Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19351101: Due to increased air traffic, Bureau of Air Commerce director Eugene Vidal ordered all airway users, except airline operators, to refrain temporarily from making instrument flights within 25 miles of the center line of a radio beam or within 25 miles of an air carrier airport. (See November 12-14, 1935.)
19361101: Central Airlines and Pennsylvania Airlines merged to form Pennsylvania-Central Airlines. The company changed its name to Capital Airlines on April 21, 1948. (See June 1, 1961.)
19371101: A Department of Commerce rule went into effect that required scheduled air carriers to employ a copilot on multi-engine aircraft with retractable landing gear or wing flaps, and on single-engine aircraft incorporating both retractable landing gear and wing flaps. It also required a copilot in scheduled service during instrument flying and during flights that exceeded a certain duration. (See October 1, 1931 and July 8, 1940.)
19371101: The main part of the Civil Air Regulations (CARs), representing a thorough revision and codification of the Air Commerce Regulations, went into effect. Classification of the regulations into parts and sections numbered by an expansible decimal system began at this time.
The need for this revision and codification had become quite urgent. Since 1926, various individuals within the Aeronautics Branch, the Bureau of Air Commerce, or the Department of Commerce had issued regulations without any system for clearance through a central office. As a result, there was no convenient or standard compilation; sometimes, regulations could be found only in Departmental or Bureau correspondence. Moreover, the enforceability of most of the regulations was open to question in case of contest because most of them had been issued by persons other than the Secretary of Commerce, the official designated in the Air Commerce Act. The staff of the Bureau of Air Commerce and its predecessor, the Aeronautics Branch, were well aware of the situation but too burdened with routine duties to exert the major effort required to correct it.
Finally, through the interest of Colonel J. Monroe Johnson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce, the Bureau invited two consulting experts from Northwestern University to undertake the task of revision. Fred D. Fagg, Jr., and John H. Wigmore, Dean Emeritus of Northwestern’s School of Law, began the work in July 1936. When Fagg became Director of Air Commerce on March 1, 1937, he was replaced by Howard C. Knotts, Editor in Chief of the Journal of Air Law. (See March 22, 1927, and October 18, 1960.)
19411101: CAA began operating airport traffic control towers. (Prior to this time, towers were operated by local airport authorities, except at CAA-managed National Airport.) By November 15, the Agency controlled towers at Albuquerque, N.Mex.; Atlanta, Ga.; Charlotte, N.C.; Floyd Bennett Field, N.Y.; Orlando, Fla.; Portland, Ore.; Salt Lake City, Ut.; and Savannah, Ga. CAA was to take over control of towers at 19 additional airports in January 1942, and at 12 other fields in April 1942. The total of wartime CAA-operated towers reached a peak of 115 during fiscal year 1944. As the military need for use of civil airports began to gradually decline in 1945, the War and Navy Department funds underwriting CAA’s airport activities decreased. The Agency returned some towers to local jurisdiction, and in a few cases accepted municipal reimbursement for the service. In fiscal year 1947, Congress replaced the military support with the first of many direct appropriations for CAA airport traffic tower control. (See August 25, 1941).
19491101: An Eastern Airlines Douglas DC-4 and a Lockheed P-38 collided on final approach to Washington National Airport as the P-38 overtook the airliner. All 55 people aboard the air carrier died, a higher toll than in any previous U.S. air accident. The fatalities included Congressman George J. Bates (R-Mass.) and former Congressman Michael J. Kennedy (D-N.Y.). The P-38, a twin-engine fighter had been recently purchased for delivery to the Bolivian government. Its pilot, a Bolivian citizen on a familiarization flight, survived. CAB’s report cited the probable cause of the accident as the P-38 pilot’s execution of a straight-in final approach without proper clearance and without exercising the necessary vigilance.
Six weeks later, on December 12, Washington National was the scene of another fatal accident when a Capital Airlines DC-3 carrying 20 passengers and a crew of three stalled during approach and crashed into the Potomac River, killing the pilot, copilot, and four passengers.
19521101: The U.S. exploded the first hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok Island. On August 20, 1953, the U.S.S.R. announced it had tested an H-bomb “within the last few days.”
19551101: A bomb destroyed a United Air Lines Douglas DC-6B airliner after it took off from Denver, Colo., killing all 44 people on board. The Federal Bureau of Investigation later arrested J. G. Graham, who had taken out a large life insurance policy on his mother, a passenger on the ill-fated aircraft. Graham was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death.
19581101: Elwood R. Quesada became the first Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. The son of a Spanish businessman and an Irish-American mother, “Pete” Quesada was born in Washington, D.C., in 1904, and attended Maryland and Georgetown universities. He joined the Army in 1924, received his pilot’s wings, and returned to civilian life before reentering active duty in 1927. Quesada was a member of the flight crew of the Army C-2 Question Mark, which, under the command of Major Carl Spaatz, broke world endurance marks in January 1929 by remaining in the air for more than 150 hours. During World War II, Quesada flew many combat missions and held a series of important commands, including the 12th Fighter Command, the 9th Fighter Command, and the 9th Tactical Air Command. Units under his leadership made important contributions to the success of the Normandy invasion and other campaigns by achieving air superiority, flying interdiction missions, and providing close air support to ground troops. Quesada’s assignments after the war included: Commanding General, Tactical Air Command (1946); chairman of the Joint Technical Planning Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949); and Commanding General of Joint Task Force Three (1951). He held, with various other awards, the Distinguished Service Medal with one cluster and the Distinguished Flying Cross.
After retiring from the Air Force in 1951 with the rank of Lieutenant General, Quesada held a variety of positions in private industry before returning to government as Special Assistant to the President for aviation matters (see July 17, 1957) and later Chairman of the Airways Modernization Board (see entry for August 14, 1957). To qualify as FAA Administrator, Quesada complied with the provisions of the Federal Aviation Act by resigning his commission as a retired regular military officer. (Congress later restored his commission after he left FAA.) Sixty days after Quesada’s appointment, FAA assumed the full scope of its responsibilities (see December 31, 1958). Quesada served as Administrator for the remainder of the Eisenhower Administration, resigning effective January 20, 1961 (see that date).
19581101: Executive Order No. 10786 transferred all functions of the Airways Modernization Board to the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Agency. This action was taken in accordance with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. (See August 23, and December 31, 1958.)
19631101: At New York International Airport (Idlewild), FAA began operational tests of automatic broadcasts of routine, noncontrol terminal information using the voice channel of the navaid serving the airport. The agency later extended the new procedure to other busy terminal areas to reduce pilot-controller frequency congestion.
19651101: FAA announced that it had recovered the entire cost of developing a low-cost, lightweight transponder for general aviation use. The Wilcox Electric Company made the repayment in accordance with a special clause in the 1960 contract under which the equipment was developed. This represented perhaps the first time that a Federal civilian agency had recovered the entire cost of developing a device produced under government contract by a private manufacturer and sold to the public. The money was deposited into the U.S. Treasury’s general fund.
19741101: Tougher new rules covering the training, testing, and certification of pilots in nearly all categories except airline transport pilot went into effect. For the first time, FAA required a biennial flight review for all pilots not engaged in airline or other commercial operations for which FAA already required periodic flight checks. Other new provisions included
* Student pilots were required to show overall piloting proficiency in all flight operational areas before their instructors could find them eligible for the prescribed check flight.
* Flight instructor certificate requirements were upgraded to include a commercial pilot certificate, an instrument rating, ground instruction as well as flight instruction capability, and a class rating for instruction given in multi-engine airplanes and helicopters.
* Private pilot certificate requirements included increased emphasis on flight instruction in night and operational problem areas. The required flight time remained at 40 hours, but the mandatory hours of flight instruction from a certified flight instructor were raised from 3 to 20.
* Commercial pilot certificate applicants were required to have an instrument rating to qualify for unrestricted privileges. Flight time for a commercial license was raised from 200 to 250 hours, although 50 of these hours could be logged in a ground trainer.
Other new requirements included: more skills to be demonstrated for an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) rating; IFR checks for instrument-rated pilots with recent IFR experience lapses; and annual proficiency checks for pilots-in-command of aircraft certificated for more than one pilot.
19741101: New certification and operating standards for FAA-approved pilot schools went into effect. In an amendment to FAR Part 141, FAA upgraded standards while giving these schools increased responsibilities in pilot training and testing. Schools granted examining authority by FAA could recommend graduates for pilot certificates and ratings without those graduates having to pass FAA-administered flight or written tests. The new rules also set forth standardized curriculums for each course of approved training, thus assuring that graduates trained at different locales received the same quality of instruction.
19751101: New procedures went into effect requiring air traffic controllers to provide an extra mile of separation between small aircraft landing behind large and heavy aircraft capable of generating hazardous wake turbulence (see March 1, 1970). Reflecting the findings of two special studies, the new procedures required that small aircraft be separated by 4 miles when landing behind large aircraft and by 6 miles when landing behind heavy aircraft. The “small” aircraft category (12,500 lbs. or less) included most of the country’s air taxis and general aviation aircraft. The “large” category (12,500-300,000 lbs.) included certain business aircraft such as the Sabreliner and Jetstar, the smaller DC-8s and Boeing 707s, and the Boeing 727 and 737. (The Boeing 757 also joined the “large” category after its certification in 1982.) The “heavy” category (300,000 lbs. or more) included the C-5A, DC-10, L-1011, Boeing 747, and the larger versions of the DC-8 and 707. (See Spring 1976 and December 19, 1992.)
19791101: Midway Airlines began service from Chicago’s Midway Airport. The new airline was the first all-jet air carrier created to take advantage of the new era inaugurated by the Airline Deregulation Act (see October 24, 1978). Midway began with DC-9 flights to Cleveland, Kansas City, and Detroit, with more routes to be added later. (See November 13, 1991.)
19811101: Effective this date, Administrator Helms designated four aircraft certification directorates. The directorates assumed the certification responsibilities previously assigned to the lead and certificating regions under the lead region concept (see January 1, 1980). They also received additional responsibilities to strengthen and streamline the certification process. The directorates were managed by the directors of the following regions: Central (for aircraft under 12,500 lbs.); Northwest Mountain (for transport aircraft); Southwest (for rotorcraft); and New England (for engines and propellers). The authority of the directorates extended beyond regional boundaries. For example, aircraft certification offices in the Central, Southern, and Great Lakes regions reported directly to the Small Airplane Certification Directorate at the Central Region headquarters. FAA formally established the directorates by an order dated February 1, 1982, and on March 9 issued a news release stating that the directorate system had become operational.
19851101: FAA published a rule requiring any person flying an aircraft equipped with a radar beacon transponder to operate the transponder (including altitude reporting equipment if installed) while in controlled airspace. This requirement had previously applied to pilots in Terminal Control Areas (TCAs) and flying en route above 12,500 ft. (see June 4, 1973). FAA now extended it to those operating in airport control zones, designated Federal airways, and transition zones. The new rule involved no requirements for installation of additional equipment (see January 29, 1987).
20101101: An interim FAA requirement mandated that planes landing after Boeing’s 747-8 jumbo jet stay at least 10 miles behind went into effect. The FAA said the interim standards were based, in part, on guidance received from international regulatory organizations that studied the wake vortices of the Airbus 380-800 in 2006. After those studies, the International Civil Aviation Organization issued a 10-mile separation standard for the A380 superjumbo jet. This was later relaxed, but a separation of 6 to 8 miles was still required for the A380, depending on the size of the aircraft behind it. Prior to its Boeing 747-8 ruling, the U.S. requirement for large airplanes was just 4 miles separation from other heavy jets and up to 6 miles from light aircraft. (See August 17, 1996.)
20121101: FAA upgraded Israel to a Category 1 safety rating based on international safety standards set by ICAO. FAA downgraded Israel in 2008 to a category 2, which meant it lacked laws or regulations necessary to oversee airline safety, its civil aviation authority lacked technical expertise or trained personnel, or it was deficient in its record keeping or inspection procedures. (See August 23, 2010; September 10, 2013.)
20121101: FAA implemented new wake turbulence categories for aircraft separation standards. Under the re-categorization, aircraft models were placed in one of six categories (labeled A-F) based on considerations other than maximum gross takeoff weight, such as approach speeds, wing characteristics, and lateral control characteristics. FAA split the heavy category (including the “super” Airbus A380) into three wake categories, “A” (super); “B” (upper heavy); and “C” (lower heavy) aircraft. When a lower heavy jet followed an upper heavy jet into an airport, the separation standard remained at four miles. When an upper heavy jet followed a lower heavy jet, the separation could be reduced to three miles. The former method of wake turbulence categorization was based solely on maximum gross takeoff weight. (See November 1, 2010 and May 8, 2013.)
20121101: The Department of Transportation Inspector General (IG) issued a report detailing a range of ethical, personnel, and procurement issues at the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA). MWAA operated two-federally owned airports, Reagan National and Dulles International, and had responsibility for managing a two-phased extension of the Silver Line subway. After the IG issued an interim report in May that highlighted systematic procurement and ethical lapses at MWAA, Secretary of Transportation appointed, on July 1, a federal accountability officer to provide MWAA with advice and counsel on improved ethics, procurement, and governance policies. DOT attorney Kimberly Moore served as the accountability officer until Congress established an inspector general position for MWAA. (See June 7, 1987.)
20131101: The City of McKinney, Texas, took over operations at Collin County Regional Airport, a general aviation airport established in 1979. The change included a new city-operated fixed base operator, McKinney Air Center. On November 6, the McKinney City Council approved changing the name of the airport to McKinney National Airport.
20181101: A new airline, California Pacific, began operations with flights from Carlsbad, CA, to San Jose, CA, and Reno, NV. It expanded flights to Las Vegas, NV, and Phoenix, NV, on November 15. Its fleet included four, 50-seat Embraer SA E145 jets. FAA granted its operating certificate in May 2018.
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This Day in FAA History: November 1st
