This Day in FAA History: September 28th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19680928: Under provisions of a rule effective this date, FAA required an approved altitude alerting system to be installed on all U.S. civil turbojet aircraft by February 29, 1972. Aided by this device, a pilot climbing or descending to a preselected altitude would be alerted, by signals to both eye and ear, in sufficient time to establish level flight at the desired altitude. The device would also provide a warning if the pilot strayed from an assigned altitude. FAA considered this necessary because of the dangers posed by inadvertent aircraft deviations from assigned or predetermined flight lanes in an environment increasingly populated by turbojets possessing capability for rapid climb and descent.
19840928: A DOT Inspector General report on drug and alcohol abuse among FAA employees concluded that the problem was more widespread than management realized and recommended stronger action on the issue. In a memorandum to FAA managers at year’s end, Administrator Engen stated that he had established a policy under which employees who abused drugs or alcohol must enter a treatment program or face penalties that might include dismissal. Employees with safety-related duties would be assigned other tasks while receiving treatment. The Administrator also stated that he had taken steps to establish a substance abuse screening procedure for employees in safety-related positions. In a general notice on February 16, 1985, Engen stated that occasional incidents suggested that FAA was not totally immune to drug/alcohol abuse, and informed employees that a new policy was under development. (See August 16, 1985.)
19890928: Braniff again filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, and ceased all passenger operations on November 6. The company had previously suspended operations during 1982, but later resumed flights. (See March 1, 1984 and July 1, 1991).
19900928: FAA and the MITRE Corporation signed a five-year agreement under which MITRE would operate a new Center for Advanced Aviation System Development at the firm’s facility in McLean, Va. The arrangement was subsequently renewed.
19980928: FAA ordered airlines to inspect, within 60 days, fuel boost pump wiring on Boeing 737-100 through -500 series aircraft with 20,000 to 30,000 flight hours. The directive also required the addition of a layer of Teflon sleeving to protect the fuel pump wires. (See August 21, 1998; October 1, 1998.)
20010928: FAA alerted civilian pilots of their responsibility to avoid restricted airspace and the procedures to follow if intercepted, in light of a Department of Defense announcement that pilots near or in restricted or prohibited airspace faced a forced landing, or as a last resort, use of deadly force by military aircraft. New security decisions required that additional airspace be barred to civilian aircraft. FAA anticipated announcing new restricted and prohibited areas throughout the United States. This additional airspace would be over areas that require protection for national security reasons. New and current restricted and prohibited areas would be revised periodically. (See September 27, 2001; October 4, 2001.)
20010928: FAA announced it was seeking industry input on its new En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program, which would replace the existing en route air traffic control automation system and selected en route infrastructure. FAA planned to pursue the award of a single ERAM System contract. Services to be provided under the contract included system engineering, system integration, system requirements analysis, system design/development, software design/development, system testing, infrastructure upgrades/enhancements, hardware and software replacements, system deployment, transition planning and support, training, maintenance, logistics support and life cycle support. FAA planned to incorporate any industry comments it deemed appropriate in the development of the final ERAM screening information request (SIR) #1 contract bid package planned for release in mid-October 2001. (See March 29, 2002.)
20050928: FAA issued the first airworthiness certificate for a civil unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the General Atomics Altair. The Altair’s FAA airworthiness certificate was in the “Experimental” category and limited flights to research and development, crew training, or market survey. The agency specified a number of safety conditions for the Altair’s operation – including weather, altitude, and geographic restrictions, as well as a requirement for a pilot and observer. FAA also collaborated with manufacturers to collect vital technical and operational data that would improve UAV regulatory processes. In addition, FAA asked RTCA, a group that frequently had advised the agency on technical issues, to help develop UAV standards. (See June 1, 2010.)
20100928: FAA issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would adjust existing overflight fees by using current FAA cost accounting data and air traffic activity data. The agency believed the adjustment necessary because operational costs for providing air traffic control and related services for overflights had increased steadily since it established the fees in 2001. (See December 17, 2008.)
20100928: The Department of Transportation, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association, and the European Commission signed a memorandum of understanding covering the Global Safety Information Exchange program. The program provided a framework for identifying what safety information could be shared, how to communicate that information, and the mechanisms to be used for the actual exchange of information.
20120928: FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta and Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood dedicated the new $20.5 million air traffic control tower at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in PA. The 118-foot tower, equipped with a TRACON facility, provided NextGen capable air-traffic capability for flights within a 57 mile radius of the airport. Air traffic controllers had begun managing flights from the new tower in August. (See August 27, 2012; May 9, 2012.)
20120928: FAA’s office of airports issued an updated airport design advisory circular (AC) 150/5300-13A, the first major rewrite of the AC in over 20 years. The AC, used by airport operators, airport planners, and engineers, provided guidance and recommendations for the geometric layout and engineering design of runways, taxiways, aprons, and other facilities at civil airports.
20170928: FAA air traffic controllers handled the landing of the first commercial air carrier flight in weeks into the Cyril E. King International Airport in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Working from a mobile air traffic tower FAA moved to the island the previous weekend, the controllers began managing a mix of commercial, military, relief, and recovery flights to and from the storm-ravaged island.
20170928: The House and Senate passed the Disaster Tax Relief and Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2017, which extended extend FAA’s authority to operate for six months through March 30, 2018. (See June 5, 2017; October 5, 2018.)
20180928: FAA received a NASA-developed technology called flight deck interval management (FIM). FIM operated with terminal spacing and sequencing technology to help air traffic controllers manage aircraft arrivals and pilots determine appropriate flight speeds. Using the system, controllers received visual aids with trajectory information they used to guide pilots. The pilots received the information and enter their assessments into the FIM. The technology transfer was part of Air Traffic Management Technology Demonstration 1, a government-industry effort aiming to identify new technologies to help airports reduce delays in arrivals.
20180928: FAA announced it would automatically refer cases of drone interference with first responders for legal enforcement action.
20200928: FAA announced it had certified the largest commercial jet engine ever built, the General Electric GE9x, designed for Boeing’s new fleet of 777X aircraft. The new engine had 16 blades and delivered 110,000 pounds of thrust at takeoff.