This Day in FAA History: December 6th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19571206: The Lockheed 188A Electra first flew. The transport, a four-engine turboprop airliner of short-to-medium range with a maximum capacity of 99 passengers, received its type certificate on August 22, 1958, and entered scheduled airline service with Eastern Air Lines on January 12, 1959.
19661206: The launching of NASA’s first applications technology satellite (ATS I) on this date afforded FAA the first opportunity to evaluate a satellite as an air-ground-air relay for long-distance veryhigh-frequency radio voice communications. The 775-pound spin-stabilized satellite transmitted voice messages of excellent clarity originating either from the ground or from flying aircraft. Both FAA and air carrier aircraft took part in the testing, conducted during 1966 and 1967. (See March 29, 1967.)
19811206: A new Metropolitan Washington Airports Policy became effective. In the making since 1978 (see March 23, 1978), the new policy differed only in a few respects with the policy proposed by the Carter Administration in 1980. The overall objectives of both the Carter and Reagan policies were to reduce the noise impact of operations at Washington National, maintain National’s longstanding status as a short-haul airport, and promote better utilization of Dulles. The policy placed no restrictions on Dulles, while putting the following limitations on National
* A 16 million cap on the number of passengers enplaning and deplaning per year (compared to 17 million under the Carter plan).
* A maximum of 60 landing slots per hour distributed as follows: Part 121 air carriers, 37; Part 135 commuter air carriers and air taxis, 11; general aviation, 12. (Compared to the Carter plan, this gave Part 121 operators one more slot and Part 135 operators one less.)
* Extension of the nonstop service perimeter rule from a radius of 650 to 1,000 miles (see October 30, 1986).
Whereas the Carter plan would have lifted the ban on 2- and 3-engine widebody jets at National, the Reagan plan retained the ban. Moreover, the new administration eliminated the Carter plan’s restrictions on night-time arrivals and departures; instead, it limited operations at National between 10:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. to aircraft that generated no more noise than 73 dBA on takeoff and 85 dBA on approach. The noise limitations, which become effective on March 1, 1982, initially had the effect of excluding jet operations at the airport during the specified hours. (See August 31, 1983.)
19891206: FAA issued a precision approach landing systems policy, outlining how it planned to transition from the Instrument Landing System (ILS) to the Microwave Landing system (MLS). An international agreement obligated the agency to provide MLS service at all U.S. international runways by January 1, 1998: Until that date, FAA determined to install new ILS’s only at those locations that had an immediate and critical requirement for precision approach service that could not be delayed until MLS deployment. (See April 6, 1989, and June 21, 1991.)
19951206: DOT and FAA opened a two-day Aviation Safety Initiative Review meeting to evaluate safety actions since the earlier “summit” conference (see January 9, 1995) and set the safety agenda for 1996. Some 300 aviation safety experts attended the event. On the second day of the meeting, airline representatives announced a January 22 launch date for the new Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program to share data from flight recorders (see September 18, 1996). Following the meeting, FAA published an updated Aviation Safety Action Plan in February 1996. Another meeting in December 1996 was followed by a revised plan issued in 1997.
20011206: FAA required each airport operator and aircraft operator with a security program under part 107 or part 108, to conduct fingerprint-based criminal history record checks for individuals who had not already undergone such a check. The rule applied to those who either possess, or have applied for: unescorted access authority to the security identification display area of an airport; authority to authorize others to have unescorted access; and screening functions. (See November 19, 2001; December 20, 2001.)
20071206: FAA announced plans to form an aviation rulemaking committee to develop requirements for aircraft landing distance performance assessments prior to landing. FAA said the takeoff/landing performance assessment aviation rulemaking committee would establish: airplane certification and operational requirements (including training) for takeoff and landing operations on contaminated runways; landing distance assessment requirements, including minimum landing distance safety margins, to be performed at the time of arrival; and, standards for runway surface condition reporting and minimum surface conditions for continued operations.
20121206: FAA lifted its 16-year ban on commercial flights by U.S. carriers to two international airports, Erbil and Sulaymaniyah, in Kurdish northern Iraq because of increased stability in the region. FAA banned flights to the region on October 16, 1996 (SFAR No. 77) for safety reasons.
20161206: The Justice Department approved the $2.6 billion Alaska Airlines acquisition of Virgin America. As a condition of the acquisition, Alaska Airlines was required to “slim down its code-sharing agreement with American Airlines.” Alaska Air and American would be banned from booking passengers on one another’s flights on routes where Virgin and American competed, as well as any routes Alaska Air might start in the future. (See December 14, 2016.)
20161206: FAA opened its new structures and materials laboratory at its William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The 10,000 square foot building with a 32-foot high ceiling cost $2 million to construct.