Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19330815: The Aeronautics Branch announced the abolition of solo pilot licenses and gave the solo flying privileges of that license to student pilots. The change was part of the Branch’s response to curtailed appropriations. (See September 15, 1933.)
The Aeronautics Branch also announced that it now required airlines to make detailed reports of all forced landings experienced on interstate scheduled passenger flights. Previously airlines had been requested only to report the number of forced landings.
19350815: Pioneer aviator Wiley Post and humorist Will Rogers were killed when an aircraft piloted by Post — a hybrid, pontoon-equipped Lockheed Orion-Explorer — plunged into a lagoon on takeoff, 16 miles north of Point Barrow, Alaska.
19360815: Bureau of Air Commerce regulations governing instrument flight became effective. Under the new rules, all civil pilots desiring to fly intentionally by instruments over a civil airway were required to have an instrument rating and a Federally licensed aircraft equipped with two-way radio and approved instrument flying equipment.
This Day in FAA History: August 15th
