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19270406: William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, received Pilot License No. 1, a private pilot license, from the Aeronautics Branch. MacCracken thus became the first person to obtain a pilot license from a civilian agency of the U.S. Government. (During World War I, the Joint Army and Navy Board on Aeronautic Cognizance had issued flying licenses to civilian individuals and companies. The Board acted under the authority of a Presidential proclamation, issued on February 28, 1918, which described the program as a wartime security measure; however, the proclamation remained in effect until July 31, 1919, more than eight months after the Armistice.) Before

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19880405: FAA decommissioned the last radar bright display equipment being used at a domestic air route traffic control center when it shut down the unit at the Los Angeles Center. (See April 27, 1960.) On the same day, FAA terminated the last broadband radar service, when it stopped that service at the Paso Robles, Calif., long-range radar facility. FAA had gradually replaced the broadband with the Direct Access Radar Channel (see February 2, 1981).
19910405: An Embraer 120 commuter plane crashed on approach to Brunswick/Glynco Jetport, Ga. All 23 persons aboard the Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight died in the accident, including former Sen. John G. Tower (R-Tex.). Citing several incidents, FAA during May required inspections of certain Hamilton Standard propellers used on the Embraer 120 and

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19470404: The Convention on International Civil Aviation came into force after being ratified by 26 countries. (Among these was the United States, which had ratified the Convention on August 9, 1946.) The Convention had been drawn up at a conference in Chicago over two years before (see November 1-December 7, 1944). The fact that it was now in force officially created the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to succeed its temporary predecessor, PICAO (see June 6, 1945). The first General Assembly of ICAO was held in Montreal during May 6-28.
19470404: CAB certificated Piedmont Airlines as a local service carrier. The airline, whose original routes ran along the Piedmont-Appalachia area, began operations on February 20, 1948. Piedmont expanded steadily during the succeeding decades, then grew rapidly after

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19470403: CAA began in service testing of GCA (ground controlled approach) radar systems at Washington National and Chicago Municipal Airports. This modified radar precision landing equipment had been developed for military use, loaned to CAA by the Army Air Forces, and installed by the Airborne Instrument Laboratory of the Air Transport Association. New York’s La Guardia Airport received similar equipment later in the year. (See December 31, 1945, and April 9, 1947.)
Another operational service test, started about the same time at Washington National Airport, involved a microwave early-warning radar (MEW), one of the best long-range sets developed during the war. A joint CAA/Army Air Forces undertaking, this test aimed at developing effective means of coordinating MEW data and information from ATC flight progress boards.
19700403: Under a rule effective this date, FAA would not approve Federal-aid airport program (FAAP) projects involving the displacement and relocation of people until adequate replacement housing was provided for (by construction, if

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19590402: FAA announced the adoption of a new “mobile lounge” concept of transporting airline passengers between the terminal building and parked aircraft at Washington’s planned jet airport at Chantilly, Va. Making possible a reduction in terminal building size, the mobile lounge system was intended to eliminate finger docks, tunnels, and other devices to get passengers to their airplane. Although passengers at some European airports traveled between terminal and aircraft on buses, this was the first time that a specially designed vehicle had been proposed for this purpose. On November 27, 1961, FAA reaffirmed the concept for use at

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19460401: CAA assumed custody from the Army of the files and records relating to instrument approach procedures, and became responsible for processing and approving standardized instrument approach procedures for all civil airports under CAA’s jurisdiction. (See May 1, 1945.)
19460401: Standards for the Control of Instrument Flight Rule Traffic, a manual approved by the operations executives of the Army Air Forces, Navy, Coast Guard, and CAA, became effective. Its adoption recognized the need for common procedures in the control of civil-military air traffic.
19480401: CAA assumed administrative control of the Landing Aids Experimental Station at Arcata, Calif. The station was a joint civil-military,

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19310331: A Fokker F-10A operated by Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) crashed near Bazaar, Kans. The accident killed all eight persons aboard, including Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne. After an investigation disclosed defective wing construction, the Aeronautics Branch took the F-10A out of passenger service on May 4. Although most of the grounded planes eventually returned to service, the loss of public confidence and the costly periodic inspection required by the Aeronautics Branch led to the demise of the once popular airplane.
19460331: Agreement on certain principles governing Federal-state relationships in aviation law enforcement resulted from meetings of CAA, CAB, and Department of Justice representatives with the

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19330330: The Sikorsky S-42, a four-engine flying boat designed for Pan American Airways, made its first flight. The S-42, which entered scheduled service on August 16, 1934, weighed over 20 tons, and could carry 32 passengers and a full load for a distance of 750 miles. (See April 28, 1937.)
19470330: CAA Administrator T. P. Wright announced that he had lowered ceilings and visibility requirement for airlines using the instrument landing system, known as ILS (see May 2, 1940, and July 11, 1947). Scheduled airlines with the proper equipment and training in use of the ILS could now make straight in approaches when the ceiling

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19270329: The Aeronautics Branch issued Aircraft Type Certificate No. 1 to the Buhl Airster C-A3, a three-place open biplane. The plane had an empty weight of 1,686 pounds and its engine had a horsepower rating of 200. By the end of fiscal year 1927, the total of aircraft type certificates issued had reached nine. The rate of type certification then progressively increased. By the end of fiscal year 1928, the total had reached 47; by the end of fiscal 1929, 170; by January 15, 1930, 287.
19460329: Executive Order 9709 authorized the Department of Commerce to take over and operate the 200 air navigation facilities in 68 foreign countries installed during the war for military purposes. This

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19280328: Assistant Secretary of Commerce MacCracken called a special conference of representatives of the Army Air Corps, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, Weather Bureau, Bureau of Standards, and the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics to study the causes and prevention of ice formation on aircraft, and to discuss the possible development of an instrument to indicate when ice forms on an aircraft in flight.
19330328: The Aeronautics Branch gave permission to aircraft engine manufacturers to conduct endurance tests on their own equipment. Before this date, manufacturers seeking a type certificate for new engines had to ship them to the Bureau of Standards, in Washington, D.C., for endurance testing.
19590328: At FAA’s Aeronautical Center, Administrator Elwood R. Quesada held a meeting on rulemaking and enforcement attended by