This Day in FAA History: October 28th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19691028: Executive Order 11490 (“Assigning Emergency Preparedness Functions to Federal Departments and Agencies”) consolidated and superseded over 20 previous directives, including Executive Order 11003, which had dealt with FAA’s preparedness functions. (See January 9, 1961.)
19701028: The Departments of Transportation and Treasury agreed that the Bureau of Customs would recruit and train a permanent force of customs security officers who would be assigned to FAA for service as sky marshals aboard commercial passenger flights (see August 10, 1961). The first class of these officers graduated on December 23, 1970; by May 1971, they had completely replaced an interim force organized in accordance with the program announced by President Nixon on September 11, 1970 (see that date). This interim force had consisted of both military personnel and civilian agents from the Treasury Department and other agencies, including FAA.
19771028: FAA announced that Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) was operational at all 63 major U.S. airports equipped with ARTS III automated terminal radar systems. (See November 5, 1976 and September 30, 1981.)
19791028: Allegheny Airlines changed its name to USAir, reflecting the growing route system of this former local-service carrier. (See January 11, 1949.)
19911028: The Aging Aircraft Safety Act, enacted on this date, required FAA to undertake rulemaking requiring certain airworthiness reviews and inspections for airliners in service more than 15 years. The agency accordingly published such a proposal on October 5, 1993. The act also directed FAA to establish programs to insure that U.S. air carriers properly maintained their older aircraft and to encourage foreign airlines to so the same. Although the legislation did not specifically address commuter aircraft, FAA extended its aging aircraft program to that sector.
19981028: FAA recommended that pilots not take impotence drugs within six hours of flying because it could affect their ability to distinguish between the blues and greens found in cockpit instrument and runway lights.
19981028: FAA officials told a public hearing in Rockville, Maryland, that, while a federal plan to consolidate four of their region’s air traffic control facilities would lead to an overall reduction in airplane noise, it also might aggravate the problem for some local communities. Under the plan, FAA would close the separate terminal radar control (TRACON) facilities at Dulles International, Reagan National, and Baltimore-Washington International airports and Andrews Air Force Base and open an overall center in Loudoun County or Fauquier County. (See January 7, 1999.)
19991028: Building on information gathered since the in-flight explosion of TWA Flight 800 three years before, FAA proposed a mandatory design review of fuel tanks on more than 90 percent of U.S. commercial aircraft fleet. One of the largest such orders ever contemplated, the proposal covered a total of about 6,000 aircraft – applying to all commercial aircraft, whether driven by jet power or propellers, that carry 30 or more passengers. The impact of the FAA proposal, if adopted, was expected to be felt worldwide. (See March 3, 1999; February 22, 2000.)
20021028: Effective this date, FAA revised the pilot certificate requirements to require a person to carry approved photo identification when exercising the privileges of a pilot certificate. Additionally, the rule required a pilot certificate holder to present photo identification when requested by authorities including a duly-authorized representative of the FAA, NTSB, TSA, or a law enforcement agency. (See June 21, 2002; February 10, 2003.)
20101028: Law enforcement agencies discovered potential suspicious packages on two cargo planes in transit to the United States. Based on close cooperation among U.S. government agencies and with our foreign allies and partners, authorities identified and examined two suspicious packages, one in East Midlands, United Kingdom, and one in Dubai. Both of these packages originated from Yemen. At the direction of the President and Secretary Napolitano, the Transportation Security Administration and Customs and Border Protection immediately took additional measures to enhance existing protocols for screening inbound cargo, including grounding packages originating from Yemen destined for the United States and deploying a team of inspectors to assist the Government of Yemen with their cargo screening procedures.
20131028: American Airlines, US Airways, and the U.S. Justice Department said in a court filing they had agreed to use a mediator to try to settle the government’s lawsuit against the airlines’ proposed merger. If mediation failed, a trial would begin on November 25. The court filing also noted most of the discovery in the case had been completed, with the airlines producing more than 1.3 million documents and the Justice Department producing 900,000 documents. The Justice Department argued the merger would lead to higher fares, reduced competition, and a cut in services to smaller cities. American Airlines and US Airways said the merger would help them better compete with other airlines that have grown bigger through mergers of their own. Separately, the judge hearing the government’s antitrust case granted the request of four airports dominated by American and US Airways – Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Phoenix Sky Harbor International and Philadelphia International Airport – the chance to file friend-of-the-court briefs in support of the merger. (See August 13, 2013; November 12, 2013.)
20141028: An unmanned Orbital Sciences Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with cargo and supplies for the crew of the International Space Station exploded moments after liftoff at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in VA. Orbital subsequently indicated an issue in the first stage of the Antares rocket led to a loss of thrust, which led an operator to activate an onboard self-destruct system.
20151028: Delta Air Lines announced it would stop flying to Dubai, effective February 1, 2016. Delta had accused three rival airlines in the Persian Gulf of receiving $42 billion in subsidies from their government owners during the last decade. The Gulf carriers – Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar – denied getting subsidies, and argued their U.S. competitors had received unfair advantages from bankruptcy law unavailable in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. (See December 9, 2015.)
20211028: FAA launched a nationwide solicitation to find a new design for control towers that could be built and operated sustainably at regional and municipal airports. (See November 5, 1962.)