Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19510726: The three U.S. armed services agreed to the establishment of Project Lincoln, a study of the air defense program by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (See April 10, 1953.)
19590726: FAA consolidated responsibility for the planning, coordination, and utilization of radio frequencies in a newly established Frequency Management Staff Division within its Bureau of Facilities. In addition to these functions, the new staff division was assigned responsibility for representing FAA before the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee.
19720726: FAA retitled the V/STOL (vertical/short takeoff and landing) Special Projects Office the Quiet Short-Haul Air Transportation System Office.
This Day in FAA History: July 25th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19470725: President Truman approved the National Security Act, which provided for the unification of U.S. Armed Forces, including an Air Force coequal with the Army and Navy, under a new Department of Defense.
19570725: Dynamite exploded in the lavatory of a Western Airlines Convair 240 flying at 7,500 feet over California, blowing the person who had detonated the charge through the side of the aircraft. The plane landed successfully without further casualties.
19610725: FAA requested contract bids for the development of a compact airborne radar beacon for light aircraft. The transponders became commercially available during fiscal year 1965.
This Day in FAA History: July 24th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19560724: CAA placed the Central Altitude Reservation Facility (CARF) in operation at Kansas City to handle all requests for temporary altitude reservations for military aircraft. Creation of this new facility marked a significant advance in controlling airspace at higher altitudes.
19610724: A joint FAA-DOD-NASA Commercial Supersonic Transport Aircraft Report was issued. Based on a review of information gathered from industry and Federal government sources, the report concluded that development of a commercial transport aircraft to fly three times the speed of sound (Mach 3) was feasible and could be done by 1970-71. During August, Congress made its first appropriation for FAA research on the Supersonic Transport (SST). (See January 9 and September 25, 1961.)
19650724: FAA announced Project GAPE, a General Aviation Pilot Education program aimed at reducing general aviation accidents by upgrading pilot knowledge and proficiency.
This Day in FAA History: July 23rd
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19350723: Britain’s Defense Research Committee received a key report on technology that became known as radar (radio detecting and ranging). By the time World War II began, Britain had established a chain of radar stations and equipped British aircraft with a device called IFF (identification, friend or foe) to help the radar stations distinguish British from hostile aircraft. (See June 30, 1945.)
19730723: An Ozark Airlines Fairchild-Hiller 227B crashed 2.3 miles from St. Louis airport, killing 38 of the 44 persons aboard. The National Transportation Safety Board cited the probable cause as encounter with a downdraft following the captain’s decision to conduct an instrument approach during a thunderstorm.
This Day in FAA History: July 22nd
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19750722: FAA announced that it had awarded contracts to the Bendix Corp. and Texas Instruments to build, test, and evaluate prototypes of the new microwave landing system (MLS) under Phase III of the MLS development program. Each contractor was to build two models of the system–the small community airport configuration and the basic configuration—using a time reference scanning beam signal format. (See February 27, 1975, and June 1976.)
19800722: Holding what was reported to be a small handgun to the back of a flight attendant, a man diverted a Delta Air Lines L-1011 to Cuba, beginning a series of hijackings by Cuban refugees who had arrived in the U.S. during the boat lift from the port of Mariel that began in April 1980 (see January 25, 1980).
This Day in FAA History: July 21st
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19580721: A Presidential Emergency Board issued its report on a dispute between the Eastern Air Lines and unions representing its pilots and flight engineers. President Eisenhower had appointed the board the previous January to mediate the controversy over the qualifications of the flight engineer on turbojet transports. The board concluded that a flight engineer on jetliners should have piloting qualifications and recommended that Eastern train its flight engineers to qualify for a commercial pilot’s certificate. Despite the board’s report in the Eastern dispute, American Airlines decided to give the third seat on the Boeing 707 to mechanic-trained flight engineers. Reacting to that decision, American’s pilots walked off the job on December 19. After 23 days, the strike ended when American agreed to add a third pilot (a fourth crew member) to the 707 cockpit. Other airlines that traditionally employed mechanic-trained flight engineers (Pan Am, Western, Eastern, and TWA) signed similar labor agreements with the Air Line Pilots Association requiring them to employ a fourth person in the jet cockpit. (See July 21, 1958 and June 7, 1960.)
19630721: FAA commissioned a new building for the New York air route traffic control center at Islip, N.Y. This new building brought into service the first real-time solid-state computer to be used by the FAA in air traffic control. Formal dedication ceremonies took place September 7-8, 1963. The New York center’s old building, in use since 1956, had been located at New York International Airport (Idlewild).
19640721: Pan American World Airways announced that inertial navigation systems would be installed on most of its jet aircraft. (See September 7, 1961, and December 15, 1969.) An inertial navigation system, being independent of external referents, permitted increased accuracy in navigation over oceans and other expanses where surface navigation aids were not available and where the conventional magnetic compass was unreliable (as in transpolar flight).
19670721: FAA established the Office of Noise Abatement, a measure of the importance the agency attached to the problem of aircraft-engine noise. Hitherto, the agency’s noise-abatement program had been under the direction of a small noise abatement staff. (See April 8, 1966, and November 27, 1968.)
19670721: FAA retitled the Associate Administrator for Programs the Associate Administrator for Operations. (See June 12, 1963.)
19680721: President Johnson signed Public Law 90-411, which amended the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 to require aircraft noise abatement regulation. The act vested in the FAA Administrator the power, after consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, to: prescribe and amend standards for the measurement of aircraft-engine noise and sonic boom; prescribe noise standards as criteria for aircraft certification; require the retrofit of existing aircraft with quieter engines or noise-abating devices; enforce operating procedures that reduce noise; and ban overland supersonic flights of civil aircraft. (See December 1, 1969, and October 27, 1972.)
19690721: The pilots of Piedmont Airlines went on strike when the company moved to reduce its Boeing 737 cockpit crew to two men. On August 14, 1969, Piedmont secured a Federal injunction ordering its pilots back to work. The dispute raged for months, but was eventually resolved when the pilots accepted a two-man crew complement in exchange for higher pay. The Air Line Pilots Association refused to sign the agreement, although it took no action against Piedmont pilots for violating its constitution (see November 20- 29, 1966). Piedmont permanently switched to two-man crews on its 737s on January 9, 1973. (See July 25, 1967 and November 23, 1971.)
19770721: FAA issued an advisory circular on ozone irritation in aircraft cabins. Beginning in the winter of 1976, persons on high-altitude flights had reported such symptoms as shortness of breath, coughing, and eye irritation. By March 1977, FAA had concluded that ozone was the probable cause. Although the main atmospheric ozone layer lies above altitudes normally used by airliners, concentrations of the gas occasionally descend lower, particularly at high latitudes and during certain seasons of the year. FAA recommended that pilots descend to lower altitudes if effects of ozone contamination were noted. If pilots experienced significant exposure to the gas, they were advised to breathe pure oxygen before landing to counteract ozone’s known effect on night vision. FAA also undertook research on more permanent ways of dealing with the problem. (See February 20, 1980.)
19860721: FAA published a rule setting stricter flammability standards for materials used in cabins of existing and future airliners with 20 or more passenger seats. The new standards required use of fire resistant and slower-burning materials for cabin sidewalls, ceilings, partitions, storage bins, galleys, and other interior structures. Establishment of such standards had been one of the recommendations of the Special Aviation Fire and Explosion Reduction (SAFER) Advisory Committee (see September 10, 1980). The necessary research had been conducted primarily at the FAA Technical Center, and further toxicity studies had been carried out at the agency’s Civil Aeromedical Institute (CAMI). The new rule was effective on August 20, 1986, but prescribed a phased compliance schedule stretching over four years.
20030721: Effective this date, FAA amended the airworthiness standards applicable to the lower deck service compartments of transport category airplanes. The change required that two-way voice communication systems between lower deck service compartments and the flightdeck remain available following loss of the normal electrical power generating system. It also clarified the requirements for seats installed in the lower deck service compartment. While adoption of the amendment would not affect then current industry design practices, it would eliminate regulatory differences between the airworthiness standards of the U.S. and requirements of the Joint Aviation Authorities.
20080721: FAA issued a final rule that specified within two years all new transport category aircraft must include technology designed to significantly reduce the risk of center fuel tank fires. In addition, passenger aircraft built after 1991 must be retrofitted with technology designed to keep center fuel tanks from catching fire. The rule did not direct the adoption of specific inerting technology, but established a performance-based set of requirements that set acceptable flammability exposure values in tanks most prone to explosion or required the installation of an ignition mitigation means in an affected fuel tank. The cost of installing the new technology would range from $92,000 to $311,000 per aircraft, depending on its size. The U.S. aircraft to be retrofitted included approximately 2,730 aircraft belonging to the A320 family of 900 airplanes, 50 A330s, 965 Boeing 737s, 60 Boeing 747s, 475 Boeing 757s, 150 Boeing 767s and 130 Boeing 777s. (See December 10, 2007.)
20220721: DOT issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to update the Disadvantaged Business Enterprise and Airport Concession program regulations. Both programs were created to prevent discrimination and alleviate the effects of previous bias toward small businesses owned and operated by disadvantaged individuals. The proposal included:
- Increasing the personal net worth (PNW) limit from $1.32 million to $1.6 million and excluding retirement assets from PNW calculations
- Formally adopting COVID-19 flexibilities such as virtual on-site visits
- Empowering certified firms to market themselves to prime contractors via expanded State directories
- Helping more small businesses participate in FAA-assisted airport projects by requiring airports to remove obstacles and adopt more race-neutral strategies
- Strengthening prompt payment monitoring and oversight requirements to help ensure that DBEs in all subcontracting tiers are promptly paid
This Day in FAA History: July 20th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19420720: Charles I. Stanton was sworn in as Administrator of Civil Aeronautics. Nominated on May 27, he had been Acting Administrator since the January 15 resignation of Brig. Gen. Donald H. Connolly (see July 11, 1940). Connolly had resigned to serve on the staff of Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Chief of the Army Air Forces. As Military Director of Civil Aviation, Connolly coordinated all civil aviation activities with the program of the Army Air Forces.
19520720: Because of a curtailment of operating funds, CAA ceased publication of its CAA Journal. (See January 15, 1940.)
19640720: To decentralize and thus speed up operational decisionmaking in airspace management, FAA transferred the responsibility for designating controlled airspace in terminal areas from Washington to the regional headquarters.
This Day in FAA History: July 19th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19300719: Incorporation action took place as a first step in the merger of Transcontinental Air Transport and Western Air Express to form Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA), which later changed its name to Trans World Airlines on May 17, 1950. Western Air Express, meanwhile, had retained its corporate identity on some routes and evolved into Western Airlines, a name it adopted in 1941.
19340719: The Bureau of Air Commerce announced the creation of a Development Section to conduct and promote work on new types of aircraft, engines, and accessories, with specialization in the development of a low-priced airplane for general public use (see November 8, 1933). The new section reported directly to the Director of Air Commerce.
19670719: A midair collision near Hendersonville, N.C., between a Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727 and a Cessna 310 killed all 82 people aboard the two aircraft.
This Day in FAA History: July 18th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19340718: The Baker Committee (see April 17, 1934), having taken the testimony of 105 witnesses, visited various aviation centers, and received 536 communications from Air Corps officers, filed its report. The Committee found that the United States surpassed other countries in “general,” commercial, and naval aviation, but that U.S. military aviation needed financial support. Practically all deficiencies in Air Corps armament, equipment, and munitions, the Committee found, were traceable to lack of funds.
Considering the aviation industry essential to national defense, the committee recommended that the Federal government refrain from competition with private industry.
This Day in FAA History: July 17th
Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19380717: Douglas Corrigan took off from Floyd Bennett Field, N.Y., on a 28-hour solo flight to Dublin, Ireland. The pilot had failed to receive clearance for a transatlantic flight, and his persistent claim that he had intended to fly to California earned him the sobriquet “Wrong Way” Corrigan.
19570717: President Eisenhower appointed Elwood R. Quesada as his Special Assistant for aviation matters and charged him with “taking the leadership in securing the implementation of the Curtis plan of action.” (See April 11, 1957.)
19630717: FAA reconstituted its International Aviation Service as the Office of International Aviation Affairs, under an Assistant Administrator for International Aviation Affairs reporting to the Administrator.