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. Under the proposal, contributions would in no way affect the established places of contributing and noncontributing carriers on the reservation schedule. The money would go directly to the Boeing Company to be used in the development program in lieu of Federal funds. The airlines would recover their investment–up to a maximum of $1.5 million for each $1 million contributed–through aircraft royalty payments. Ten U.S. air carriers holding a total of 52 delivery positions agreed to put up risk capital. Details of the participation agreement could not be worked out before April, however, and this became a factor in delaying the President’s announcement of his decision to take the SST program into prototype development. (See December 31, 1966, and April 29, 1967.)
19840206: FAA conducted an intensive inspection of Continental Airlines, lasting through March 9. The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) was on strike against Continental (see September 24, 1983), and accused it of unsafe practices. The FAA report cited discrepancies but concluded that overall safety was adequate. (Two members of the inspection team later charged that higher officials had altered their report to make it more favorable to the airline; however, an FBI investigation found no basis to prosecute for impropriety.) In June 1984 congressional hearings, ALPA charged that FAA was covering up safety violations by Continental, while FAA testified that the airline was safe. (See March 18, 1985.)
19890206: Samuel K. Skinner became Secretary of Transportation, succeeding James H. Burnley with the change of administrations. A lawyer from Illinois, Skinner had been chairman of a regional transportation authority and had managed the Bush Presidential campaign in the state. He served as Secretary until becoming President Bush’s chief of staff on December 16, 1991.
19970206: Invision Technologies announced installation of the first two CTX 5000 SP explosives detection systems at Chicago O’Hare and New York Kennedy airports. (See December 23, 1996; February 12, 1997; May 6, 1997.)
19980206: President Clinton signed legislation into law renaming Washington National Airport the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
20080206: FAA announced plans to deploy new air traffic tower simulators to 19 locations around the country to help train new air traffic controllers in an interactive operational environment that provided realistic scenarios. The new simulators would be deployed over the next 18 months at the following towers: John F. Kennedy (NY); Los Angeles; Oakland (CA); Washington Reagan National; Dallas Fort-Worth; Atlanta; Denver; Philadelphia; Cincinnati; Cleveland; San Antonio; Memphis (TN); Honolulu; Orlando (FL); Charlotte (NC); Minneapolis; Boston; and Newport News (VA). FAA planned to install an additional six simulators at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City.
20140206: Aviation Partners Boeing announced it had received supplemental type certification (STC) from FAA for split scimitar winglets to be installed on Boeing 737- 800 aircraft. The company planned to develop and certify the split scimitar winglet modification for all the Boeing 737-700, -800, and -900 series aircraft, including Boeing Business Jets. On February 19, United Airlines became the first U.S. airline to use the split scimitar winglets on commercial flights. The new winglet design demonstrated significant aircraft drag reduction over the basic blended winglet, which resulted in a 2.5 percent fuel savings. On October 10, the company announced it had received FAA STC covering the installation of the new winglets on three additional configurations of the Boeing 727-800. FAA approved use of the winglets on all Boeing 737-800 and 737- 900ER aircraft.
20150206: In a letter to United Continental Holdings, Inc., FAA informed the company it would increase oversight of the airline because of concerns over recurring safety violations. United provided FAA a plan in March on how it would remedy concerns involving pilot training and scheduling.
20180206: FAA announced it had signed an enhanced Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement Implementation Procedures for Airworthiness (BASA-IPA) with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). The BASA-IPA provided for the mutual recognition of airworthiness of civil aeronautical products, and included an expanded scope of modifications and repairs allowed beyond cabin interiors. These enhancements reduced duplicate certification activities for design approvals issued to air operators and aeronautical design industries from both the U.S. and Singapore, resulting in significant time and cost savings. (See July 12, 2017.)