Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19290509: An Interdepartmental Committee on Airways was established to study and pass on applications for extension of civil airways in the United States. Totaling six members, the committee consisted of three representatives each from the Post Office and Commerce Departments.
19360509: The German rigid airship Hindenburg moored at Lakehurst, N.J., after a nonstop transatlantic passage of 61 hours 38 minutes from Fiedrichshafen, Germany. The flight marked the inauguration of regularly scheduled transatlantic air service. The Hindenburg, which had first flown two months earlier, on March 4, made ten roundtrips between Germany and the United States during her 1936 season, carrying 1,021 passengers across the North Atlantic. (See May 6, 1937.)
19390509: Dale E. White and Chauncey E. Spencer took off in a Lincoln-Paige biplane from Harlem Airport in Oak Lawn, Ill., on a flight to Washington, D.C., as part of a campaign for inclusion of African Americans in aviation training programs. A number of black colleges were subsequently selected as participants in the Civilian Pilot Training Program (see June 27, 1939).
19740509: FAA signed the Memorandum of Understanding for a joint international program to test, evaluate, and demonstrate the use of aeronautical satellites to provide improved communications and air traffic services over the North Atlantic. The aeronautical satellite program, known as AEROSAT and jointly operated by the 10 countries of the European Space Research Organization (ESRO), Canada, and the United States, was intended to furnish the information upon which to base a follow-on operational system expected to be required in the mid-1980s. On August 2, representatives from Canada and ESRO signed the Memorandum. (See November 12, 1974.)
19750509: FAA announced the beginning of a new airspace program to better delineate areas of military training activities. As of July 1, when requested by the military, the FAA began establishing Military Operations Areas (MOAs) for conducting such military flight actitivities such as familiarization training, intercept practice, and air combat maneuvers. FAA Flight Service Stations in the vicinity would inform visual flight rules (VFR) pilots when a given MOA was to be used for military purposes and how to traverse or circumnavigate it safely. Properly instructed VFR aircraft operated within an active MOA without special restrictions, while instrument flight rules (IFR) aircraft were afforded appropriate separation service. By the end of fiscal 1987, 354 MOAs were in existence.
19850509: The first of four heliports selected in 1983 for development under FAA’s National Prototype Demonstration Instrument Flight Rules Heliport Program was dedicated in Indianapolis. A $2.5 million Airport Improvement Program grant had assisted the establishment of the facility.
19930509: At the airport in Orlando, Fl., FAA commissioned the first of 133 ground interrrogator systems for the Mode S radar beacon transponder (see October 5, 1984). On March 8, 1994, the agency commissioned its first monopulse beacon radar by upgrading the Mode S sensor at the same airport. While the older radar beacon system used a barrage of interrogation and required 16-20 replies to determine accurate position information, the monopulse technique obtained position information from a single transponder reply.
19960509: FAA announced its Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept, a proposed system to collect and analyze aviation safety data. The agency asked for comments from the aviation community on the development of GAIN prototypes, including the proposal that GAIN be privately owned and operated by an international consortium. In September 1996, FAA announced that Britain’s Royal Aeronautical Society had agreed to host a conference on GAIN during the following spring. On October 22-24, meanwhile, the first international GAIN workshop took place at Cambridge, Mass.
20020509: FAA announced the operational use of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) in El Paso, Texas. This upgraded version, referred to as full STARS, completely replaced the Automated Radar Terminal Systems (ARTS). Full STARS consisted of state-of-the-art displays and computers providing radar service and a backup service. The full system was being developed in phases so that the concerns of technicians and air traffic controllers could be addressed. In 1999, El Paso and Syracuse, New York, had received an early version of STARS, which had attached STARS to the ARTS processing system. (See January 12, 2000; June 12, 2002.)
20070509: FAA and NASA formalized an educational partnership aimed at developing the next generation aviation and aerospace workforce.
20130509: FAA announced it no longer planned to close 72 medium-sized air traffic control facilities overnight because of sequestration. The following day, on May 10, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the recently enacted Reducing Flight Delays Act of 2013 would allow FAA to transfer sufficient funds to end employee furloughs and keep the 149 low activity contract towers originally slated for closure in June open for the remainder of fiscal year 2013. FAA also planned to put $10 million towards reducing cuts and delays in core NextGen programs and allocated approximately $11 million to partially restore infrastructure support in the national airspace system. (See September 28, 2012; April 27, 2013; May 20, 2013; August 14, 2013; October 1, 2013.)
20140509: FAA issued a special security NOTAM advising due to terrorist activities and civil unrest in Yemen, there was a significant risk to civil flight operations in that country. FAA warned that “terrorists and insurgents in the region possess man-portable air defense systems (manpads) and indirect fire weapons, and have threatened and targeted both international civil aviation and airports in country, most notably, Sanaa International airport. U.S. operators planning to fly in the territory and airspace of Yemen at or below Fl240 had to obtain current threat information, comply with all applicable FAA regulations and directives, and provide advance notice to FAA” with specific flight details.
20160509: Robinson Helicopters announced FAA had certificated its new R44 Cadet helicopter.
20180509: Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao announced DOT had selected 10 participants for the Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program. First announced in October 2017, the initiative partnered FAA with local, state, and tribal governments, which then partnered with private sector participants to safely explore the further integration of drone operations. (See December 19, 2017; July 20, 2018.) The 10 selectees included
* Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Durant, OK
* City of San Diego, CA
* Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority, Herndon, VA
* Kansas Department of Transportation, Topeka, KS
* Lee County Mosquito Control District, Ft. Myers, FL
* Memphis-Shelby County Airport Authority, Memphis, TN
* North Carolina Department of Transportation, Raleigh, NC
* North Dakota Department of Transportation, Bismarck, ND
* City of Reno, NV
* University of Alaska-Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK
20230509: Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and Administrator Robin Carnahan of the General Services Administration led a ceremony announcing the naming of the headquarters of the Department of Transportation after the fourth Secretary of Transportation, William T. Coleman, Jr. (1975-1977) and the 14th and longest serving Secretary, Norman Y. Mineta (2001- 2006).
Categories
This Day in FAA History: May 9th
