Author: ENDaviationinequity

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280501: Pitcairn Aviation began operations along the Atlantic seaboard as a contract mail-hauler. The airline inaugurated passenger operations between New York and Washington on August 18, 1930, under the name Eastern Air Transport. The growing carrier acquired New York Airways in 1931 and Luddington Air Lines in 1933, and later took the name Eastern Air Lines in 1934. Eastern subsequently absorbed Colonial Airlines in 1956 and Mackey Air Lines in 1967.
19390501: The Civil Aeronautics Authority completed a $7 million airways modernization and improvement program begun July 1, 1937.

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19270430: The Aeronautics Branch announced that it had recently acquired three aircraft: two Buhl Airsters (open cockpit) and one Stinson-Detroiter (cabin plane). The Branch planned to add one Wright Travel Air (open cockpit) and one Fairchild FC-1A (cabin plane).
19390430: The National Institute of Municipal Law Officers issued the first model Airport Zoning Act, prepared with CAA assistance, to encourage enactment of such legislation by state governments. By November 1944, when a fifth revision of the Model Act was published, 12 states and one territory had passed similar acts. (See September 1, 1946.)
19460430: CAA began biweekly publication of a new Airman’s Guide, consolidating into one comprehensive volume for private and commercial pilots information formerly issued in three separate publications.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19300429: The Watres Act further amended the Air Mail Act of 1925 (see May 17, 1928), replacing the weight basis for computing compensation to air carriers with a space-mile formula. The new act gave the Postmaster General very broad regulatory control over route locations, route consolidations and extensions, contract bidding conditions, service conditions, equipment and personnel accounts, and compensation. (See May 19, 1930.)
19370429: The Commerce Department announced a new plan of organization for the Bureau of Air Commerce.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19370428: The Pan American Hong Kong Clipper, a Sikorsky S-42B flying boat, arrived at Hong Kong from Manila. Linking with the existing Pan Am route from San Francisco to Manila, this new service completed the first commercial airline route from the United States to a point close to the Asian mainland. (See October 21, 1936.)
19670428: The McDonnell Douglas Corporation came into being, the result of a merger between the Douglas Aircraft Company and the McDonnell Company. Douglas had been founded in 1920, McDonnell in 1939.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19530427: Frederick B. Lee was sworn in as CAA Administrator. He succeeded Charles F. Horne (see May 18, 1951), who resigned on March 6, 1953, because of the change in administration following President Eisenhower’s election. Lee received his A.B. degree from Stanford in 1928 and a law degree from Harvard in 1931. A naval aviator in World War II, he rose to the rank of commander, authored a manual for naval flight instructors, and supervised training in night fighters and torpedo units. He joined CAA in 1946 as Program Planning Officer, was made executive assistant to the Administrator in January 1947, and became Deputy Administrator the same year. He was still Deputy Administrator when nominated on March 11, 1953, to be Administrator. (See December 8, 1955.)
19590427: FAA announced a contract award for development of an air height surveillance radar (AHSR-1) to automatically provide air traffic controllers with information on aircraft altitudes up to a range of 50 nautical miles.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19630426: A split occurred within the Air Line Pilots Association, resulting in the formation of a separate union, the Allied Pilots Association, that gained the right to represent the pilots of American Airlines.
19710426: Intercom noted that Ruth M. Dennis would become the first woman to serve as chief of a Flight Service Station when she reported to the San Diego FSS during the week. Dennis had joined the Civil Aeronautics Authority in 1944.
19740426: FAA began an in-depth inspection of the worldwide flight operations of Pan American World Airways following the April 22 crash of a Pan Am Boeing 707

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19660425: FAA established the National Airspace System Program Office, replacing the NAS Special Projects Office as a staff element under the Associate Administrator for Development. Headed by the Deputy Associate Administrator for Development, NASPO had responsibility for design, engineering, procurement, and installation–in addition to central programming, planning, and scheduling — of designated program elements of the air traffic control subsystem of the National Airspace System. (See May 18, 1970 and February 10, 1972.)
19690425: More than 800 aviation community representatives attended the first National Aviation System Planning Review Conference, held in Washington, D.C.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19460424: Winged Cargo, Inc. began the first glider commercial freight service, using a DC-3 to tow a Waco glider. The flight took off from Philadelphia and made stops at Miami, Havana, and San Juan.
19630424: President Kennedy approved a new statement of U.S. international air transport policy based on a report submitted earlier by an Interagency Steering Committee, chaired by the FAA Administrator (see September 15, 1961). A change in emphasis rather than in fundamental approach, the new statement stressed the necessity for keeping the environment of the international air transport industry as free as possible from restrictions, whether imposed by government or intercarrier agreement. U.S. policy was to seek an atmosphere of free enterprise that would benefit U.S. international air carriers and strengthen the entire system generally.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19670423: A project completed on this date made Washington National Airport’s main runway the first U.S. runway for commercial operations to be grooved. Developed by the British, runway grooving proved highly successful in reducing the tendency of landing aircraft to aquaplane on wet surfaces. The grooves at National were 1/8 inch wide, 1/8 inch deep, and cut at angles to the runway centerline with a 1- inch spacing. They carried water away in what amounted to thousands of tiny gutters. On May 24, 1968, FAA announced that Chicago Midway Airport would receive the first funding allocation for runway-grooving under the Federal-aid airport program. (See August 4, 1965 and July 13, 1983.)
19690423: FAA abolished the Kenai and Cordova (Alaska) Area Offices. The Anchorage and Juneau Area Offices absorbed the territory formerly served by these offices.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19570422: CAA commissioned the Spokane air route traffic control center.
19700422: The first annual Earth Day observance throughout the United States included protests indicating environmentalists’ rising opposition to the supersonic transport (SST) program. Concerns about the SST included such issues as sonic booms (see January 27, 1965) and the aircraft’s effect on the ozone layer of the earth’s upper atmosphere.