This Day in FAA History: June 8th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19610608: FAA announced plans to establish an additional regional office, with headquarters in Atlanta, Ga. The new Southern Region office would have responsibility for FAA activities in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Swan Island–areas currently under the supervision of FAA Region 2 headquartered at Fort Worth, Tex. The Southern Region would be a controlled installation with minimum staffing, designed to serve as a model for reducing regional headquarters cost through prudent management. At the same time, FAA disclosed that its regions would be identified by geographical rather than numerical designations. Thus, Region 1 would become the Eastern Region; Region 2, Southwest Region; Region 3, Central Region; Region 4, Western Region; Region 5, Alaskan Region; and Region 6, Hawaiian Region (subsequently changed to Pacific Region)
19650608: Administrator Halaby dedicated the helipad atop FAA’s Headquarters building (FOB-l0A) at ceremonies attended by six former FAA/CAA administrators and William F. McKee, President Johnson’s nominee to succeed Halaby. The helipad was designed to serve Federal officials who might be called upon to make sudden trips during emergencies. The facility was not heavily used, and in 1984 was listed as closed until further notice.
19660608: A midair collision with an F-104 over Barstow, Calif., destroyed one of the two XB-70 experimental aircraft built by North American Aviation. (See September 21, 1964, and March 25, 1967.)
19710608: FAA established a Behavioral Sciences Division in the Office of Aviation Medicine. The new division, to which the agency transferred the functions of the Psychology Staff and the Psychiatric Assistant, provided advice on psychiatric and psychological matters in support of employee and occupational health programs, the air traffic control specialist health program, manpower management programs, and FAA’s effort to combat aircraft piracy and sabotage, including the selection and training of air marshals.
19710608: FAA established the quality assurance systems analysis review (QASAR) program to improve surveillance activities of the quality control systems used by aviation-product manufacturers and their parts suppliers. This program provided for a systems analysis evaluation of the aeronautical manufacturer’s total organization through in-depth and independent evaluations of the manufacturer conducted by the Flight Standards Service’s QASAR teams, and continuing evaluations by Engineering and Manufacturing District Offices as part of their day-to-day certificate management responsibilities. On October 15, 1971, FAA established an Aeronautical Quality Assurance Field Office in the regions to carry out the responsibilities of the QASAR program as well as the functional responsibilities of the Systemsworthiness Analysis Program. (See June 1966.)
19840608: Transportation Secretary Dole proposed that Washington National and Dulles International airports be transferred from the Federal government. She announced the appointment of an advisory commission to make recommendations on the establishment of a state, local, or interstate body to assume operation of the airports. On December 18, 1984, the commission recommended leasing the airports to a regional authority. On April 22, 1985, Dole submitted a bill reflecting these recommendations to Congress. (See October 30, 1986.)
19950608: FAA issued a number of safety tips on traveling with children by air and announced a coming campaign to promote use of child restraint systems, known as CRSs (see December 17, 1996). At the same time, FAA reconfirmed its decision not to require CRS use for children under 2 years of age. Such children were still allowed to fly on parent’s laps, customarily without tickets. The agency based its position on new research, released on the same day as part of a report to Congress. This research supported FAA’s view that a rule requiring CRS use would kill more children than it saved because the resulting increase in air travel costs would force many parents to choose modes of travel less safe than aviation. The agency also announced a proposal to ban certain inadequate CRS types (see September 21, 1994), an action accomplished in a final rule published on June 4, 1996.
20160608: FAA broke ground for the Northwest Mountain regional headquarters located in Des Moines, WA. FAA expected the new building to open in February 2018. (See November 23, 2015.)
20220608: FAA launched the “Be ATC” campaign to recruit the next generation of diverse air traffic controllers. The application window was from June 24-27. (See July 30, 2021.)
20220608: FAA updated guidelines on developing and establishing sound insulation programs near airports to mitigate sound exposure. The updated “Guidelines for Sound Insulation of Structure Exposed to Aircraft Noise” provided standards, procedures, and processes for creating and facilitating a sound insulation program.
20230608: President Biden designated Polly Trottenberg to serve as acting FAA administrator upon the resignation of acting administrator Billy Nolan. Katie Thomson, FAA’s chief of staff, was selected as the agency’s new deputy administrator. Keith Washington, DOT Deputy Assistant Secretary for Administration, became the agency’s acting chief of staff. DOT also announced that FAA Deputy Administrator A. Bradley Mims was moving to the Office of the Secretary to lead the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization at DOT. (See March 31, 2022.)