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This Day in FAA History: February 10th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19530210: CAA and British aircraft experts concluded extensive discussions of technical problems relating to airworthiness certification of turbine-powered transports. The meetings, termed “exploratory,” sought eventual agreement on standards for U.S. certification of the airworthiness of jet transports, such as the British Comet. (See May 15, 1950.)
19720210: FAA consolidated the National Airspace System Program Office (NASPO) with the Systems Research and Development Service. On July 26 FAA abolished NASPO, established in 1966

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This Day in FAA History: February 9th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19340209: Postmaster General James A. Farley, carrying out the wishes of President Roosevelt, announced the cancellation of all existing air mail contracts, effective midnight, February 19, 1934. His action followed disclosures made by a special Senate investigating committee chaired by Senator Hugo L. Black (D-Ala.) and investigations made by Farley himself. The general basis for cancellation of the air mail contracts was the charge that competitive bidding had been bypassed and contract awards had been made as a result of collusion in a series of conferences of operators with Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown (see May 19, 1930).

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This Day in FAA History: February 8th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19330208: The Boeing 247 first flew. Often considered the first modern airliner, this single-wing airplane of all-metal construction was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Wasp air-cooled radial engines. It had a gross takeoff weight of 12,650 pounds and accommodated 10 passengers. The Aeronautics Branch type-certificated the plane on March 16, 1933, and it entered scheduled airline service on March 30, 1933.
19590208: FAA announced plans to coordinate Federal research and development in aviation weather forecasting and reporting. The announcement followed general agreement between FAA, the Department of Commerce (Weather Bureau), and Department of Defense on the need for such a joint research program.
19850208: FAA established a policy that the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) would be the standard visual glideslope indicator for new, Federally-funded installations at fixed-wing airports.

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This Day in FAA History: February 7th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19610207: FAA commissioned the Cleveland air traffic control center’s new building, followed by the Jacksonville center’s new building on February 25.
19610207: Affirming the decision of a neutral committee, the U.S. National Mediation Board ruled that the pilots and flight engineers of United Air Lines constituted one craft for purposes of representation. The Board ordered an election in which the Flight Engineers International Association (FEIA) faced certain defeat by the more numerous members of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). On February 17, flight engineers walked off the job at seven airlines to protest the board’s decision, which they feared would set an industry-wide precedent.

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This Day in FAA History: February 6th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19340206: A new Inter-Departmental Advisory Committee on Aviation met to study the establishment of a uniform Federal aviation policy. The Committee consisted of representatives of the Departments of Commerce, War, Navy, and the Post Office, plus the Interstate Commerce Commission.
19670206: FAA asked U.S. air carriers to help finance the supersonic transport (SST) prototype program by contributing $1 million in risk capital for each SST delivery position held (see November 19, 1963). The agency took the step at the direction of President Johnson, who considered it a way in which the airlines could demonstrate to the Congress and the public their faith in the SST program.

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This Day in FAA History: February 5th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19700205: Effective this date, FAA required manufacturers to make a maintenance manual available to their customers at the time of aircraft delivery. The manual was to contain information that the manufacturer deemed essential to proper maintenance.
19730205: FAA Administrator John H. Shaffer established the Executive Committee (EXCOM) to review and establish agency policies. A year later, in a move intended to increase accountability among managers, Administrator Butterfield suspended the EXCOM, as well as the Agency Review Board and the Regulatory Council.

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This Day in FAA History: February 4th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19290204: The Aeronautics Branch established a Field Service Section which assumed certain duties performed by the former Airport Section, including assistance to municipalities and other organizations desiring to establish or improve airports. Five airport specialists, including the section chief, toured the U.S. to inspect sites, confer with officials, and address civic groups. The creation of the Field Service Section was part of a general reorganization of the Division of Airports and Aeronautic Information, formerly known as the Information Division, during fiscal 1929. (See November 1929.)
19490204: CAA granted authorization for commercial planes to use ground control approach (GCA) radar as a “primary aid” for bad-weather landings. (See April 9, 1947.)

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This Day in FAA History: February 3rd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19520203: CAA put into effect a plan to consolidate aviation safety functions under one chief in each of its seven continental regions and to reorganize the Washington Office of Aviation Safety. Under development for more than a year, the program was intended to achieve better coordination between CAA’s field services and the public and the industry. Designed also to keep pace with rapid changes in technology, the reorganization placed air carrier and general aviation specialists in separate groups.
19590203: A Pan Am 707 entered a steep dive toward the Atlantic after its autopilot disengaged at 35,000 feet. The captain, who had been in the passenger cabin when the dive began, fought powerful gravity forces to return to the cockpit. Taking command from the copilot, he was able to end the dive at 6,000 feet.

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This Day in FAA History: February 2nd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19670202: FAA issued an advisory circular entitled “Regional Air Carrier Airport Planning” as an aid in determining when a single regional air carrier airport was preferable to two or more airports. In line with joint FAA-CAB policy (see May 2, 1961), the circular advised that a regional airport study should be made in specified circumstances involving inadequacies at existing airports located within 50 miles and one hour’s driving time of another air carrier airport or another community receiving scheduled service. (The National Airport Plan for fiscal years 1968-72, issued in April 1967, was the first such plan to identify locations that could be developed as regional airports.)
19700202: A rule effective this date permitted expanded use of FAA-approved airplane simulators in training airline crews. With the advances in flight simulation technology, the use of these simulators would help to ease the serious problems of congestion in the airspace by permitting more training on the ground.

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This Day in FAA History: February 1st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19300201: The Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics terminated its activities. Established in January 1926 to support the development of American aviation in its formative years, the fund had promoted aeronautical education, subsidized research projects, and assisted efforts to develop commercial aircraft. Daniel Guggenheim intended that the fund be closed when private enterprise would find it “practicable and profitable to carry on.”
19430201: CAA inaugurated an expanded flight advisory service at all air route traffic control centers. The centers originated advisories on weather changes and hazardous conditions, and airway communication stations relayed this information to nonscheduled pilots.