Mexico. It is the only time a Space Shuttle has landed at White Sands. The orbiter was forced to land here due to flooding at its originally planned landing site, Edwards Air Force Base in California.
• Apr 17Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms: By Proclamation of the Queen of Canada on Parliament Hill, Canada patriates its constitution, gaining full political independence from the United Kingdom; included is the country's first entrenched bill of rights.
• May 1A crowd of over 100,000 attends the first day of the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is kicked off with an address by President Ronald Reagan. Over 11 million people attend during its six-month run.
• May 2The Weather Channel airs on cable television in the United States as the first 24-hour all-weather network.
• May 8French-Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve is killed during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix.
• Jun 11E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial is released in the United States; directed by Steven Spielberg, this will become the biggest box-office hit for the next 11 years.
• Jul 9Pan Am Flight 759 (Boeing 727) crashes in Kenner, Louisiana, killing all 146 on board and 8 on the ground.
• Jul 23Twilight Zone accident: During filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie, actor Vic Morrow and 2 child actors die in a helicopter stunt accident in California.
• Sep 21The first International Day of Peace is proclaimed by the United Nations.
• Sep 29Chicago Tylenol murders: an unknown killer laces Tylenol capsules with potassium cyanide that kills seven in Chicago, Illinois.
• Nov 29Michael Jackson releases his sixth studio album, Thriller, in the United States, which will go on to be the best-selling album of all time.

Europe16

• Mar 29Royal Assent is given to the Canada Act 1982, setting the stage for the repatriation of the Canadian Constitution on April 17.
• Apr 2Rex Hunt, the British governor of the Falkland Islands, surrenders the islands to Argentine forces, leading to their occupation.
• Apr 26Falklands War: British troops retake South Georgia Island during Operation Paraquet.
• May 2Falklands War: The British nuclear submarine sinks the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano, killing 323 sailors. Operation Algeciras, an attempt to destroy a Royal Navy warship in Gibraltar, fails.
• May 4Falklands War: is hit by an Argentine Exocet missile and burns out of control; 20 sailors are killed. The ship sinks on May 10.
• May 18Falklands War: The British Special Air Service launches Operation Plum Duff, a reconnaissance mission preliminary to Operation Mikado, which is planned to destroy three Argentinean Exocet missiles and five Super Étendard fighter-bombers. Both Operation Plum Duff and Operation Mikado are called off after the Plum Duff insertion is revealed by a helicopter landing in Chile.
• May 21Falklands War: is sunk by Argentine aircraft, killing 22 sailors.
• May 25British ships and are sunk during the Falklands War; Coventry by two A-4C Skyhawks and Atlantic Conveyor by two Exocets.
• May 28Falklands War: Battle of Goose Green: British forces defeat a larger Argentine force.
• Jun 8Falklands War: British supply ship RFA Sir Galahad is destroyed during the Bluff Cove Air Attacks
• Jun 13The 1982 FIFA World Cup in Association football begins in Spain.
• Jun 20Falklands War ends with British forces retaking the South Sandwich Islands.
• Jul 11Italy beats West Germany 3–1 to win the 1982 FIFA World Cup in Spain.
• Jul 20Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: the Provisional IRA detonates 2 bombs in central London, killing 8 soldiers, wounding 47 people, and leading to the deaths of 7 horses.
• Aug 2The Helsinki Metro, the first rapid transit system in Finland, opens to the general public.

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USSR / Russia2

• Oct 20Luzhniki disaster: During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death.
• Nov 12In the Soviet Union, former KGB head Yuri Andropov is selected to become the general secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee, succeeding Leonid Brezhnev, who had died two days earlier.

Asia2

• Apr 30The Bijon Setu massacre takes place in broad daylight at a railway crossing in India.
• Jun 24British Airways Flight 9 suffers a temporary four-engine flameout and damage to the exterior of the plane after flying through the otherwise undetected volcanic ash plume from Indonesia's Mount Galunggung.

Middle East9

• Feb 2The Hama massacre begins in Syria.
• May 24Iran-Iraq War: Iranian troops retake Khorramshahr.
• Jun 6The 1982 Lebanon War begins: Israeli forces under Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon in their "Operation Peace for the Galilee," eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut. The United Nations Security Council votes to demand that Israel withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
• Jun 13Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
• Aug 20Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.
• Sep 14Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is assassinated in Beirut.
• Sep 18Sabra and Shatila massacre: A Lebanese Christian militia (the Phalange) kill thousands of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in West Beirut; the massacre is a response to the assassination of the president-elect, Bachir Gemayel, four days earlier.
• Nov 11In Lebanon, the first Tyre headquarters bombing kills between 89 and 102 people.
• Dec 13The 6.2 North Yemen earthquake shakes southwestern Yemen with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing 2,800.

Latin America7

• Apr 1The 1982 invasion of the Falkland Islands begins when Argentine forces land near Stanley, beginning the Falklands War.
• Apr 3Invasion of the Falkland Islands: Argentine forces begin the invasion of South Georgia.
• Jun 8VASP Flight 168, a Boeing 727 passenger jet, crashes into a forest hillside in Fortaleza in Brazil, killing 137.
• Jun 14Argentine surrender in the Falklands War: Argentine forces in the island capital, Stanley, surrender to British forces.
• Jun 18Argentine military dictator Leopoldo Galtieri resigns in the wake of his country's defeat in the Falklands War.
• Dec 8The December murders occur in Suriname.
• Dec 10United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea signed at Montego Bay; it becomes fully effective on November 16, 1994, on receiving 60 signatures.

Africa2

• Feb 1Senegal and The Gambia form a loose Senegambia Confederation.
• Dec 22The Indian Ocean Commission (Commission de l'Océan Indien, COI) is created by the Port Louis Agreement.