This Day in FAA History: October 20th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19521020: Pan American World Airways announced its order for three British jet airliners, de Havilland Comet IIIs, to be delivered in 1956. (See October 13, 1955.)
19661020: FAA type-certificated the 206A Bell JetRanger, a five-place, rotary-wing, turbine-powered general-purpose helicopter. This highly successful helicopter had first flown on January 10, 1966.
19721020: The Federal Labor Relations Council certified PATCO as the sole bargaining unit for air traffic controllers. (See February 7, 1972, and March 17, 1973.)
19801020: Republican presidential candidate Ronald Reagan wrote to PATCO president Robert E. Poli, saying: “You can rest assured that if I am elected President, I will take whatever steps are necessary to provide our air traffic controllers with the most modern equipment available and to adjust staff levels and work days so that they are commensurate with achieving a maximum degree of public safety.” On October 23, the PATCO executive board endorsed Reagan for President. At the same time, the union charged President Carter with ignoring serious safety problems that jeopardized the nation’s air traffic control system. (See August 15, 1980, and December 15, 1980.)
19871020: Intercom announced that New England Region Director Robert Whittington had been designated Executive Director, a new position at FAA’s national headquarters. The departure of Deputy Administrator-designate Lawrence M. Hecker (see May 14, 1987) had created a void that the new position was intended to help fill. The new Executive Director, who reported to the Administrator, provided direction and guidance to the operating elements and to the regions and centers. The position was formally established by a directive issued on February 29, 1988. (See June 16, 1988.)
19891020: FAA issued a rule requiring newly built air transport aircraft to have public address systems with an independent power source to increase safety during emergency evacuation. (See July 27, 1973.)
20111020: FAA dedicated the new $72.6 million, 336-foot-tall air traffic control tower and TRACON at Memphis International Airport.
20141020: American Airlines and US Airways completed combining their cargo operations into the new American Airlines Cargo. This was the first time the operating divisions of the two carriers had become fully combined since receiving approval for their merger. The two airlines expected to receive FAA approval to combine passenger operations in 2015. (See December 9, 2013; April 8, 2015.)
20141020: FAA type certificated Embraer Executive Jets’ fly-by-wire Legacy 500.
20211020: FAA issued a safety alert to operators warning of the risk of inadvertently activating the go-around mode switch on Boeing 757s and 767s. The alert pointed out the switches’ proximity to the speed brake and flap lever could result in inadvertent activation. It also urged flight crews to adhere to established pilot monitoring and flight path management practices.