This Day in FAA History: August 9th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19740809: James E. Dow became FAA’s Deputy Administrator. The appointment was among the last official acts of President Nixon, who had nominated Dow on July 24.
A native of East Machias, Maine, Dow was a graduate of the University of Maine. He entered the Federal service in 1943 as an air traffic controller in CAA’s Central Region. After several promotions in the field, Dow transferred to CAA’s Washington headquarters in 1956, where he served successively as Assistant Chief of both the Systems Engineering and Systems Management Divisions, Chief of the Plans Division, and Director of the NAS Special Projects Office. Following a year at Princeton University on a fellowship in the Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, he became Director of the Office of Budget in July 1967. In August 1972, Dow became Associate Administrator for Administration. He became Acting Deputy Administrator in July 1973, assuming on a collateral basis the responsibilities of an post that had been vacant since the departure of Kenneth M. Smith on July 15, 1972. (See May 11, 1970, and March 31, 1976).
19740809: Richard M. Nixon resigned the Presidency and was succeeded by Vice President Gerald R. Ford.
19950809: DOT stated that the Clinton Administration had directed Cabinet agencies to review their security practices. As a result, FAA had determined a need for, and was requiring, increased security by all airports and air carriers in the United States. The action was based on information from intelligence and law enforcement agencies but did not reflect a specific threat. On October 1, DOT announced a further heightening of aviation security. The Department again stated that the measure was not based on a specific threat, but press reports linked it such factors as the conviction on the same day of Islamic militants accused of a conspiracy to bomb locations in New York. (See July 17, 1996.)
20100809: A DeHavilland DHC-3T crashed near a remote Alaskan fishing village killing five of the nine people aboard the aircraft. Former Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) was among the victims. Former NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe and his son survived the accident.
20120809: FAA published a notice in the Federal Register asking for comments on plans to decommission the last of the direction finders (DF) in the U.S. – 29 in Alaska. The agency had decommissioned DFs outside of Alaska in 2007. In the notice, FAA said use of DFs for pilot orientation “has become almost nonexistent.” The Alaska light service information area groups (AFSIAG) had documented eight flight assists involving lost or disoriented pilots over the past eight years. Of those instances, use of DF equipment for flight assists was documented just three times. There have been no documented flight assists with DFs since 2008.