This is a list of aviation-related events from 1961.
Two crashes claim the joint title of 1961's deadliest plane crash.
The first took place on 10 May, when Air France Flight 406, a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner was destroyed by a terrorist bomb over the Sahara desert in Algeria, killing all 78 people on board.
The second, an accident, took place on 1 September when TWA Flight 529, a Lockheed L-049 Constellation, crashed shortly after taking off from Midway Airport in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., also killing all 78 people on board.