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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 24th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19830824: In United States v. The County of Westchester, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York struck down an all-night curfew instituted by Westchester County at its airport. Citing the Concorde case (see October 17, 1977), the court said that local airport proprietors were “vested only with the power to promulgate reasonable, nonarbitrary and non-discriminatory regulations that establish acceptable noise levels.” In instituting its curfew, however, Westchester County had failed to conduct any study to determine the location of noise-impacted areas or to quantify the level of noise from any source.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 23rd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19370823: At the Army’s Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio, the first wholly automatic landing was made by Capt. Carl J. Crane, the system’s inventor, Capt. George Holloman, pilot, and Mr. Raymond K. Stout, project engineer. The landing was made without intervention from the human pilot or from the ground.
19580823: President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 (P.L. 85-726) into law. Treating comprehensively the Federal role in fostering and regulating civil aeronautics and air commerce, the new statute repealed the Air Commerce Act of 1926, the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, the Airways Modernization Act of 1957, and those portions of the various Presidential reorganization plans dealing with civil aviation.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 22nd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19380822: The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 became operative (see June 23, 1938). To implement the act, the Bureau of Air Commerce was transferred from the Department of Commerce, and the Bureau of Air Mail from the Interstate Commerce Commission to the Civil Aeronautics Authority.
19850822: One engine of a British Airtours charter 737 exploded on takeoff at Manchester, U.K., engulfing the aircraft in flame and killing 54 of the 137 persons aboard. Both British authorities and FAA ordered inspections of certain Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines used on some 727s, 737s, and DC-9s. On September 6, a Midwest Express DC-9 rolled out of control and crashed after one engine failed on takeoff from Milwaukee. All 31 persons aboard died.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 21st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19440821: CAA established a Ninth Region with headquarters at Honolulu. The new office had jurisdiction over the territory of Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean area not within the boundaries of the Eighth Regional Office in Alaska.
19590821: Hawaii entered the Union as the 50th State.
19720821: FAA placed its Office of Appraisal under the executive direction of the Associate Administrator for Administration. Previously, this office reported directly to the Administrator.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 20th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19630820: The BAC 1-11 first flew. The plane received a British type certificate on April 6, 1965. On April 15, 1965, FAA typed certificated the twin-engine, short-range jetliner with a maximum passenger capacity of 79, the first airliner since the 1940s to be certificated for operation with a two-man cockpit crew. Braniff Airways pressed the aircraft into U.S. domestic service on April 25, 1965.
19850820: Trans World Airlines’ board of directors accepted a stock purchase offer from “corporate raider” Carl C. Icahn, leading to Icahn’s takeover of TWA before the end of 1985.
20010820: A final FAA rule, effective this date, lowered the overflight fees the agency charged carriers for air traffic and related services incurred by certain aircraft that transit U.S.-controlled airspace but neither take off from, nor land in, the United States.

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Airports

KAPA Monthly Fuel Flows: July Update

New Data from the Airport Authority

This Post is a monthly update, based on data shared by an activist focused on mitigating airport impacts. The data has been reformatted by aiREFORM.com, to better show monthly trends in both fuel flowage and aviation toxic lead impact.

Click these links to download the PDF files:
here for PDF download showing monthly avgas and jetfuel related to overall average monthly fuel volumes (1p); and, 

here for PDF download showing 12-month running sums for avgas jetfuel, and lead (2p).

Alternatively, click here to view the PDF files online.

What does this data show?

  • Although unleaded avgas sales commenced in May 2023 and began to reduce total lead pollution, the overall avgas sales have grown dramatically. In fact, total lead pollution bottomed out in March 2024 (down 13%, from 3,111 pounds to 2,696 pounds), but the most recent three months have all seen increased lead pollution.
  • Total avgas sales have increased 16% since January 2023. Look up and down the 12-mo running sum: AvGas column and the last year+ is by far the darkest red, indicating the strongest growth rate since 2012.
  • If the airport authority and their airport-biased citizen panels truly want to serve the whole community (not just the tiny aviation community), they would go much more transparent, providing further data and analysis, to clearly establish what is driving recent avgas growth, and how it is impacting residents.
  • As a point of clarification, understand that fuel flowage fees (typically around a dime per gallon) are a primary revenue source for general aviation (GA) airports. As such, airport authorities must compile public records on fuel flowage … and that objective data needs to be shared with the public, to feed full discourse on how to manage the local airport.
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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 19th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19390819: National Aviation Day occurred for the first time on a continuing basis. In 1937, President Roosevelt had designated May 28 as National Aviation Day for that year only (see that date). No day had been designation in 1938. In a proclamation dated July 25, 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt applied this designation to August 19, 1939, and to August 19 of each succeeding year, in honor of Orville Wright’s birthdate. The proclamation was issued pursuant to Public Resolution No. 14, 76th Congress, approved May 11, 1939 (53 Stat. 739).
19400819: CAA presented Orville Wright honorary Pilot Certificate No. 1 during a National Aviation Day ceremony dedicating the Wright Memorial at Dayton, Ohio. (See April 6, 1927.)
19660819: A strike by the International Association of Machinists halted for 43 days the flight operations of Eastern, National, Northwest, TWA, and United. This was the longest and costliest strike in U.S. airline history to that date.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 18th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19410818: President Roosevelt announced that Pan American Airways would operate an air ferry service to fly aircraft, cargo, and passengers to the African continent in support of the Allied war effort. At the President’s direction, CAA on September 10 granted temporary authority to Pan American to operate the ferry service, flying from Miami, Fla., via Puerto Rico and Brazil, to Liberia and Nigeria. The rights would expire in 5 years, or 6 months after the Secretary of War notified CAA that the service was no longer required.
19420818: Letters from the Acting Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy to the Secretary of Commerce formalized the decision that CAA would perform its war support functions in a civilian status.
19660818: FAA commissioned the nation’s 300th civilian airport traffic control tower at Hillsboro, Ore. Dedication ceremonies were held on August 28.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 17th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19540817: Administrator Frederick B. Lee placed in effect a reorganization of CAA (see June 2, 1949). He established a position of Assistant Administrator for Operations in the Office of the Administrator to exercise direct supervision over the Office of Airports, Office of Federal Airways, Office of Aviation Safety, and the Washington National Airport. The administrative staff offices were placed under an Assistant Administrator for Administration, also responsible for supervising the Aeronautical Center.

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TDiFH

This Day in FAA History: August 16th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19650816: A series of three Boeing 727 accidents within three months began as a United Air Lines flight crashed into Lake Michigan for undetermined reasons, killing all 30 people aboard. On November 8, an American 727 crashed in Kentucky on approach to Greater Cincinnati Airport, killing 58 of the 62 people aboard. CAB later determined the probable cause was the crew’s failure to properly monitor the altimeters. On November 11, a United 727 crash landed at Salt Lake City. All 91 occupants survived the impact, but 43 died of the effects of postcrash flames and smoke (see September 20, 1967). CAB later cited the probable cause as the pilot’s failure to arrest an excessive descent rate. On November 12, FAA declared it could find no pattern in the mishaps and hence it would be premature to ground the 727, about 190 of which were in operation.
19850816: Transportation Secretary Dole released a report on FAA’s Flight Standards programs by the Safety Review Task Force that she had created in December 1983 to examine the safety programs of all the Department’s modal administrations.