This Day in FAA History: August 3rd

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19500803: Legislation enacted on this date provided criminal sanctions for knowing and willful display of false or misleading marks as to an aircraft’s nationality or registration.
19550803: President Eisenhower signed Public Law 211, making major changes in the Federal-aid airport program and removing the 1958 time limit prescribed by the original act, as amended in 1950. The changes established a four-year program which placed the total funding for fiscal 1956 at $62.5 million and provided $63 million for each of the fiscal years 1957-59. The law also made all types and sizes of airports eligible for aid, included development of airport buildings as eligible items, and provided that funds apportioned yearly to States under an area population formula would remain available for two years. (See June 30, 1954, October 18, 1955, and and January 21, 1959.)
19700803: FAA renamed its Office of Investigations and Security the Office of Air Transportation Security. At the same time, the agency established an Air Operations Security Division within the new office and gave it responsibility for dealing with hijacking security, bomb threats, aircraft and cargo security, and for developing and implementing deterrent systems for the prevention of criminal acts against air transportation. (See November 18, 1969 and June 11, 1974.)
On June 15, 1970, the Secretary of Transportation had announced that the nine-member Task Force on the Deterrence of Air Piracy would be replaced by a permanent organizational component staffed with full-time specialists to deal not only with aircraft piracy, but also with sabotage and all other air transportation security problems (see January 1969).
19810803: Nearly 12,300 members of the 15,000-member Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) went on strike, beginning at 7 a.m., EST, grounding approximately 35 percent of the nation’s 14,200 daily commercial flights. The controllers struck after the failure of eleventh hour negotiations, which began 2 p.m. Sunday, August 2, and continued, with one break, past 2 a.m. Monday, August 3. Shortly before 11 a.m. on August 3, at an impromptu news conference, President Reagan issued the strikers a firm ultimatum: return to work within 48 hours or face permanent dismissal. The government moved swiftly on three fronts — civil, criminal, and administrative — to bring the full force of the law to bear on the strikers. In a series of legal steps, Federal officials:
* Asked the Federal Labor Relations Authority (FLRA) to decertify PATCO as the bargaining agent for the 17,200 controllers and controller staff members.
* Moved to impound the union’s $3.5 million strike fund.
* Filed criminal complaints in Federal courts in eleven cities against twenty-two PATCO officials.
* Sought restraining orders against the strikers in thirty-three courts.
Even before the 7 a.m. walkout, a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia signed an order directing the controllers to return to work. Late in the evening on August 3, another judge of the same court found the union in contempt for failing to obey the first order and imposed an accelerating schedule of fines totaling $4.7 million if the controllers failed to report to work ($250,000 for Tuesday, August 4; $500,000 for Wednesday; $1 million a day for the next four days). That judge also fined PATCO President Robert Poli $1,000 a day for each day the strike continued, through Sunday, August 9. Approximately 875 controllers returned to work during the 48 hour grace period granted. After expiration of the grace period, about 11,400 controllers were dismissed. Most of those fired appealed the action, and 440 were eventually reinstated as a result of their appeals.
The strike and dismissals drastically curtailed FAA’s controller workforce. According to DOT’s FY1982 annual report, the firings reduced the number of controllers at the full performance or developmental level from about 16,375 to about 4,200. To keep the airways open, approximately 3,000 ATC supervisory personnel worked at controlling traffic. FAA assigned assistants to support the controllers, and accelerated the hiring and training of new air traffic personnel. Military controllers arrived at FAA facilities soon after the strike began, and about 800 were ultimately assigned to the agency. The combined force was sufficiently large to handle traffic without activating the National Air Traffic Control Contingency Plan, which called for FAA itself to establish rigid, severely curtailed airline schedules and to prescribe routes and altitudes.
The day the strike began, FAA adopted Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) 44, establishing provisions for implementing an interim air traffic control operations plan (see February 18, 1982). That plan allowed FAA, among others things, to limit the number of aircraft in the national airspace system. Hence, on August 5, the agency implemented a plan dubbed “Flow Control 50,” whereby air carriers were required to cancel approximately 50 percent of their scheduled peak-hour flights at 22 major airports. FAA maintained an en route horizontal spacing between aircraft under instrument flight rules of up to 30 miles. Aircraft were kept on the ground, as necessary, to maintain this spacing. FAA gave priority to medical emergency flights, Presidential flights, flights transporting critical FAA employees, and flights dictated by military necessity. General aviation flights operated under the severest restrictions. Aircraft with a gross takeoff weight of 12,500 pounds or less were prohibited from flying under instrument flight rules; moreover, aircraft flying under visual flight rules were prohibited from entering terminal control areas. Other general aviation aircraft were served, as conditions permitted, on a first-come-first-served basis. (See July 2, 1981, and September 4, 1981.)
19820803: FAA commissioned the first of a new generation of very high frequency omnidirectional radio range (VOR) navigational aids at the North Philadelphia, Pa., Airport. The new installation was the first in FAA’s program to replace VORs using vacuum tubes with more reliable solid-state equipment. (See March 17, 1982.)
19990803: The early display capability, or EDC, version of the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) entered its operational test and evaluation. The tests were scheduled to run through October 4. If STARS passed this series of tests, it would enter an initial operational capability phase at El Paso, Texas, in December 1999 and at Syracuse in January 2000. (See April 26, 1999; December 20, 1999.)
20090803: FAA announced new certification standards for transport category airplanes. Under the certification standards, new transport aircraft designs had to use one of three methods to detect icing and to activate the airframe ice protection system
* An ice detection system that automatically activated or alerted pilots to turn on the ice protection system;
* A definition of visual signs of ice buildup on a specified surface (e.g., wings) combined with an advisory system that alerted the pilots to activate the ice protection system; or
* Identification of temperature and moisture conditions conducive to airframe icing that would tip off pilots to activate the ice protection system.
The standards further required that after initial activation, the ice protection system must operate continuously, automatically turn on and off, or alert the pilots when the system should be cycled. (See April 26, 2007.)
20100803: FAA approved a NASA plan to expand the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at the Wallops Flight Facility, VA, to accommodate commercial launches. (See July 1, 2010; August 18, 2010; September 30, 2010.)
20120803: President Obama signed the Pilot’s Bill of Rights, which expanded the rights of general aviation pilots facing potential penalties from FAA. The bill required FAA to give a pilot under investigation all relevant evidence at least 30 days before a decision to proceed with an enforcement action. FAA also had to provide the pilot access to flight service and tower communications pertinent to the enforcement action.
20220803: DOT awarded $16.9 million in grants from the Small Community Air Service Development Program to help 25 communities in 20 states improve local air service needs. The grants gave financial incentives to study, conduct marking programs, and carry out studies on expansion. The money allowed communities to create new or first air services, provide support, or re-establish old services.
20220803: DOT announced a proposed rule to enhance protections for customers seeking refunds on airline tickets. The proposal was in response to the increased complaints from consumers who were refused refunds because they could not travel due to COVID issues or airlines canceling or changing flights. If passed, the rule would clearly define “significant change and cancellation” and codify failure to refund passengers as an unfair practice. Additionally, the rule would require airlines and agents to provide non-expiring vouchers or flight credits when passengers could not fly due to COVID issues.