This Day in FAA History: October 2nd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19641002: President Johnson proclaimed 1965 as International Cooperation Year (ICY) within the United States, in support of a similar action by the United Nations on a global basis. FAA was represented on the President’s ICY Cabinet Committee, which planned and coordinated United States participation in ICY, and chaired the ICY Aviation Committee.
19641002: Taking another step toward the goal of all-weather landing, FAA announced qualifying criteria for Category II landing operations. Air carrier and commercial aircraft operators meeting these criteria could land at properly equipped airports under weather conditions permitting a decision height (vertical visibility) as low as 100 feet and a runway visibility range (horizontal visibility) as low as 1,200 feet. Hitherto, under Category I weather minimums, landing operations were permitted only when the decision height was at least 200 feet and the runway visibility range was at least 1,800 feet (four-engine jets required a runway visibility range of 2,600 feet). An operator able to qualify would first be permitted to land with a decision height of at least 150 feet and a runway visibility range of at least 1,600 feet. After six months of successful operation with these minimums, the operator could be authorized to use the lower minimums of 100 and 1,200. On October 29, 1965, United Air Lines became the first to qualify for the initial step of the Category II approval process, receiving authorization to use the 150 and 1,600 minimums with its DC-8 aircraft. (See March 30, 1947, and August 7, 1967.)
19701002: A chartered Martin 404 carrying members of the Wichita State University football team crashed near Silver Plume, Colo., killing 32 of the 40 persons aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board later cited the probable cause as the operation of the aircraft over a mountain valley route at an altitude from which the aircraft could not avoid obstructing terrain. Among factors listed as contributing to the accident was the charter company’s poor operational management. The accident called into question the business practices of charter and leasing firms, and Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe on October 9 ordered an investigation of companies designated as commercial operators of large aircraft (see March 5, 1971). While this investigation proceeded, FAA on October 27 proposed a rule redefining the term “commercial operator” and requiring educational institutions and similar groups to hold an air travel club certificate when operating large aircraft over 12,500 pounds. The proposal would also have required operators of large aircraft to obtain a commercial operator’s certificate for certain operations in the furtherance of business. Industry response to the proposal proved strongly negative. Meanwhile, another major crash of a charter flight occurred on November 14, 1970, when a Southern Airways DC-9 descended too low during a nonprecision approach at Huntington, WVa. The accident killed all 75 of the plane’s occupants, including the Marshall University football team. (See March 5, 1971.)
19801002: Recognizing the changing nature of airline operations under deregulation, the Civil Aeronautics Board adopted a report that led to new system of classifying air carriers for statistical and financial analysis. The carriers were described as either Majors, Nationals, Large Regionals, or Medium Regionals, depending on the amount of their annual operating revenue. After CAB became defunct at the end of 1984, the Research and Special Projects Administration continued this general system, although the amounts of revenue required for the various categories were periodically adjusted.
19811002: FAA announced the award of two contracts to E-Systems for computer systems for 61 automated flight service stations (AFSS). The agency planned that the existing network of over 300 stations would eventually be consolidated into the 61 automated facilities. The equipment to be produced by E-Systems would provide flight service specialists with rapid retrieval of data needed to brief pilots, presenting the information on television-like displays. Production was to be in two stages. Model 1, with capability of displaying weather and aeronautical alphanumeric data, would be implemented at 41 sites. Later, all 61 sites would get Model 2, which would add a second display for weather radar, charts, and other graphics. Model 2 would also include the capability for demonstrating direct access by pilots to the computer data base from remote computer terminals. The computers for both models were to be installed at air route traffic control centers and connected by leased telephone lines to the flight service stations. (See May 28, 1981, and November 1982.)
19811002: FAA announced a $10 million contract with the University of Oklahoma to help train new air traffic controllers to replace those fired for participating in the illegal strike. The University would provide FAA-certificated instructors as supplemental staffing for the FAA Academy. The agreement proved to be the first in a series of controller training contracts with the University. (See September 4, 1981, and October 22, 1981.)
19891002: A directive issued on this date restructured the organization of the Associate Administrator for Air Traffic (see September 15, 1984) by abolishing the Office of Air Traffic Evaluations and Analysis and establishing a new Office of Air Traffic System Effectiveness. On February 22, 1990, another directive added an Office of Air Traffic Program Management. A further change came on July 3, 1990, with the abolition of the Air Traffic Operations Service and establishment of the Air Traffic Rules and Procedures Service and the Office of Air Traffic System Management. (See November 30, 1994.)
20071002: FAA proposed an initial set of aircraft avionics requirements designed to enable the transition to the next generation satellite-based air transportation system. The proposal would require all aircraft flying in the nation’s busiest airspace to have satellite-based avionics by 2020 so air traffic controllers could use the satellite-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast (ADS-B) system to track them. Aircraft not flying in controlled airspace would not be required to have ADS-B avionics. The proposed rule was open to public comment for 90 days, and was scheduled to become final by late 2009. The proposed compliance date of 2020 would give the industry more than ten years to equip aircraft with ADS-B avionics. (See August 30, 2007; March 10, 2008; May 27, 2010.)