This Day in FAA History: June 17th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19290617: Delta Air Service made its first passenger flight, with a six-passenger Travel Air, from Dallas, Tex., to Monroe, La. As it broadened its passenger operations, the company (which originated as an aerial crop dusting operation, the Huff Daland Dusters) changed its name to Delta Air Corporation and then, in 1945, to Delta Air Lines. On May 1, 1953, Chicago and Southern Airlines merged into Delta.
19470617: Pan American Airways inaugurated round-the-world scheduled passenger service, exclusive of the continental United States, as a Lockheed Constellation took off from New York and flew eastward on a route that led to San Francisco. The gap in the circle between San Francisco and New York could not be closed because of a provision in Pan Am’s certificate excluding domestic service. (See January 14, 1958.)
19520617: The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) adopted a recommendation that, pending development of a more suitable form of speech, English should be used as a universal language in aeronautical radiotelephony and should be available for communications involving international air services. This recommended practice, which became applicable on April 1, 1953, was contained in an amendment to Annex 10 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Vol. II, Section 5.2.1.1.2).
19660617: FAA consolidated the Pacific Region area offices on the Hawaiian Islands of Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Kauai, and Molokai into one area office in Honolulu. (See June 10, 1965.)
19700617: Effective this date, FAA set requirements for the use of supplemental oxygen in nonpressurized general aviation aircraft. Flight crews were required to use supplemental oxygen: on flights remaining more than 30 minutes above 12,500 feet and up to 14,000 feet; and during the entire time a flight remained above 14,000 feet. Above 15,000 feet, supplemental oxygen was to be provided for each occupant of the aircraft. Previously, only air carrier and air taxis had been covered by requirements concerning supplemental oxygen.
19810617: PATCO rejected a Reagan Administration contract proposal as inadequate and broke off informal talks with representatives of FAA. The informal talks, conducted irregularly since the break in formal talks on April 28, were held under the aegis of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service. (See June 18, 1981, and June 22, 1981.)
19910617: The Supreme Court ruled that the law establishing the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority was unconstitutional (see October 30, 1986). The Court held that the legislation violated the separation of powers by giving a congressional review board veto rights over WMAA’s decisions. New legislation enacted on December 18, 1991, removed the veto rights.
19920617: DOT Secretary Card and Russia’s Foreign Minister signed a memorandum of understanding on airspace use, air navigation, and air traffic control. Features included joint cooperation in opening shorter Far Eastern routes and FAA assistance in establishing a joint civil-military air traffic system for Russia. (See February 16, 1990, and May 25, 1993).
19960617: FAA announced that ValuJet Airlines would cease operations, as of midnight on the same day, pending safety improvements required under a consent decree (see August 29, 1996). The agency based its action on an intensified inspection of the carrier undertaken since the recent crash (see May 11, 1996). FAA stated that this heightened scrutiny had revealed serious safety deficiencies in the areas of airworthiness, maintenance, quality assurance of contractors, and engineering capability. The announcement sparked renewed criticism of DOT and FAA because it appeared to contrast with statements, made following the accident, assuring the public that the airline was safe. The next day, Secretary of Transportation Peña and Administrator Hinson described steps to improve safety oversight and address public concerns. Peña stated that he would urge Congress to make safety FAA’s single primary mission (see September 30, 1996). Hinson outlined improvements to FAA’s examination of airlines, such as ValuJet, that relied heavily on contractors for maintenance and training. He stated that Deputy Administrator Daschle would lead a review of pertinent regulatory issues (see September 16, 1996). Hinson also announced the retirement of Anthony J. Broderick, Associate Administrator for Regulation and Certification. (See July 15 and November 14, 1996.)
19980617: FAA unveiled a step in its congressionally authorized personnel reform efforts – a test of a new compensation plan for about 1,200 agency employees. The new plan replaced the traditional grade and step base pay method with a structure of pay bands whose value was determined by comparison with similar jobs in government and private industry. The program linked compensation with performance. (See April 1, 1996.)
20080617: FAA transitioned the traffic flow management system from the Department of Transportation’s John. A. Volpe National Transportation Systems Center in Cambridge, MA, to its William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, NJ. FAA dedicated the system, which predicts, detects, and handles airspace congestion problems, on August 7, 2008.
20090617: FAA published a proposal to extend an earlier order limiting operations at New York’s LaGuardia Airport to 71 scheduled operations and three unscheduled operations per hour from October 2009 to October 2010. This would allow the agency to consider options with regard to managing congestion at the airport on a longer-term basis. Options under consideration would provide a means for carriers to either commence or expand operations at the airport, thereby introducing more competition and service options to benefit the traveling public. (See May 14, 2009.)
20160617: Piper Aircraft announced that FAA had type certificated the Piper M600, a single-engine turboprop.
20220617: FAA released a statement on 5G regarding an update for C-band. The aviation and wireless industries have collaborated to protect air travel from 5g C-band interference while allowing providers to improve service around airports. FAA issued a phased approach to limit interference, ordering regional aircraft operators with susceptible radio altimeters to retrofit them with radio frequency filters before the end of the year. Filters for mainline commercial fleets will be available by July 2023. (See December 7, 2021.)