Author: ENDaviationinequity

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19670922: North American Rockwell Corporation came into being, result of a merger between North American Aviation and Rockwell-Standard Corporation.
19830922: FAA announced the award of two competitive contracts for design of a new mainframe computers to replace the IBM 9020 computers at Air Route Traffic Control Towers as part of the agency’s Advanced Automation Program. (See January 28, 1982 and July 26, 1985.)
19880922: FAA issued a rule requiring that all turbine-powered airliners seating 30 passengers or more carry equipment to warn pilots when they encounter low-altitude wind shear and provide them with information needed to escape safely (see October 9, 1986).

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19590921: FAA announced that its representatives and those of DOD and the Air Force had signed an agreement to establish nine FAA air route traffic control centers at Air Force SAGE supercombat centers. The supercombat centers were part of the SAGE (semiautomatic ground environment) system for radar surveillance and identification of air traffic for air defense. (See July 10, 1956, and April 12, 1960.)
19610921: Senator A. S. Mike Monroney (D.-Okla.) introduced legislation proposed by FAA Administrator Halaby for creation of a Federal Aviation Service (FAS) to assure the continuity of essential airways services during any national emergency. Representative Oren Harris (D.-Ark.) introduced a similar bill in the House.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19450920: The first turboprop-powered aircraft flight was completed in Britain by a Gloster Meteor experimentally equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent engines.
19590920: FAA commissioned the San Antonio air traffic control center’s new building, the first in a program to construct 32 new center facilities. Located in most cases away from airports to permit more space and to withstand nuclear attack on critical target areas, the buildings had an expandable design to facilitate installation and use of the latest equipment. By the end of 1960, 15 of the centers were under construction or completed.
19610920: The Federal Airport Act was amended to extend the Federal-aid airport program through fiscal year 1964. The new law authorized appropriations of $75 million each for fiscal years 1962- 64. See Appendix VII for subsequent appropriations under this Act until its repeal in 1970. (See June 20, 1959, and May 21, 1970.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280919: The Packard Motor Car Company flight tested the first diesel engine to power heavier-than-air craft. Diesel aircraft engines seemed promising but proved too heavy, and interest in their development waned during the 1930s.
19330919: President Roosevelt appointed Eugene L. Vidal head of the Aeronautics Branch with the title of Director of Aeronautics (see June 10, 1933). Vidal was educated at the University of South Dakota and at West Point. Graduating from the latter institution in 1918, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers for two years before transferring to the Air Service and becoming a pilot.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280918: The Graf Zeppelin, the most successful rigid airship ever built, first flew. By the time it was retired in 1937, this craft had flown more than a million miles, spent 16,000 hours in the air, and carried 13,100 passengers.
19650918: FAA required distance-measuring equipment on turbine-engine aircraft and pressurized piston-engine aircraft when operated by foreign air carriers within the contiguous United States after December 31, 1966. The agency required other foreign air carrier aircraft having a maximum certificated takeoff weight of more than 12,500 pounds to have this equipment after December 31, 1967. All foreign civil aircraft not engaged in air carrier operations were required to have this equipment after December 31, 1966, when flying at or above 24,000 feet. (See July 1, 1963.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19640917: FAA implemented a simplified two-layer airway route structure, replacing the previous three-layer system (see April 6, 1961). The lower layer of the new structure extended generally from an altitude of 1,000 feet to 18,000 feet, and the jet route portion from 18,000 to 45,000 feet. Airspace above 45,000 feet was reserved for point-to-point operations on a random routing basis. Besides requiring fewer aeronautical navigation charts, the new system reduced pilot-controller workload by requiring fewer radio contacts and navigational checkpoints. As a necessary complement, FAA revised rules governing use of the standard altimeter setting by lowering the base altitude for such settings from 24,000 to 18,000 feet above mean sea level. (See March 4, 1965.)
19710917: The first grant related to vertical/short takeoff and landing facilities under the airport planning grant program went to the New Jersey Department of Transportation to study the development of a special facility to accommodate V/STOL aircraft. (See April 29 and October 17, 1971.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19670916: Typhoon Sarah struck Wake Island with winds exceeding 140 miles per hour, knocking out the island’s electric power plant, air traffic control tower, air route traffic control center, and navigation aids. Damage to the island’s housing, sanitation system, and freshwater supply necessitated the evacuation of one fourth of Wake’s population.
19710916: The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that pilots who had suffered a stroke could not be automatically denied a first-class medical certificate. The Board stated that each pilot’s case must be treated separately rather than on the basis of general stroke statistics and predictions. The ruling reversed FAA’s denial of a first-class medical certificate to a pilot who had suffered a “pure motor stroke” in 1964. The Board noted that the pilot had met the pertinent rules and standards since the stroke, and hence his general medical condition allowed him to safely exercise the privileges of the certificate.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280915: The Aeronautics Branch published civil aviation accident statistics for the first half of 1928. There was a total of 390 accidents, of which 34 occurred in scheduled flying, 69 in student instruction, 17 in experimental operations, and 270 in miscellaneous flying. Assigned causes blamed pilot error for 43.29 percent of the accidents, engine failure for 16.59 percent, weather for 10.23 percent, and airport or terrain for 8.72 percent. There was a total of 153 fatalities and 276 injuries. Only six of the fatalities occurred in scheduled flying.
19330915: The Aeronautics Branch announced in the Air Commerce Bulletin a streamlining plan for the Air Regulation Service aimed at saving $500,000 in the current fiscal year.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19420914: To meet the increased tempo of military requirements, CAA established a Pacific Islands Office at Honolulu under the general supervision of the Sixth Region, headquartered at Los Angeles.
19630914: The Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (known as the Tokyo Convention) was opened for signature at a diplomatic conference held under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). An FAA official representing President Kennedy signed the document on behalf of the United States. The Legal Committee of ICAO had spent many years drafting the convention, which clarified certain jurisdictional issues concerning hijacked aircraft, and recognized the authority of aircraft commanders to use reasonable force to preserve law and order aboard their aircraft.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19340913: Following a conclusive demonstration of an Army Air Corps blind-landing system, the Bureau of Air Commerce adopted that system as its standard. The demonstration marked the conclusion of eleven months work by the Bureau in which it tested various systems and modifications for blind landing using a Ford tri-motor transport. (See March 1, 1933, and May 2, 1940.)
19480913: To speed certification of aircraft and aircraft parts, CAA announced that type certificates would be issued in its nine regions rather than at headquarters in Washington, D.C.
19570913: CAA held demonstrations of scan conversion equipment under evaluation at its Technical Development Center, Indianapolis. The equipment was designed to improve radar display techniques. (See April 27, 1960.)