Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19500309: CAA awarded its largest contract in history for the purchase of 450 distance-measuring equipment (DME) ground stations. The $4,210,750 contract to the Hazeltine Electronics Corporation included spare parts.
19610309: Administrator Halaby launched an “air share” program under which he and other top FAA officials met the general aviation community in a series of “hangar sessions” to discuss changes in the Civil Air Regulations. These meetings afforded airmen the opportunity to “air” their views and “share” the benefits of improved rules for safe flying.

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19280308: The Foreign Air Mail Act expanded the U.S. Post Office’s role in international mail by giving it new authority to award contracts for periods of up to ten years for transport of mail to foreign countries and U.S. insular possessions.
19610308: President Kennedy requested FAA Administrator Halaby “to conduct a scientific, engineering review of our aviation facilities and related research and development and to prepare a practicable long-range plan to insure efficient and safe control of all air traffic within the United States.” In response to this directive, the Administrator established the Project Beacon task force

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19690307: A Civil Aeronautics Board rule effective this date imposed the first Federal requirement for air taxi operators to carry liability insurance covering passengers as well as persons and property on the ground. The minimum coverage was $75,000 per person and $100,000 for property damage.
19700307: Effective this date, FAA required every U.S. civil aircraft owner to submit an annual report on aircraft registration, eligibility, identification, and activity no later than June 30 of each year. The submission of the annual reports through 1977 permitted the updating of the aircraft register and the removal of about 32,000 obsolete records. On January 25, 1978, FAA revoked the annual reporting requirement because the register could now be kept largely current

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19650306: A Navy Sikorsky SH-3A made the first helicopter nonstop flight across the North American continent, covering 2,116-miles in 15 hours 52 minutes. The helicopter flew from an aircraft carrier at San Diego, Calif., to another carrier at Mayport, Fla.
19720306: FAA announced the establishment of an FAA-Industry Area Navigation Task Force to advise and assist the agency in the further application of its area navigation system. The action followed a January 24-25, FAA-sponsored international symposium on area navigation that pointed up a need to review FAA’s program.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19520305: CAA commissioned the Norfolk air route traffic control center.
19620305: In Griggs v. Allegheny County, the U. S. Supreme Court held that noise from low-flying aircraft had interfered with the use and enjoyment of Grigg’s residential property near a runway to such an extent as to constitute a “taking” of an air easement for which compensation must be made. In Causby v. United States (see May 27, 1946), the Court had ruled that such an easement had been taken by the Federal government, which was the owner/operator of the aircraft in that case. In Griggs, however, the Court asserted that Allegheny County, Pa., as the “the promoter, owner, and lessor of the airport” took the air easement. The Court absolved the airlines and the Federal government of any taking, stating that it was Allegheny County that decided, subject to Civil Aeronautics Administration approval, “where the airport would be built, what runways it would need, their direction and length, and what land and navigation easements would be needed.”

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19290304: Herbert C. Hoover became President, succeeding Calvin Coolidge.
19330304: Franklin D. Roosevelt became President, succeeding Herbert C. Hoover.
19460304: The first of a continuing series of international regional air navigation planning meetings sponsored by the Provisional International Civil Aviation Organization began at Dublin, Ireland, to determine standard operating procedures for North Atlantic air services.

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19610303: Najeeb E. Halaby became the second FAA Administrator, succeeding Elwood R. Quesada (see November 1, 1958). The appointment, which President Kennedy had announced on January 19, was submitted to the Senate on February 13 and confirmed on February 24.
Born in Dallas, Tex., Halaby received a B.A. from Stanford in 1937 and a law degree from Yale in 1940; however, his aviation career had already begun in 1933 when, at the age of 17, he received his student pilot certificate. Early in World War II (1942-1943), he served as a test pilot for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation. After becoming a naval aviator in 1943, he served at the Naval Air Test Center, Patuxent, Md. He participated in the first flights of U.S. jet-powered aircraft.

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19290302: Domestic Air News reported that Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra) successfully bid to carry air mail three times weekly from Cristobal, C.Z., to Santiago, Chile, the longest designated air mail route in the world. Created on January 25, 1929, Panagra was jointly controlled by Pan American Airway’s holding company and the W.R. Grace shipping company of New York. Its bid of $1.80 per mile, plus $0.90 per pound per thousand miles, was not the lowest submitted.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19330301: At the Newark Municipal Airport, N.J., the Aeronautics Branch demonstrated a radio system that it had developed for the blind landing of aircraft. The Branch made the system available for service testing by aircraft equipped with the necessary radio receivers. Later that month, Aeronautics Branch pilot James L. Kinney completed the first cross-country test of an all instrument flight and landing when he arrived at Newark from College Park, Md. Kinney was accompanied by Harry Diamond, a Bureau of Standards scientist who helped develop the instrument landing system, and William LaViolette, a radio technician. (See September 13, 1934.)
19370301: The Bureau of Air Commerce commissioned the Los Angeles air route traffic control center on this date, followed by the Washington (D.C.) center on April 1 and the Oakland center on May 15.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19680229: AN FAA study noted the growing volume of mail receiving air transportation in recent years with special emphasis on first-class mail moved on a space available basis. About 95 percent of first-class mail traveling over 200 miles currently moved by air. The study predicted that mail by air would continue to increase steadily and that the use of air taxis would be expanded to expedite overnight delivery to additional communities. (See December 18, 1967, and Calendar year 1968.)
19720229: Following a nationwide election, the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists (NAATS) received Department of Labor certification as the national exclusive representative for all Flight Service Station specialists, some 3,000 employees.