This Day in FAA History: August 5th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19570805: The Civil Aeronautics Board adopted a rule requiring an approved Flight Data Recorder (FDR) aboard air carrier and commercial airplanes of more than 12,500 pounds maximum certificated takeoff weight, with compliance by July 15, 1958. The FDRs were to be capable of recording time, air speed, altitude, vertical acceleration, and heading. In adopting the rule, CAB stated that FDRs would be invaluable in investigating accidents and such incidents as extreme vertical accelerations. (At first, the rule applied only to aircraft certificated for operations above 25,000 feet, but this limitation was dropped in an amendment issued on July 12, 1960.)
On two previous occasions, CAB had rescinded a similar rule. Effective April 1, 1941, CAB had required a simpler type of FDR on certain carriers; but on June 9, 1944, the board found that operators could not properly maintain their recorders because of wartime material shortages. On September 15, 1947, the board again adopted a rule requiring FDRs on aircraft in scheduled air transportation. Contrary to expectations, however, no recording device of proven reliability was readily available, and CAB rescinded the rule on June 30, 1948, one day before its effective date. (See August 12, 1970.)
19680805: The first STOLport (short takeoff and landing facility) for commercial aircraft in the United States opened at La Guardia Airport in New York City. The STOLport, 1,095 feet long, would be used for VFR flying only. (See June 30, 1968, September 23, 1968, and October 17, 1971.)
19740805: President Nixon signed the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1974 into law. Under its provisions, the act
* authorized the President to suspend air transportation between the United States and nations that aided terrorist groups who used the illegal seizure of aircraft as an instrument of policy.
* empowered the Secretary of Transportation, with the approval of the Secretary of State, to impose sanctions against the carriers of nations that failed to maintain minimum security standards in the transportation of persons, property, and mail, as required by the Convention on International Civil Aviation.
* required air carriers to refuse to carry persons unwilling to submit to personal search, and any article that a passenger did not allow to be inspected.
* required FAA to continue in effect passenger and baggage screening procedures (see December 5, 1972).
* allowed FAA to use, for as long as needed, Federal personnel, including FAA personnel, to supplement state, local, and private law enforcement officers in airport security programs. (In anticipation of this responsibility, FAA had established a new unit, the Civil Aviation
Security Service, out of what had been the anti-hijacking and cargo security section of the Office of Air Transportation Security: see June 11, 1974.)
The passenger screening program and other precautionary measures continued to be effective in combating the hijacking menace. For the second consecutive year (see Calendar year 1973) not one successful hijacking occurred on a scheduled U.S. air carrier aircraft.
19860805: In an example of action under the International Security Development and Cooperation Act (see entry for June 14, 1985), the Department of Transportation announced that Manila airport in the Philippines did not maintain effective security standards. Airlines were required to inform passengers buying tickets for Manila of this determination. Following an FAA team’s inspection, the Department on September 2 announced that the airport now met international security standards.
19880805: FAA created a new general aviation staff to improve liaison between the agency and private and business flyers. The new staff, which operated within the Office of Flight Standards, was later abolished on October 13, 1992, and its functions assigned to the General Aviation and Commercial Division.
19990805: An agreement by major U.S. airlines to assess the safety of their foreign partners represented a major step in a long-term trend toward exporting U.S. aviation safety standards around the globe. The assessments took place as part of a growing worldwide arrangement among airlines called “code sharing,” in which U.S. airlines shared flight numbers with foreign airlines. (See December 5-7, 1999.)
20020805: FAA announced that it was providing pilots with Internet access to runway visual range (RVR) information, an electronic means to display how far a pilot with normal vision would be able to see down the runway during an approach. Pilots and flight operations centers used RVR in deciding whether to land at an airport when visibility was poor. Previously, RVR information had been available only to selected air carriers as part of the FAA’s CDM initiative, where it was used for traffic management planning.
20040805: Runway 6L/24R opened at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
20080805: Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced plans to hold an auction for the right to operate a single roundtrip flight at Newark Liberty Airport under a five-year lease. Eos Airlines, which had two slots, had filed for bankruptcy leaving FAA with control of the slots. The winner of the auction would be able to operate at Newark daily, arriving at 5:00 to 5:30 pm every day but Monday and Saturday, when the arrival would be from 12:00 to 12:30 pm, and departing daily from 7:30 to 8:00 pm. The funds generated from the auction would be used to reduce delays and enhance capacity at New York-area airports. The terms and conditions of the lease and details of the auction process were made available on FAA’s procurement web site for public comment until August 18. After taking into consideration all comments on both the lease and the auction process, a final notice and invitation to bid would be published August 25 and the auction would take place on September 3. (See May 18, 2008; October 9, 2008.)
20200805: FAA proposed two civil penalties totaling $1.25 million against The Boeing Company for alleged violations in the program that allowed the aircraft manufacturer to perform certain functions on behalf of FAA. The agency alleged that Boeing managers exerted undue pressure or interfered with the work of FAA designees at the company’s plant in South Carolina.