Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19420214: The Douglas DC-4 Skymaster made its initial flight, thereafter becoming prominent in a generation of four-engine U.S. transports that advanced long-haul air travel. The plane was a scaled-down version of a prototype developed in 1939. The DC-4 carried a crew of six and up to forty-two passengers. Unlike the Boeing 307 and 307B, it did not have a pressurized cabin. The DC-4 entered military transport service with the military designation of C-54.
19630214: The Civil Aeronautics Board disapproved agreements reached by the International Air Transport Association at its Chandler, Ariz., conference the previous fall to increase certain passenger fares on North Atlantic and Pacific routes. The CAB stand for lower fares resulted in a major controversy among international air carriers and their governments. Most European governments approved the higher fares and took steps to require U.S. carriers to charge the increased tariffs as a condition of entry into their respective countries. The controversy was temporarily resolved by a compromise agreement worked out by the carriers at Montreal in late May and subsequently approved by CAB.
19910214: First Lady Barbara Bush took a commercial flight from Washington, D.C., to Indianapolis to reassure the public about the terrorist threat to airline security stemming from the conflict with Iraq. (See January 16 and May 14, 1991.)
20070214: FAA unveiled a proposal to finance its operations and air traffic control modernization through a complex system of user fees and fuel taxes, plus new authority to issue bonds. The proposal was included in a draft FAA reauthorization bill containing financial provisions would last for ten years and other provisions with a three-year life. In October 2008, after the first year of the reauthorization, the FAA would drop the current taxes and fees that provided revenue to the aviation trust fund – mainly a 7.5 percent excise tax on airline tickets. In place of these revenue sources, the agency it would initiate user fees that would raise 53 percent of its total budget; retain and increase fuel taxes that, with reduced international passenger taxes, would provide an additional 28 percent; and rely on the general fund – derived from government-wide taxes and other revenues – for the remaining 19 percent of the budget. Under the proposal, as the airline’s share of revenues decreased, aviation’s total business share, derived from fees paid by corporate operators, would grow. Additionally, general aviation would pay a higher fuel tax – raised from 20 cents to about 70 cents per gallon.
20080214: Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced an Open Skies agreement between the United States and Australia that eliminated restrictions on air services for the carriers of both countries. Under the agreement, U.S. and Australian airlines could select routes and destinations based on consumer demand, without limitations on the number of flights that could fly between the two countries. The agreement also removed restrictions on capacity and pricing, and provided opportunities for cooperative marketing arrangements, including code-sharing, between participating carriers. With this agreement, Australia became the 90th U.S. Open-Skies partner. The United States signed its first open skies agreement with The Netherlands on October 14, 1992. (See February 29, 1996; March 13, 2008.)
20120214: President Barack Obama signed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 – a four-year reauthorization bill. The law included provisions for
* Advancing NextGen – established deadlines for adopting existing NextGen navigation and surveillance technology and mandated development of precision navigational procedures at the nation’s 35 busiest airports by 2015.
* Enhancing runway safety – directed FAA to develop and implement a plan to improve runway safety by reducing the number and severity of runway incursions and required a plan to develop and install a system to alert pilots and controllers of potential runway incursions.
* Making laser attacks on aircraft a federal crime.
* Applying flight and duty time limits to tail-end ferry and maintenance flights – counted flight segments to reposition aircraft that may be added to the end of a pilot’s duty day toward flight-time limits by including Part 91 flights in flight-time limits under FAR 121.
* Improving the safety of lithium battery shipments by air – gave the Department of Transportation the ability to regulate the air transport of lithium metal and lithium ion batteries more stringently than ICAO technical instructions. (See October 8, 2004; April 13, 2015.)
* Continuing to authorize transpacific alternate airports – kept the alternate airfield open on Midway Island, as well as airports in the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and Palau.
* Strengthening voluntary aviation safety data protections – enhanced protections for data collected by the aviation safety action program, the flight operations quality assurance program, line operation safety audits, and safety management systems and voluntarily submitted to FAA by mandating that the data could not be released to the public unless it is completely de-identified.
* Studying feasibility of installing flight deck doors or alternatives on all-cargo aircraft – took action toward the goal of enhancing all-cargo safety and security by funding studies on the feasibility of adding hardened cockpit doors or alternatives to all-cargo aircraft.
* Opposing EU environmental trading scheme for commercial aviation – made clear Congress’s opinion the European Union should not extend its emissions-trading proposal to international civil aviation operations without working through ICAO.
* Supporting critical aviation safety research – directed GAO to study the effectiveness of FAA’s oversight of the use of new technologies to prevent or reduce danger from smoke in the cockpit. Supported weather research on icing, volcanic ash, and wake vortices. Continued authorization for research and development in areas of fire safety, airworthiness, aircraft catastrophic failure prevention, human factors, aeromedical, unmanned aircraft systems, Safety management systems, atmospheric hazards, airspace management, propulsion and fuel systems, and alternative jet fuel. (See November 22, 2011; March 7, 2012.)
* Expanding IRA rollover options for airline employees during bankruptcy – expanded choices for qualified airline employees who receive payments during airline bankruptcies to allow the funds to be considered an IRA rollover contribution. (See September 23, 2011; March 6, 2012; September 30, 2015.)
* Supporting critical aviation safety research – directed GAO to study the effectiveness of FAA’s oversight of the use of new technologies to prevent or reduce danger from smoke in the cockpit. Supported weather research on icing, volcanic ash, and wake vortices. Continued authorization for research and development in areas of fire safety, airworthiness, aircraft catastrophic failure prevention, human factors, aeromedical, unmanned aircraft systems, Safety management systems, atmospheric hazards, airspace management, propulsion and fuel systems, and alternative jet fuel. (See November 22, 2011; March 7, 2012.)
* Expanding IRA rollover options for airline employees during bankruptcy – expanded choices for qualified airline employees who receive payments during airline bankruptcies to allow the funds to be considered an IRA rollover contribution. (See September 23, 2011; March 6, 2012; September 30, 2015.)
20120214: The Federal Communications Commission revoked the conditional approval it gave LightSquared after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration said there was no practical way to mitigate the potential GPS interference.
20130214: FAA solicited proposals to create six drone sites around the U.S. in a major step toward opening U.S. airspace to unmanned drones. The tests sites would be used to determine the requirement needed to ensure drones do not interfere with planes in the airspace or endanger people or property on the ground. (See March 7, 2012; June 19, 2013.)
20190214: FAA announced Vietnam complied with international safety standards and had been granted a Category 1 rating under the agency’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program. FAA based the Category 1 status on its August 2018 assessment of the safety oversight provided by the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. A Category 1 rating means Vietnam’s civil aviation authority met International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for personnel licensing, operations, and airworthiness. (See May 13, 2019.)