This Day in FAA History: October 27th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19691027: FAA denied PATCO’s request for formal recognition because of its participation in the recent “sickout” (see June 18-20). On October 29, however, President Nixon issued Executive Order 11491, replacing Executive Order 10988 as the basis for Federal employee-management relations. The order, which went into effect on January 1, 1970, gave the Labor Department authority to grant exclusive recognition to Federal unions. (See February 18, 1970.)
19721027: Enactment of Public Law 92-574, the Noise Control Act of 1972, defined the respective responsibilities of FAA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the control of aircraft noise. EPA’s role under the act was to recommend noise standards to FAA based on considerations of public health and welfare. FAA, in turn, considered the recommendations, and determined whether the standards proposed by EPA were consistent with safety, economically reasonable, and technologically practicable, and subsequently take appropriate action to implement and enforce them. (See July 21, 1968.)
19891027: FAA published a rule improving type certification standards for transport category rotorcraft by adding requirements for “flaw tolerance,” a design concept aimed at ensuring that failure of a part does not cause an accident, and by extending requirements for structural fatigue evaluations.
19921027: Effective this date, FAA amended its regulation on exit row seats, now redefined as “exit seats” to clarify that the rule affected only seats providing direct acces to an exit or seats in rows through which passengers must pass to use an exit. The changes included: prohibiting taxi or pushback until a crewmember has verified that no exit seat is occupied by a person unable to perform required emergency functions; and prohibiting a passenger from sitting in an exit seat if that passenger cannot read, speak, or understand the primary language of the crew. (See March 2, 1990.)
19951027: The first Alaskan “Alliance for Safety” meeting took place in Anchorage, with participants from FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the military, the aviation community, and related industries. A committee formed at this meeting developed a sample safety program for use by the state’s numerous and diverse air taxi and commuter operators. In March 1996, the program was presented at a convention of the Alaskan air carriers. Meanwhile, on November 28, 1995, NTSB issued a report on Alaskan aviation safety that contained a variety of recommendations for FAA, the National Weather Service, and state authorities. In comparing the state’s fatal accident rates in recent years with that of the rest of the nation, the report concluded that in Alaska: commuter airline fatal accident rates remained greater despite improvement; air taxi fatal accident rates had fluctuated but were generally greater; and general aviation fatal accident rates were comparable.
20051027: FAA implemented new air routes along the East Coast that cut flight delays and saved fuel. Called the Florida Airspace Optimization Plan, the new routes made significant changes to airspace controlled by air traffic control centers in Washington, Jacksonville and Miami, and various approach controls in Florida. The plan created more efficient routings from points north to Florida.
20051027: Runway 17/35 opened at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.
20091027: FAA announced revocation of the licenses of two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their destination airport on October 21, 2009, while operating Flight 188 from San Diego to Minneapolis. Air traffic controllers and airline officials repeatedly tried to reach them through radio and data contact, without success. The emergency revocations cite violations of a number of Federal Aviation Regulations. Those included failing to comply with air traffic control instructions and clearances and operating carelessly and recklessly.
20151027: Delta Air Lines notified Airlines for America, a trade group representing U.S. airlines, it planned to leave the group on April 26, 2016. Delta, which has not supported many Airlines for America decisions, said it could use the $5 million it paid in annual dues to the organization to invest in employees and products.
20161027: FAA extended the prohibition against certain flight operations in the Simferopol and Dnipropetrovsk flight information regions by all U.S. air carriers; U.S. commercial operators; persons exercising the privileges of a U.S. airman certificate, except when such persons operated a U.S.-registered aircraft for a foreign air carrier; and operators of U.S.-registered civil aircraft, except when such operators were foreign air carriers. The ban would remain in effect through October 2018. (See October 22, 2015.)
20161027: The campaign plane carrying Republican vice-presidential candidate Mike Pence skidded off the runway after landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The engineered material arresting system located at the end of the runway safely stopped the aircraft, which carried 37 passengers and crew. (See October 1, 2016.)
20171027: FAA and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced the signing of an implementing agreement under the U.S.-China Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement recognizing each other’s regulatory systems with respect to the airworthiness of aviation products and articles. The agreement allowed both FAA and the CAAC to submit applications for validation for all categories of aviation products and addresses globalization challenges such as complex business models separating design and production. (See April 6, 2004; June 3, 2020.)