This Day in FAA History: October 16th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19641016: The regulation of air cushion vehicles, or hovercraft, fell within the Federal Maritime Commission’s jurisdiction — not FAA’s or CAB’s — according to a statement issued by seven Federal agencies and bureaus. (See November 1967.)
19901016: The Department of State announced that it had raised to $4 million the maximum reward for information helping to catch terrorists, due to $1 million donations from both the Air Transport Association and the Air Line Pilots Association. The rewards program had begun in 1984 with a maximum payment of $500,000, but Congress increased that limit to $2 million after the bombing of Pan American Flight 103 (see December 21, 1988).
20001016: A Cessna 335, carrying Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, his aide, and piloted by his son, crashed ten miles northwest of Hillsboro, Missouri. All three persons on the aircraft died in the crash.
20051016: FAA migrated payroll responsibilities to the Department of Interior’s Federal Personnel and Payroll System, the last of the Department of Transportation modal administrations to transition to the new service provider.
20081016: FAA awarded a three-year contract to Sensis Corp. of Syracuse, NY, to install runway status lights at 22 major U.S. airports. Runway status lights improved runway safety at busy airports by warning pilots when it was unsafe to cross or enter a runway. The initial award, valued at $131 million, included two one-year options to install the lights at additional airports, for a total contract value of $215 million. The runway status lights used the ASDE-X surveillance data to operate. As part of the initial contract, runway status lights would be deployed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport; Boston Logan International Airport; Charlotte Douglas International Airport; Chicago O’Hare International Airport; Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport; Denver International Airport; Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport; Washington Dulles International Airport; Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport; Houston Intercontinental Airport; New York John F. Kennedy International and LaGuardia Airports; Las Vegas McCarran International Airport; Los Angeles International Airport; Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport; Newark Liberty International Airport; Orlando International Airport; Philadelphia International Airport; Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport; San Diego International Airport; and Seattle Tacoma International Airport. (See February 26, 2008; July 29, 2010.)
20091016: FAA published new regulations for manufacturers of aircraft and aviation products that updated and standardized FAA requirements to better align them with the global manufacturing environment. The regulations, which would become effective on April 14, 2010, included
* Standardization of quality control system requirements for all aviation manufacturers.
* Updated export requirements to facilitate global acceptance and documentation of parts.
* Standardization of part marking and identification requirements so they aligned with other countries’ rules, and consolidation of the requirements into one regulation.
* Updated and standardized language in the regulations for production approvals, exporting, and identification marking.
20151016: FAA announced the Republic of Nicaragua complied with ICAO safety standards and was granted a Category 1 rating. With the Category 1 rating, the Republic of Nicaragua’s air carriers could secure the requisite FAA and DOT authority, establish service to the United States, and carry the code of U.S. carriers.
20151016: US Airways made its last flight prior to its merger with American Airlines. (See April 8, 2015.)
20181016: FAA announced it would provide $40.9 million to Piedmont Triad International Airport toward building a 180-foot air traffic control tower. When completed, the tower would accommodate up to eight positions for air traffic controllers in a 550-square-foot tower cab. It would replace a 90-foot-tall tower that had been in operation since 1974. A 15,650-square-foot base building would anchor the new tower, which would house the terminal radar approach control with up to 10 radar positions for air traffic controllers. The base building also would include administrative offices and a training classroom. The FAA planned to begin construction in early 2019 and commission the facility in early 2022.
20181016: Avitas Systems, a GE venture, received the first FAA approval to fly a 55-plus-pound UAS beyond the visual line of sight with no spotter for commercial purposes. Operating on Shell oil facilities in the Permian Basin in part of Loving County, Texas, the company used ground-based radar as its primary enabling technology. (See August 20, 2018; January 8, 2019.)