This Day in FAA History: August 26th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19740826: Charles A. Lindbergh died in Maui, Hawaii, at the age of 72. (See May 20-21, 1927)
19750826: The commissioning of the computerized radar data processing system (RDP) at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center marked the end of the final phase of the completion of NAS En Route Stage A, FAA’s program of automating and computerizing the nation’s en route air traffic control system, an effort covering more than a decade (see February 13, 1973). Miami was the last of the 20 ARTCCs to receive RDP capability.
The RDP system consisted of three key elements: radar digitizers located at long-range radar sites that converted raw radar data and aircraft transponder beacon signals into computer-readable signals transmitted to the centers’ computers; computer complexes in each center able to relay this information to the controllers’ screens; and new screens that displayed the information to the controllers in alphanumeric characters.
19800826: FAA type-certificated the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-80 for operation with a two-pilot crew. The Air Line Pilots Association challenged the certification in a law suit, ultimately without success, and picketed the White House in October to protest FAA’s position. (See March 27, 1980, and December 29, 1980.)
19980826: FAA published a final rule in the Federal Register implementing financial responsibility and insurance coverage requirements for space launch activities it regulated. This action codified practices required under the Federal Government’s commercial space launch licensing procedures. The new regulations required a launch licensee to obtain insurance or otherwise to demonstrate financial responsibility to protect itself, the customer, the U.S. Government, and contractors and subcontractors of against claims for third-party losses and federal property damage resulting from the licensed launch activities. The agency would set insurance requirements according to a risk-based determination of the maximum probable loss that might result from the licensed activities. Launch participants, whether from industry or government, were required to enter into reciprocal waivers of claims in which each party agreed to absorb certain losses it might sustain as a result of the licensed activity. In addition, subject to the funds being appropriated, the U.S. Government agreed to pay successful third-party claims in excess of the required insurance, up to $1.5 billion s adjusted for inflation. The final rule was effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register to allow those subject to the rule to change existing practices covered by it, although the rule did not substantially change those practices previously carried out through license orders. (See April 21, 1998; September 8, 1998.)
20110826: At an event at Boeing’s facility in Everett, Washington, Administrator Babbitt presented Boeing executives with two certificates for the design and production of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with Rolls-Royce engines. The first, a type certificate, was for FAA’s approval of the airplane’s design. The second, a production certificate, allowed Boeing to manufacture the 787 following a rigorous review by FAA inspectors of Boeing’s quality system, production tooling, manufacturing processes and controls, inspection methods, and supplier control procedures. The Dreamliner made its inaugural flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong with paying passengers on October 26, 2011. (See December 4, 2012.)