This Day in FAA History: December 21st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19551221: CAA and the Air Force announced an agreement under which CAA would for the first time use USAF Air Defense Command radar for civil air traffic control. Under the arrangement, CAA used information from the Air Defense Command radar at the Olathe, Kan., Naval Air Station to maintain approach control at nearby airports. CAA commissioned the facility for this use on January 15, 1957.
19641221: The General Dynamics F-111 fighter, the world’s first variable-wing aircraft, made its first flight.
19681221: The United States launched Apollo 8, the first manned mission to orbit the moon. (See July 20, 1969.)
19761221: FAA deemed contact lenses permissible to meet the distance visual acuity requirements for all classes of airman medical certificates, by a rule effective this date. Previous FAA regulations governing medical certification had allowed for visual correction by eye glasses only, with exceptions being made under a time-consuming waiver process. The new rule eliminated the waiver procedure. It did not affect the eye glass requirement for correcting near visual acuity.
19881221: An explosion destroyed Pan American World Airways Flight 103 near Lockerbie, Scotland, killing all 259 persons aboard and 11 on the ground (see November 18, 1988). The Boeing 747 had been bound for New York Kennedy from London Heathrow. Investigators later discovered that the tragedy was the result of a bomb concealed inside a radio-cassette player that had been loaded into a forward luggage compartment in Frankfurt (see November 14, 1991). FAA quickly began an inspection of Pan American’s security procedures at Heathrow and Frankfurt airports, and later proposed $630,000 in civil penalties against the airline for alleged violations of security regulations.
On December 29, FAA revealed new security measures to go into effect within 48 hours for U.S. carriers at all airports in Europe and the Middle East. These included requirements that the airlines x-ray or physically search all checked baggage, conduct additional random checks of passengers and baggage, and achieve a positive match of passengers and their baggage to keep unaccompanied bags off airplanes. FAA also ordered a sixth thermal neutron analysis (TNA) device (see November 7, 1988) and accelerated the TNA delivery schedule. (See January 3, 1989.)
On December 29, Alaska Airlines became the first U.S. airline to announce, that beginning January 11, 2021, it would only transport service dogs specially trained to perform tasks for the benefit of a qualified individual with a disability.
19891221: DOT awarded AT&T a contract under the Office Automation Technology and Services (OATS) program to replace many computer brands and software packages throughout the Department with a standardized system for desktop automation. FAA, the lead agency for OATS, observed the coming of the new system with a ceremony at headquarters on February 20, 1990.
19921221: The Justice Department filed a civil antitrust suit against eight airlines, charging them with fixing prices through their computerized fare system. The suit resulted from a three year probe into ticket pricing between 1988 and 1990. All eight carriers eventually signed consent decrees, denying wrongdoing but agreeing to avoid the fare practices.
19981221: FAA Administrator Jane Garvey announced a new streamlined administrative action process that would reduce paperwork and shorten the time it took to resolve certain violations that did not pose a serious threat to aviation safety. At that time, it was taking an average of 75 days to resolve an administrative violation. Under the new program, FAA hoped to cut that delay to as little as seven days in some cases. Inspectors could use the new process to deal with alleged violations that did not require extensive investigation. (See July 15, 1999.)
19991221: Security at the nation’s airports was tightened in response to the arrest, the previous week, of a man allegedly trying to smuggle explosives into the United States. FAA announced it would make more use of devices that check airline passengers for trace amounts of explosives. Also, more bomb-sniffing dogs and uniformed police would begin patrolling airports, both inside and outside. The measures came amid concern about the possibility of acts of terrorism in the United States and abroad during the holidays. (See November 2, 1999; January 5, 2000.)
19991221: FAA made the Surface Movement Advisor (SMA) available to the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Chicago O’Hare, Newark, and Teterboro airports ten days ahead of schedule. SMA would provide aircraft arrival information to airline ramp towers and operation centers. The scope of this information included aircraft identification and position in terminal airspace, details that could be used to compute estimated time to touchdown in order to better manage gates and other ground operations. Staff at Northwest Airlines additionally estimated that the enhanced situational awareness they received through SMA allowed them to avoid three to five costly diversions per week at Detroit Metropolitan airport.
20041221: FAA released its “10-Year Strategy for the Air Traffic Controller Workforce,” a staffing plan that called for hiring 12,500 controllers over ten years to cover projected total retirement and non-retirement controller losses. The level of hiring reflected the required lead time for training and maintained the appropriate ratio between developmental and fully certified controllers. The plan also outlined the expedited training actions FAA would initiate to ensure there were enough recruits in the pipeline to replace the more than 11,000 controllers expected to leave the agency between 2005 and 2014. (See August 24, 2006.)
20081221: Scaled Composites and Virgin Galactic successfully flew the WhiteKnightTwo on its first flight from Mojave, CA. The aircraft made a 59-minute flight, taking off from Mojave and reaching a maximum altitude of 16,000 feet. The twin-boomed aircraft, powered by four Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A turbofans, had been undergoing a series of high-speed taxi and brake tests in the run-up to the first flight. (See April 6, 2007.)
20091221: The Department of Transportation announced new rules that prohibited U.S. airlines operating domestic flights from permitting an aircraft to remain on the tarmac for more than three hours without deplaning passengers, with exceptions allowed only for safety or security or if air traffic control advises the pilot in command that returning to the terminal would disrupt airport operations. U.S. carriers operating international flights departing from or arriving in the United States must specify, in advance, their own time limits for deplaning passengers, with the same exceptions applicable. Carriers were required to provide adequate food and potable drinking water for passengers within two hours of the aircraft being delayed on the tarmac and to maintain operable lavatories and, if necessary, provide medical attention. This rule was adopted in response to a series of incidents in which passengers were stranded on the ground aboard aircraft for lengthy periods and also in response to the high incidence of flight delays and other consumer problems. The rule also
* Prohibited airlines from scheduling chronically delayed flights, subjecting those who do to DOT enforcement action for unfair and deceptive practices;
* Required airlines to designate an airline employee to monitor the effects of flight delays and cancellations, respond in a timely and substantive fashion to consumer complaints and provide information to consumers on where to file complaints;
* Required airlines to display on their website flight delay information for each domestic flight they operate;
* Required airlines to adopt customer service plans and audit their own compliance with their plans; and
* Prohibited airlines from retroactively applying material changes to their contracts of carriage that could have a negative impact on consumers who already have purchased tickets. (See November 20, 2009.)
20111221: FAA issued a final rule mandating pilot flight and duty requirements. (See September 14, 2010; January 4, 2014.) Airlines had two years to comply. The rule did not apply to cargo carriers. Key components of this final rule for commercial passenger flights included
* Flight duty period. The allowable length of a flight duty period depended on when the pilot’s day began and the number of flight segments he or she was expected to fly, and ranged from 9-14 hours for single crew operations. The flight duty period began when a flightcrew member reported for duty, with the intention of conducting a flight and ended when the aircraft was parked after the last flight. It included the period of time before a flight or between flights a pilot was working without an intervening rest period. Flight duty included deadhead transportation, training in an aircraft or flight simulator, and airport standby or reserve duty if these tasks occurred before a flight or between flights without an intervening required rest period.
* Flight time limits of eight or nine hours. FAA limited flight time – when the plane was moving under its own power before, during, or after flight – to 8 or 9 hours depending on the start time of the pilot’s entire flight duty period.
* Ten-hour minimum rest period. The rule set a 10-hour minimum rest period prior to the flight duty period, a two-hour increase over the old rules. The new rule also mandated that a pilot must have an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep within the 10-hour rest period.
* New cumulative flight duty and flight time limits. The new rule addressed potential cumulative fatigue by placing weekly and 28-day limits on the amount of time a pilot could be assigned any type of flight duty. The rule also placed 28 day and annual limits on actual flight time. It also required that pilots have at least 30 consecutive hours free from duty on a weekly basis, a 25 percent increase over the old rules.
* Fitness for duty. FAA expected pilots and airlines to take joint responsibility when considering if a pilot was fit for duty, including fatigue resulting from pre-duty activities such as commuting. At the beginning of each flight segment, a pilot was required to affirmatively state his or her fitness for duty. If a pilot reported he or she was fatigued and unfit for duty, the airline had to remove that pilot from duty immediately.
* Fatigue Risk Management System. An airline could develop an alternative way of mitigating fatigue based on science and using data validated by FAA and continuously monitored.
20121221: FAA closed its center for management and executive leadership in Palm Coast, Florida. FAA’s lease for the facility, under a contract with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical Center signed in 1987, expired on August 21. FAA planned to hold management training classes at its aeronautical center in Oklahoma City until it found a new location for the training center. (See March 14, 1986.)
20151221: Southwest Airlines agreed to pay a $2.8 million civil penalty to settle a lawsuit over maintenance of dozens of its Boeing 737 aircraft. The case involved fasteners and supporting equipment that ensured that plane fuselages withstood the forces of flying at different altitudes and temperatures. Southwest could still face $5.5 million in deferred penalties if it failed to enhance oversight and control of other companies, which performed maintenance on its aircraft, to ensure they met FAA safety regulations
20201221: Under FAA Exemption No. 19685, FAA increased the time frame for a check airman to conduct a proficiency or competency check under the observation of an FAA inspector or an aircrew designated examiner from 24 to 36 months. FAA also granted a petition to extend relief on crew training deadlines for completing recurrent training and qualification requirements for ground personnel and crewmembers through March 31, 2021. The extension provided relief for requirements due in January, February, and March 2021.
20211221: FAA and TSA announced a program under which FAA will share information of passengers facing fines for unruly behavior with TSA who may remove the passenger from TSA PreCheck® screening eligibility, which is a privilege reserved for low-risk travelers. In addition to the FAA providing the TSA with information of passengers who receive proposed fines for unruly behavior, the TSA will share information to help the FAA identify and locate unruly passengers to serve them with penalty notices. (See July 13, 2021.)