This Day in FAA History: September 11th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19510911: The National Security Resources Board completed its air transport mobilization survey. Developed by a large group of aviation leaders from government and industry, the program outlined requirements for rapid mobilization of the U.S. air transport industry in the event of expanded war. (See December 15, 1951.)
19610911: The Project Beacon task force on Air Traffic Control (see March 8, 1961) submitted its report to the FAA Administrator. While finding that the air traffic control system was “being expertly operated by a highly skilled organization,” the report concluded that substantial improvements were needed to meet the future challenge of aviation’s projected growth. FAA urgently needed an overall systems plan. In effect, the recommended improvement involved a major reorientation of the modernization effort that had been launched in 1957 following the Curtis report. Keyed to the use of an air traffic control radar beacon system (ATCRBS) as a primary means of providing controllers with aircraft position information, the new concept found little promise in ground-based altitude measuring devices such as the 3-D radar under test as part of the earlier program (see April 7, 1961, and December 27, 1963). The report also urged expanded use of general purpose computers rather than special computer systems formerly under development for air traffic control. Rejecting the idea of fully merging air traffic control with the SAGE air defense system, the report urged that only radar elements of SAGE be used for the air traffic control system (see April 17, 1960, February 21, 1962, and December 1, 1963). The task force also urged a variety of changes involving airports, the segregation of controlled traffic, navigation and all-weather landing systems, a new category of flight known as controlled visual rules (CVR), and the extension of positive control and weather information.
On November 7, having reviewed the Project Beacon report, President Kennedy directed FAA Administrator Halaby to begin carrying out the report’s recommendations. With respect to unresolved differences of opinion between FAA and DOD concerning integrating the SAGE air defense and air traffic control systems–a matter which had delayed release of the report by some two months–Kennedy asked Halaby “to consult with the Secretary of Defense and the President’s Scientific Advisor, Dr. [Jerome B.] Wiesner, so that the optimum application of all resources of the Government in the safe and economical use of the airspace may be assured.”
19660911: Tracy Barnes completed the first hot-air-balloon flight across the contiguous United States, landing near Villas, N.J., near the eastern shore of the Delaware Bay. He had departed San Diego, Calif., on April 10, 1966. The flight took twice the time Barnes had originally estimated due to mishaps, including one that hospitalized him for three days, and unfavorable winds. Hot air ballooning had emerged as a popular sport in the early 1960s. (See August 11-17, 1978.)
19700911: President Nixon announced a comprehensive antihijacking program that called for
* The U.S. government to place specially trained, armed guards on American commercial airline flights.
* Extending, under DOT auspices, the use of electronic and other surveillance techniques by U.S. flag carriers to all gateway airports in the U.S., and in other countries wherever possible.
* Accelerated efforts by Federal agencies to develop security measures, including new methods for detecting weapons and explosives devices.
* The State Department and other appropriate agencies to consult foreign governments and foreign carriers on antihijacking techniques.
* All countries to accept the multilateral convention (to be considered at a conference held under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization) providing for extradition or punishment of hijackers.
In addition, the President called on the international community to suspend airline service to countries refusing to extradite or punish hijackers involved in international blackmail. He stated that it was U.S. policy to hold nations in which a hijacked plane landed responsible for appropriate steps to protect the lives and property of U.S. citizens. (See September 21, 1970, October 28, 1970, and September 23, 1971.)
19740911: An Eastern Air Lines DC-9 crashed 3.3 miles short of a runway at Charlotte, N.C., while approaching through patchy fog. All but 10 of the 82 persons aboard lost their lives. The National Transportation Safety Board attributed the accident to “lack of altitude awareness” due to “poor cockpit discipline.” Eastern Air Lines and 19 insurance companies sued four FAA air traffic controllers for $35 million each in connection with the accident. In December 1979, a jury in Charlotte found in favor of the controllers, who were defended by the Federal government.
19810911: Federal Aviation Regulation Part 108, a new rule on airline security, went into effect. The regulation levied airline security requirements according to the perceived threat facing different types of operations and sizes of aircraft, and established security safeguards appropriate to the various types of commercial passenger operations. Also on this date, FAA approved a new concept allowing airport operators to position law enforcement officers farther from passenger screening checkpoints provided certain conditions were fulfilled (see March 29, 1979).
19920911: Hurricane Iniki hit parts of the state of Hawaii, killing one person on the island of Oahu and three on Kauai, which suffered most of the damage. The storm severely damaged the control tower cab at Kauai’s Lihue airport.
19970911: Representative Connie Morella, chair of the House Science Subcommittee on Technology, met with the administrator to discuss installing the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) in the Washington National terminal radar control (TRACON) facility. FAA committed to making a decision in four to six weeks on whether it would be possible to deploy an interim solution at a selected few major terminal facilities, like National, that would provide STARS hardware operating in tandem with existing software. This would provide controllers an improved operational capability, including color displays, until the STARS software was ready to meet mission requirements. The schedule called for STARS to be ready for initial operation at National in September 2000. (See May 28, 1997; October 30, 1997.)
20010911: Nineteen radical Islamic extremists with the group al Qaeda penetrated security at three major airports, seized four U.S. domestic airliners, and turned them into missiles that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York City, and damaged the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, killing thousands. Passengers on one of the planes fought the hijackers causing the plane to crash in a Pennsylvania field, killing all on board. For the first time in history, FAA put a ground stop on all U.S. air traffic. Related details follow
Eastern Standard Time
7:59 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767 with 92 people on board, takes off from Boston Logan airport for Los Angeles.
8:14 a.m.: United Air Lines Flight 175, a Boeing 767 with 65 people on board, takes off from Boston Logan airport for Los Angeles.
8:20 a.m.: American Airlines Flight 77, a Boeing 757 with 64 people on board, takes off from Washington Dulles airport for Los Angeles.
8:38 a.m.: FAA notifies the North American Aerospace Defense Command’s (NORAD) Northeast Air Defense Sector about the suspected hijacking of American Flight 11.
8:42 a.m.: United Air Lines Flight 93, a Boeing 757 with 44 people on board, takes off from Newark airport for San Francisco.
8:46 a.m.: American Flight 11 crashes into the north tower of the World Trade Center.
9:03 a.m. (approx.): United Flight 175 crashes into the south tower of the World Trade Center.
9:04 a.m.: FAA’s Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center stops all departures from airports in its jurisdiction (New England and eastern New York State).
9:06 a.m.: FAA bans takeoffs of all flights bound to or through the airspace of New York Center from airports in that air route traffic control center and the three adjacent air route traffic control centers – Boston, Cleveland and Washington. This is referred to as a first tier ground stop and covers the Northeast from North Carolina north and as far west as eastern Michigan.
9:08 a.m.: FAA bans all takeoffs nationwide for flights going to or through New York Center airspace.
9:15 a.m.: FAA (New York Center) notifies NORAD’s Northeast Air Defense Sector that United Airlines 175 was the second aircraft that crashed into the World Trade Center.
9:25 a.m.: FAA bans takeoffs of all civilian aircraft regardless of destination – a national ground stop.
9:37 a.m.: American Flight 77 crashes into the Pentagon.
9:45 a.m.: In the first unplanned shutdown of U. S. airspace, FAA orders all aircraft to land at the nearest airport as soon as practical. At this time, there were more than 4,500 aircraft in the air on instrument flight rules (IFR) flight plans.
10:03 a.m.: United Flight 93 crashes in Stony Creek Township, Pennsylvania.
10:39 a.m.: Reaffirming the earlier order, FAA issues a notice to airmen (NOTAM) that halts takeoffs and landings at all airports.
12:15 p.m.: The airspace over the 48 contiguous states is clear of all commercial and private flights.
2:30 p.m.: FAA announces there will be no U.S. air traffic until noon Eastern Standard Time Wednesday at the earliest. (See July 17, 2001; September 12, 2001.)
20120911: FAA and its German counterpart signed a declaration of cooperation to promote, develop, and use sustainable alternative aviation fuels in the United States and Germany. The declaration identified specific areas in which FAA and Germany’s Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development, might cooperate, including exchanging information about research results, publications, funded research and development activities, and the sharing of best practices in alternative jet fuel conversion research and development and deployment. In addition, the countries could explore possibilities for cooperation in other areas, such as researching the lifecycle impact of the use of candidate alternative fuels on atmospheric emissions. The declaration also created an umbrella for cooperation between the commercial aviation alternative fuels initiative (CAAFI) — comprised of several U.S. agencies and aviation industry groups — and its German counterpart, the aviation initiative for renewable energy.
20200911: The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced it had completed Boeing 737 MAX flight testing, clearing the way for joint regulatory agency evaluations of the grounded model’s updated training. In the next step in its evaluation of the aircraft for return to service, EASA began analyzing the data and other information gathered during the flights tests in preparation for the Joint Operations Evaluation Board (JOEB). The JOEB includes participation from Brazilian, Canadian, European, and U.S. pilots and regulators and was planned to start on September 14 at London Gatwick Airport. The board evaluated proposed MAX training for pilots and fed an FAA-led Flight Standardization Board report that established minimum training curriculum. (See December 23, 2019; September 17, 2020.)