Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280915: The Aeronautics Branch published civil aviation accident statistics for the first half of 1928. There was a total of 390 accidents, of which 34 occurred in scheduled flying, 69 in student instruction, 17 in experimental operations, and 270 in miscellaneous flying. Assigned causes blamed pilot error for 43.29 percent of the accidents, engine failure for 16.59 percent, weather for 10.23 percent, and airport or terrain for 8.72 percent. There was a total of 153 fatalities and 276 injuries. Only six of the fatalities occurred in scheduled flying.
19330915: The Aeronautics Branch announced in the Air Commerce Bulletin a streamlining plan for the Air Regulation Service aimed at saving $500,000 in the current fiscal year. The plan: reduced the number of inspection districts from nine to eight; cut personnel in the Service by fifteen percent; generally required applicants to travel to inspection locations as opposed to inspectors travelling from airport to airport; placed fourteen Department of Commerce aircraft in storage; closed an aircraft maintenance base; and completely segregated airline inspection, licensing, and regulation services. The Aeronautics Branch also announced that the wattage of rotating beacon lights would be cut in half for an annual savings of about $75,000.
19370915: President Roosevelt appointed an Interdepartmental Committee on Civil Aviation Legislation to review for the executive branch legislation proposed for the economic regulation of the air carrier industry and make recommendations (see June 7, 1935). Representatives from the State, Treasury, War, Navy, Post Office, and Commerce Departments served on the committee. On January 4, 1938, the committee incorporated the result of its hearings and deliberations in a proposed bill. That bill underwent various modifications and became in large part the basis of the Senate and House bills sponsored by Senator Pat McCarran (D-Nev.) and Congressman Clarence F. Lea (D-Calif.). Early in 1938, President Roosevelt informed McCarran and Lea that he had changed his mind concerning regulation of air commerce by the Interstate Commerce Commission (see January 31 and June 7, 1935) and now favored the idea of a separate commission to regulate all phases of civil aeronautics. These moves by the President and the two members of Congress were key events in the several years of efforts to obtain legislation providing for all or part of the regulation of civil aeronautics to be performed by the Interstate Commerce Commission or a new independent agency. Between March 26, 1934, when McCarran introduced his first bill for such a purpose, until the passage of the Civil Aeronautics Act, more than 30 bills dealing with this subject had been introduced in Congress, and many of these bills had more than one version as a result of modification during hearings. The act, as it finally emerged from Congress, embraced the contributions of many persons and represented many compromises. (See June 23, 1938.)
19460915: CAA required all nonscheduled air carriers to apply for an operating certificate by this date, when a new Civil Air Regulations Part 42 governing this category of operator became effective. The nonscheduled carriers had also been required to file a registration statement and financial/traffic report with CAB by September 3. The actions introduced greater oversight of the “nonskeds,” charter operators that offered transport services on an irregular basis. The nonskeds had grown in number and importance due to the post-war availability of surplus aircraft and ex-military pilots. Although now required to have a CAA safety certificate, the nonskeds continued to operate without certification under CAB’s system of economic regulation. Effective June 10, 1947, CAB created the category of noncertificated irregular air carriers as a new designation for the nonskeds. The irregular carriers were divided into two classes according to the size of their aircraft, with those using heavier planes subject to greater economic reporting requirements. (See November 15, 1955.)
19500915: CAA and the U.S. Weather Bureau issued a Memorandum of Understanding delineating responsibilities for weather and communications services carried out cooperatively by the two organizations. (See August 2, 1965.)
19590915: FAA adopted new procedures for handling temporary airspace reservations for mass movements of military aircraft and extended the altitude reservation service to oceanic areas. Reflecting the growing use by civil jets of altitudes above 24,000 feet–airspace previously used almost exclusively by military aircraft–the new rules required the filing of airspace reservation requests four to twelve days in advance of the mission. Missions not airborne within 30 minutes past the scheduled time of departure would be subject to FAA cancellation to make the airspace available to other users.
To supplement the work of its Central Altitude Reservation Facility (CARF) in Kansas City, Mo. (see July 24,1956), FAA established gateway sectors at the Honolulu air route traffic control center and at the New York ARTCC to handle altitude reservations for military flights over the Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean areas, respectively.
19610915: The White House announced establishment of a steering committee to study “economic, political, military, and prestige interests” related to U.S. international aviation policies, as recommended by Project Horizon. FAA Administrator Halaby chaired the committee, which included: Kenneth R. Hansen, Assistant BOB Director; Alan S. Boyd, Chairman, CAB; C. Daniel Martin, Jr., Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation; Edwin M. Martin, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs; F. Haydn Williams, Deputy Assistant DOD Secretary; and James P. Grant, Deputy AID Director for Program and Planning. In October, a contract was jointly awarded to Robert P. Nathan Associates and the Systems Analysis and Research Corporation to conduct a broad study of international aviation problems for the use of the steering committee. Completed in early 1963, the committee’s report led to a new presidentially approved statement of U.S. policy on international air transportation. (See April 24, 1963.)
19650915: Deputy Administrator for Supersonic Transport Development Gordon Bain resigned from FAA effective this date. Brig. Gen. Jewell C. Maxwell (USAF) was assigned to replace Bain with the new title Director of Supersonic Transport Development. The new designation entailed no change in responsibilities or organizational relationship. (See July 29, 1963, and April 6, 1970.)
19710915: The Department of Transportation issued an in-depth study of general aviation safety, excluding “for hire” operations. The study was conducted by members of the staff of the Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Safety and Consumer Affairs, FAA officials, and general aviation consultants. Areas of concern identified were: inadequate pilot and flight instructor certification requirements; the lack of periodic pilot proficiency checks; the inability of flight service stations to meet the flight operation requirements of the general aviation community, especially its need for accurate and current weather data; and the lack of standard traffic patterns for uncontrolled airports.
The study’s recommendations included: conducting a biennial proficiency flight review of every pilot by a certificated flight instructor; placing increased emphasis on the general aviation accident prevention program; increasing the skill, knowledge, and experience requirements of flight instructors; implementing flight service station modernization and reconfiguration; improving the reporting of weather information to the general aviation pilot; strengthening general aviation’s position in FAA’s headquarters; publishing the Federal Aviation Regulations in separate parts, rather than the 11-volume format used at the time; and adopting the standard traffic-pattern rule at all uncontrolled airports.
19720915: A 17-nation anti-hijacking conference sponsored by the Legal Subcommittee of the International Civil Aviation Organization was concluded. The conference, convened in response to the persisting high incidence of aircraft hijackings during 1972, had attempted to draw up a treaty imposing economic sanctions against those nations that provided havens to aircraft hijackers and saboteurs. The failure to agree on a draft resolution cosponsored by the U.S. and Canada, however, brought the meeting to an end.
19770915: The dynamic simulation radar controller training laboratory (DYSIM) became operational at the Denver Air Route Traffic Control Center, the last of the 20 centers to be so equipped. FAA had determined that it was better to train new center controllers on a simulator than on an operational ATC sector, and began a program in 1975 to provide the centers with training equipment that duplicated all the conditions experienced on operational NAS En Route Stage A display equipment.
19770915: FAA formally notified the U.S.-European Aerosat council that the United States was withdrawing from the satellite project, following a congressional cut-off of funds for the program. Aerosat’s objective was to increase the communications capacity over the North Atlantic. Originally a European idea, the project had long been marked by controversy over shared ownership, radio bands, and costs. (See November 12, 1974.)
19820915: Glen A. Gilbert died at age 69. An important pioneer in the conceptual development of air traffic control, Gilbert was manager of the airlines’ Chicago air traffic control center at the time that it came under the control of the Commerce Department (see July 6, 1936). He subsequently became Chief of the Airway Traffic Control Section and later held other Federal aviation positions before joining the staff of the International Civil Aviation Organization in 1951. Gilbert worked as an aviation consultant from 1957 until his death. He also authored several books on air traffic control.
19840915: FAA centralized responsibility for the operational control and technical direction of the air traffic control system under the Associate Administrator for Air Traffic. (On an organizational level, however, the regional air traffic division managers continued to report to the Regional Directors: see June 16, 1988.) A directive issued on February 8, 1985, reorganized the Associate Administrator’s office to include an Air Traffic Operations Service and an Air Traffic Plans and Requirements Service. On October 31, 1986, another directive also established an Air Traffic Evaluations and Analysis Office under the Associate Administrator. (See October 2, 1989.)
19920915: FAA published a final rule requiring airlines to allow the use of approved child restraint systems (CRSs) on their aircraft. At the same time, FAA amended its Advisory Circular describing approved CRSs to exclude any that positioned the child on the lap or chest of a seated adult. (See February 26, 1985, and September 21, 1994.)
20020915: FAA commissioned a new state-of-the-art air traffic control tower at the Orlando International Airport. The new tower, at 345 feet, became the tallest in North America.
20130915: FAA began operations in the new, $33 million, 268-foot, air traffic control tower at the Boise Airport. The new tower replaced a 40-year old, 65-foot tall control tower. The new tower also housed a new TRACON. City officials formally dedicated the tower on November 17, 2013.
20140915: FAA put into place a new certification process, detailed in a standard operating procedure document. Under the new process, FAA would permit complex projects to move forward even if the agency had to limit certain aspects until resources became available. FAA would weigh the availability of designees – company-provided resources approved to verify that projects were done per FAA’s requirements – as it sequenced projects. Under the guidelines, FAA resources would be allocated based on a project index. The highest weight would be given to a project’s safety index (SI), which factored in overall safety, passenger safety, and fleet size. SI – and the entire sequencing system – was weighted so that airworthiness directives had top priority. Applications also were judged based on the number of “findings” they contain and how many had to be handled by FAA staff vs. organizational designees. (See December 11, 2013.)
20150915: Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx announced the Department of Transportation would provide $5.5 million to help 11 small communities in 11 states develop solutions to improve their local air service needs under the small community air service development program. The communities receiving grant awards included: Tallahassee, FL ($750,000); Salmon, ID ($150,000); Presque Isle, ME ($250,000); Traverse City, MI ($750,000); Great Falls, MT ($385,000); Fargo, ND ($500,000); Redmond, OR ($500,000); Sioux Falls, SD ($500,000); College Station, TX ($475,000); Pasco, WS ($750,000); and Riverton, WY ($481,810).
20160915: The city of Santa Monica served Atlantic Aviation and American Flyers eviction notices and ordered them to leave Santa Monica airport by October 15 (later extended to November 4). Beginning in June, the city began informing airport tenants that they would not receive new leases. Attorneys for the two companies asked FAA to determine whether the airport’s leasing policy violated federal agreements with the city. On September 26, FAA issued a notice of investigation to the City of Santa Monica informing the city it was initiating an investigation into the city’s strategy to close the airport by evicting tenants and recommended the city postpone the evictions. (See August 23, 2016; December 13, 2016.)
20160915: The Astronautics Corporation of America announced a FAA contract to research and develop a way to identify and assess potential aircraft cybersecurity threats as they relate to aircraft certification and operational safety.
20210915: Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched four people into space on the Inspiration4 mission – the first time a spacecraft circled Earth with an all-amateur crew and no professional astronauts. The spacecraft hit an altitude of about 363 miles. The rocket’s first-stage booster, after separating from the spacecraft’s top half, flew itself back to Earth and touched down safely on a landing platform floating in the Atlantic. The spaceship landed on September 18, splashing down into the ocean off the east coast of Florida. Previous tourists who traveled that deep into space had to purchase seats on Russian government rockets. (See July 19, 2021.)
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This Day in FAA History: September 15th
