This Day in FAA History: December 4th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19281204: The Aeronautics Branch issued regulations covering the entry and clearance of aircraft carrying foreign cargo and passengers into the United States. The rules became effective February 1, 1929.
19391204: At the direction of President Roosevelt, the Bureau of the Budget’s Division of Administrative Management began a study of the organization of the Civil Aeronautics Authority. The Bureau reported its findings to the President the following spring. Roosevelt approved the Bureau’s recommendations and transmitted them as Reorganization Plans III and IV to Congress in April, 1940, under the Reorganization Act of 1939. The plans would take effect 60 days after the President submitted them to Congress unless the House of Representatives and Senate passed a concurrent resolution stating that Congress did not approve the reorganization.
Plan III involved the transfer of certain functions from the Authority to the Administrator. Plan IV included: combining the Authority and Air Safety Board into a new Civil Aeronautics Board with authority to prescribe and revise safety rules and to suspend or rescind the certificates of carriers and airmen; and transferring the Administrator to the Department of Commerce. While Plan III encountered no opposition in Congress, Plan IV attracted strong criticism and was voted down in the House. Ultimately, however, the Senate approved the plan on May 14, 1940, by a 46-34 vote. (See June 30, 1940.)
19521204: CAA Administrator C. F. Horne established a Turbine-Powered Transportation Evaluation Team to: (1) assure uniformity in the handling of turbine-powered transport certification projects between regions and for all manufacturers, (2) make its members unquestioned authorities in this field by intensively supplementing their past specialized training, and (3) make the team a central source of information on turbine-powered transport developments through maintaining contact with manufacturers, the military, experimental laboratories, foreign governments, and other appropriate bodies. After studies and discussions with more than 400 specialists in government and industry, the team completed a comprehensive report at the end of the following year.
19641204: FAA relaxed sport parachuting rules. Parachutists were no longer required to obtain a certificate of authorization from an FAA District Office before drifting over congested areas, open-air assemblies, or airports without functioning control towers. Before making a parachute jump over any airport, however, parachutists were still required to receive permission from the airport’s management. All other rules governing intentional parachute jumps remained in force. (See March 24, 1967.)
19671204: Effective this date, FAA required pilots of small turbine-powered aircraft to follow the same noise abatement procedures mandated for pilots of large transports. The change meant that the rules now applied uniformly to all large (over 12,500 lbs.) aircraft and to all turbine-powered aircraft, whose pilots were currently required to: (1) enter an airport traffic area at 1,500 feet above surface and maintain that altitude until further descent was necessary for safe landing; (2) climb to 1,500 feet as rapidly as practicable after takeoff; and (3) use assigned noise abatement runways at airports where FAA had established a formal runway use program. In addition, pilots of all large aircraft and all turbine-powered aircraft equipped with an Instrument Landing System (ILS) were required to remain at or above the glide slope on final approach for ILS landings. (See April 4, 1960, and February 4, 1971.)
19691204: Dulles International Airport banned student pilot operations because of the rising traffic volume at the airport.
19691204: The Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft, popularly known as the Tokyo Convention, went into force among ratifying countries. The United States had ratified the agreement on September 5, 1969, completing the 12 ratifications required to bring it into force 90 days later. Though ineffectual against the hijacking of aircraft to nonsignatory or nonratifying countries, the convention was a forward step in its clarifying of jurisdiction over crimes aboard aircraft anywhere in the world. It afforded a useful framework within which an international or diplomatic solution to aircraft piracy could be pursued.
Denmark, the Republic of China, Italy, Norway, the Philippines, Portugal, Sweden, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Upper Volta, Mexico, and Niger ratified the convention before the United States. A dozen more countries ratified the convention soon after the United States and over 130 eventually became party to it. (See September 14, 1963, and October 14, 1970.)
19841204: Four Arab hijackers diverted a Kuwait Air A-310 to Iran, where they murdered two American passengers and committed other brutalities while demanding the release of prisoners held in Kuwait. The hijackers released 153 of their hostages in several groups, and Iranian forces freed the remainder when they stormed the aircraft on December 9. The hijacking was part of an increase in terrorist seizures of foreign airliners that began in June 1984.
19851204: AN FAA DC-3 (registration number N-34) arrived at Washington National Airport to begin a new career as a flying exhibit. Manufactured in 1945, N-34 had belonged to the Navy before its transfer to FAA in 1963. With many other DC-3s, it performed quality assurance and facility certification checks on the nation’s airways before its retirement from this role on September 9, 1982. N-34 was exhibited at air shows until retired from active service as a cost saving measure in early 1994.
19911204: Pan American World Airways ceased flying after 64 years of operations. On the previous day, Delta Air Lines had told a bankruptcy court that it would not supply further financing for Pan Am (see January 8, 1991). At an auction of Pan Am assets on December 9, United emerged as the largest purchaser, bidding successfully on most of the defunct airline’s Latin American routes. Such remaining Pan Am property as industrial and office equipment was auctioned at Miami airport on August 4-7, 1992. (See September 26, 1996.)
19911204: James B. Busey left the post of FAA Administrator and became Deputy Secretary of Transportation (a position which he held until resigning effective June 19, 1992). On Busey’s departure from FAA, Deputy Administrator Barry L. Harris became Acting Administrator, and Executive Director for System Operations Joseph M. Del Balzo became Acting Deputy Administrator (see June 27, 1992). On December 6, 1991, President Bush announced the choice of DOT Secretary Samuel L. Skinner to become his chief of staff on December 16, replacing John H. Sununu (see February 24, 1992). Busey became Acting Secretary upon Skinner’s departure from DOT.
20081204: FAA broke ground for its new air traffic control system command center near Warrenton, VA, which the agency hoped to open in 2011. The 63,000-squarefoot building that would house FAA’s new command center would share a site with the Potomac TRACON, a consolidated approach and departure control facility serving Washington, Baltimore, and Richmond-area airports. FAA awarded a $22 million contract to Corinthian Construction Company of Arlington, VA, to build the new center. (See April 15, 1994.)
20091204: FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced the retirement of acting deputy administrator, Lynne Osmus, effective January 3, 2009. Effective this day, Osmus returned to her permanent post as assistant administrator for security and hazardous materials and David Grizzle, FAA general counsel, became the acting deputy administrator. (See March 27, 2009; December 8, 2009.)
20121204: FAA released a report approving commercial passenger flights at Paine Field south of Everett, WA. FAA began studying the issue in 2008 when Allegiant Air expressed interest in providing regional flights from the airport. In the report, FAA stated up to 23 daily flights would not significantly increase noise, traffic, or pollution in nearby communities. (See September 18, 2012; September 3, 2013.)
20121204: FAA issued an airworthiness directive ordering airlines to inspect Boeing 787 Dreamliners for improperly installed fuel-line connectors that could result in leaks or fires. Airlines had reported fuel leaks on two in-service 787s, and subsequent inspections by Boeing of jets in service or still in production revealed some fuel line connectors installed incorrectly. Boeing recommended such inspections to 787 customers on November 25; the FAA airworthiness directive made those inspections mandatory. A third aircraft experienced electrical problems after FAA issued the directive. (See August 26, 2011 and January 7, 2013.)
20131204: Pam Underwood, FAA deputy division manager at Kennedy Space Center, announced NASA astronauts would fly as “space flight participants” aboard commercial spaceships being developed to taxi crews to and from the international space station. FAA’s definition of crew required them to be employees of the licensee or subcontractor licensee. NASA astronauts are neither, so they would fly under the category of space flight participant, under current FAA regulations. The ruling did not limit the scope of the work government-employed astronauts could perform aboard commercial space taxis, including piloting the vehicle, aborting launch if necessary, overseeing emergency response, and monitoring and operating environmental controls and life support systems. (See August 14, 2013.)
20181204: FAA opened its new Atlanta Flight Operations Facility at Cobb County International Airport in Kennesaw, Georgia. The 32,050-square-foot facility, accommodated six King Air 300 aircraft and included shop space for aircraft maintenance and repair and space to accommodate 26 FAA employees.
20201204: The airport in Burlington, Vermont, opened its new $35.4 million taxiway paralleling the main runway. FAA funded 90 percent of construction through an airport improvement program grant.