Author: ENDaviationinequity

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19261207: The Aeronautics Branch made its first official airworthiness inspection of an American aircraft when Inspector Ralph Lockwood tested a Stinson Detroiter before its delivery to Canadian Air Express.
19261207: The first airway light beacon erected by the Aeronautics Branch began operation. The beacon was located 15 miles northeast of Moline, Ill., on the Chicago-Dallas air mail route. By June 30, 1927, there were 4,121 miles of lighted airways, including 2,041 miles on the transcontinental airway that had been previously lighted by the Post Office Department. (See April 1973.)
19331207: Regulatory amendments effective this date included a provision that persons under 21 years of age were required to obtain the consent of parents or guardians before receiving any type of pilot license (see May 1, 1967).

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.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19661205: Bureau of National Capital Airports headquarters personnel moved from FAA headquarters in Washington, D.C., to Falls Church, Va. The move allowed the Bureau, which operated Washington National and Dulles International Airports, to be centrally located between the two airports. The Eastern Region’s Washington Area Office also moved from Washington to Falls Church during December. (See June 14, 1959.)
19691205: The Legal Committee of the United Nations General Assembly voted a resolution urging governments to prosecute aircraft hijackers, and urged member states without laws against aircraft piracy to enact such legislation.

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.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19701203: The supersonic transport (SST) program suffered a reverse in Congress as the Senate adopted an amendment to delete from the Department of Transportation fiscal 1971 appropriations bill an administration request for $290 million to continue SST prototype development. Subsequently, House-Senate conferees restored $210 million of the administration’s request to the bill. But the Senate balked again, and the House refused to take part in another conference. Accordingly, the two chambers passed a joint resolution continuing appropriations for the Department (including the SST project) through March 30, 1971, at the fiscal 1970 level; at the same time, they agreed to vote on the SST appropriation separately from the rest of the DOT appropriation early in the 92d Congress. (See April 22, 1970, and March 24, 1971.)
19901203: For the second time within eight years (see September 24, 1983), Continental Airlines filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy code. (See January 7, 1993.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19291202: Fifteen air carriers pooled $100,000.00 to set up the not-for-profit organization, Aeronautical Radio, Inc. (ARINC), to serve as the single coordinator of aeronautical communications for the air transport industry, using a common network of ground stations.
19391202: New York Municipal Airport – La Guardia Field opened for commercial traffic on the improved site of the former Glenn H. Curtiss Airport at North Beach, Long Island, N.Y. The facility was renamed La Guardia Airport in 1947.
19711202: FAA established a program to expedite departures of general aviation aircraft at certain airports when local weather conditions precluded VFR operations. Known as “card-a-clearance,” this program used preprinted cards containing three standard departure clearances. By referring to these cards, pilots avoided long and repetitious clearances on congested frequencies and also reduced the possibility of misunderstanding of air traffic control instructions.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19351201: A consortium of airline companies organized and manned the first airway traffic control center at Newark, N.J. It provided information to airline pilots on the whereabouts of planes other than their own in the Newark vicinity during weather conditions requiring instrument flying. Two additional centers, similarly organized and staffed, opened several months later: Chicago in April 1936, Cleveland in June 1936. (See July 6, 1936, and November 12-14, 1935.)
19411201: President Roosevelt ordered the creation of the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) as a division of the Office of Civilian Defense. In 1943 the President transferred the CAP to the War Department as an auxiliary of the Army Air Forces.
19411201: Beginning on this date, all U.S. pilots and aircraft using the nation’s airspace were required to be Federally certificated.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19281130: Fred E. Weick, an aerodynamicist at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory, described in National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) Technical Note No. 301 the testing of long-chord cowling that significantly reduced drag, the retarding force acting on an airplane moving in air. Unlike conventional cowlings of that period, which covered the crankcase and the lower portion of the cylinders, the NACA cowl totally enclosed the engine. In actual flight tests, a Curtiss AT-5A trainer equipped with NACA’s cowling increased its maximum speed from 118 to 137 mph–the equivalent of providing the aircraft with 83 additional horsepower without an added expenditure in fuel. The NACA cowl had a very positive effect on airline economics when its appeared on the modern transports of the early 1930s.
19291130: As a result of increased activities, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics Clarence Young reorganized the Aeronautics Branch.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19291129: Richard E. Byrd, with pilot Bernt Balchen and two other crew members, became the first to fly over the South Pole, operating a Ford Trimotor from the U.S. base at Little America. Earlier, on May 9, 1926, Byrd and Floyd Bennett had made a flight credited as the first over the North Pole, in a Fokker F.VII.
19351129: Pan American Airway’s China Clipper made the first transpacific airmail flight from San Francisco to Honolulu, Midway, Wake, Guam, and Manila. (See October 21, 1936.)
19661129: The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) board of directors adopted an article to its constitution and by-laws providing that all future turbine-powered transports (excluding ‘stretch’ models of the turbine-powered, twin-engine aircraft presently certificated) be manned by a minimum crew of three pilots.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19441128: CAA submitted to Congress a National Airport Plan proposing Federal and state support for airport improvements needed for a forecast increase in civil aviation. The plan was based on cooperative studies that the agency had carried out with local governmental or private interests seeking assistance in postwar airport planning. Its publication helped to stimulate the introduction of congressional bills on airport development. (See May 13, 1946).
19801128: FAA published a rule requiring foreign operators of aircraft over 75,000 lb. serving the U.S. to comply with the same noise standards as U.S. operators (see December 23, 1976). The rule generally required final compliance by 1985.