This Day in FAA History: December 31st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19261231: The first Air Commerce Regulations of the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, became effective. Promulgated under provisions of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, these regulations resulted from many conferences between the Aeronautics Branch and pilots, operators, manufacturers, the Army, the Navy, and the Post Office Department.
19301231: Airworthiness regulations for aircraft components and accessories became effective.
19301231: Calendar year, 1930: By this year, Cleveland Municipal Airport had established radio control of airport traffic. In the next five years approximately 20 cities followed Cleveland’s lead.
19321231: Calendar Year 1932: The Aeronautics Branch created the first formal system for the flight inspection of U.S. airway navigation aids by assigning six pilots to regular airway patrol duty. Operating from Airway Patrol Headquarters offices in six widely dispersed cities, the pilots were each responsible for 3,000-3,500 miles of airway. The early flight inspection fleet is believed to have included five Bellanca Pacemakers, a Curtiss-Wright Sedan-15, several Stearman C-3Bs, and three Stinson SM-8As. Beginning in 1937, the remaining five aircraft of this original fleet were replaced by Stinson SR-8B Reliants and some SR-9E Reliants. (See Calendar Year 1940.)
19361231: Calendar year, 1936: For the first time in their history, U.S. domestic airlines carried a million or more passengers (l,042,042) in scheduled air operations in a single year.
19371231: Calendar year, 1937: Reciprocal air transport service across the North Atlantic was the subject of an exchange-of-notes agreement consummated between the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, the Irish Free State, and the United States. Provision was made for the British and American air carriers to operate the service, each participating carrier to fly not more than two round trips per week. (See May 19, 1939.)
19381231: The Boeing 307 Stratoliner, the first airliner with a pressurized cabin, made its initial flight. Derived from the B-17 bomber, this long-range transport had four engines and a carrying capacity of 33 passengers. CAA type-certificated the aircraft on March 13, 1940, and on July 8, 1940, it entered scheduled service with Transcontinental and Western Air. Besides the prototype, which was lost in a crash, Boeing built only 9 Stratoliners: 5 for TWA, 3 for Pan American, and 1 for Howard Hughes.
19391231: Calendar year, 1939: Extension of airways radio facilities into Alaska got underway.
19401231: Calendar Year 1940: CAA obtained the first of 15 Cessna T-50 Bobcats, which became the agency’s primary flight inspection aircraft during World War II. The T-50s were retired after the war, when CAA began receiving surplus Beech 18s and DC-3s. (See Calendar Year 1932 and October 6, 1956.)
19411231: Calendar year, 1941: CAA’s first Inter-American Aviation Training Program began as part of the national defense effort. By the end of the fourth program, completed after the close of hostilities, 894 Latin Americans had received training in aeronautical sciences, including 365 pilots, 386 mechanics, and 99 airways technicians. (See July 16, 1947.)
19411231: Calendar Year, 1941: Oscar Holmes, the first known African American to become a Federal air traffic controller, joined CAA.
19421231: Calendar year, 1942: At the request of the War Department, the Civil Aeronautics Administration assisted the Signal Corps in stepped-up efforts to set up worldwide airways for Air Transport Command operations. High priority was initially assigned to extending the Northeast Airway and establishing the Crimson Airway to guide the mounting flow of military aircraft to the British Isles. Before the African invasion, CAA engineers installed radio communications and air navigation facilities at nine large air bases in South America and Africa on the Southeast Airway. Radio ranges and other facilities also carried military airways services to Pacific battlefields–southwest to Australia and north from Seattle to Attu. In response to Army and Navy requests, CAA had established by the end of 1945 facilities at some 200 locations outside the United States at a total cost of $38 million, exclusive of the DLAND airport program.
19431231: Calendar Year, 1943: By the end of the year, CAA had established, as a matter of military necessity, the nucleus of a complete air traffic control system in Alaska. CAA commissioned the airport traffic control tower at Fairbanks on February 1, the air route traffic control center at Ladd Field (Fairbanks) October 14, and a similar center at Anchorage on September 15. The U.S. Weather Bureau began operations at Merrill Field, Anchorage, on February 4.
19451231: Dr. Luis W. Alvarez received the 1945 Collier Trophy for his outstanding initiative in the conception of the Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) system and his contribution to its use for the safe landing of aircraft. The Armed Forces had introduced the system during World War II. After the conflict, some urged GCA’s use by civil aviation, while CAA continued to favor the Instrument Landing System (ILS). (See May 2, 1940, March 30, 1947, and April 3, 1947.)
19451231: Calendar Year, 1945: The principle trade association of U.S. aviation manufacturers adopted the name Aircraft Industries Association of America, or AIA. (It had previously been known as the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America (ACCA), founded in December 1921. ACCA itself had been preceded by the Aircraft Manufacturers Association, founded in 1917 and later known as the Manufacturers Aircraft Association.) In 1959, AIA changed its name again to the Aerospace Industries Association of America, reflecting a membership broadened to include manufacturers of space-related products.
19471231: Calendar year, 1947: CAA commissioned the first very high frequency omnidirectional radio ranges (VORs). During 1946, the agency had applied wartime technology on an experimental basis when it converted eight radio range stations on the New York and Chicago airway to VOR omnirange stations (see May 1, 1941). As a result of those tests, CAA adopted the VHF omnirange for standard use and began general installation of the new system in 1947. (See October 15-21, 1950.)
19481231: Calendar year, 1948: CAA type-certificated the Allison model 400-C-4 jet engine this year, the first jet engine to receive CAA approval for commercial transport operations.
19491231: The Air Coordinating Committee authorized the establishment, under its Air Traffic Control and Navigation Panel, of a full-time special working group to develop a specific and detailed transitional “common system” based on the recommendations of the RTCA SC-31 report (see February 17, 1948). The group included operational and technical specialists representing both government and industry and both civil and military aviation. During the week of October 22, 1950, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the group conducted an operational demonstration of the air traffic principles recommended for use during the transitional period. Its report, Air Traffic Control and the National Security, completed in December 1950, recommended that radar be put into immediate use for monitoring and expediting air traffic control in terminal areas.
19491231: Calendar year, 1949: The Brookings Institution issued a study entitled National Transportation Policy, a study that was an outgrowth of the participation of authors Charles L. Dearing and Wilfred Owen in the activities of the Hoover Commission (see March 1, 1949). The report recommended that Congress establish four offices for the water, highway, aviation, and railroad modes and a Transport Regulatory Commission that would take over the rate setting and other economic regulatory functions of the Civil Aeronautics Board, the Maritime Commission, and the Interstate Commerce Commission. The study also recommended against an independent accident investigation board. (See October 15, 1966)
19501231: Langley Aeronautical Laboratory made a worldwide analysis of atmospheric turbulence and gusts on the basis of data obtained from NACA-developed recorders carried on commercial airliners on transpacific and South American routes.
19501231: Calendar year, 1950: CAA began the installation of mechanical interlock devices in areas with high-density traffic. Developed by CAA, the new push button system eliminated most of the verbal coordination formerly required between the air traffic control center and the airport tower in assigning flight altitudes during IFR conditions.
19511231: Calendar year, 1951: CAA placed the first nine DME (distance-measuring equipment) ground transponders in experimental operation along the Chicago-New York airway.
19511231: For the first time in U.S. history, air passenger-miles flown (10,679,281,000) exceeded passenger-miles traveled in Pullman cars (10,224,718,000)
19511231: CAA heart specialist Dr. J. E. Smith developed the ballistocardiograph, a machine that made the electrocardiograph more effective in detecting heart abnormalities.
19521231: Calendar year, 1952: CAA began its program of decommissioning the low and medium frequency four-course radio ranges, and replacing them with the very high frequency omnidirectional ranges. (See June 30, 1928, and September 5, 1974.)
19531231: Calendar year, 1953: A study made of changes in the air carrier fleet between June 1950 and June 1953 indicated that while the number of aircraft had increased by 17 percent, the available lift capacity had increased by 42 percent, representing an annual gain of a billion ton-miles.
19541231: CAA and the Air Force launched a program to accelerate the certification of Air Force air traffic controllers and promote greater standardization of air traffic control techniques for both civil and military operations. Under the plan, CAA delegated for one year to each group commander of the USAF Airways and Air Communications Service authority to administer CAA written examinations for control tower operators.
19551231: Following Senate hearings in July on a second public airport for Washington, CAA reiterated its earlier position that the Maryland site occupied by Andrews Air Force Base would be the best location, but again recommended Burke, Va., as the next best alternative. A request for $34.7 million to complete the Burke project was turned down when strong opposition to that site continued at Senate hearings in July 1956. (See September 7, 1950, & August 1957.)
19551231: The Civil Aeronautics Administration released its first five-year plan (1957-1961) for the expansion and modernization of the Federal airways system.
19551231: Calendar year, 1955: Bendix Aviation Corporation began manufacturing a transistorized automatic pilot for commercial and military sales. Prototype testing of the equipment had occurred the previous year on a B-25 flying laboratory. Automatic pilots had been installed previously in aircraft as accessory equipment, but the Bendix equipment was the first completely transistorized automatic flight control system designed for high performance aircraft.
19551231: For the first time on record, water sprayed from an airplane put out a forest fire. The plane completely supressed a blaze covering 50 acres on a steep slope near Wenatchee, Wash.
19561231: Calendar Year, 1956: The Cessna Aircraft Company introduced its Model 172, a four-seat general aviation aircraft. During the next 30 years, sales of all versions of the 172s built in the United States totaled an estimated 37,000.
19581231: The Federal Aviation Agency assumed the full scope of its statutory responsibilities. Under the provisions of the Federal Aviation Act (see August 23, 1958) the effective date of appointment of the first FAA Administrator (see November 1, 1958) determined the effective date of most of the operative provisions of the act, which were to take effect 60 days from the qualification of the first Administrator. On this date FAA superseded CAA and absorbed certain CAB personnel associated with safety rulemaking. James T. Pyle, the last CAA Administrator, became Deputy Administrator of FAA, a post he continued to hold until November 30, 1961 (see February 21, 1962).
19581231: The FAA Administrator signed an agreement with the military departments setting forth the conditions for assignment of members of the Armed Services to FAA.
19581231: Calendar year, 1958: This was the first year that the total number of transatlantic passengers traveling by air exceeded the number traveling by sea. (See Calendar Year 1966.)
19591231: FAA established the world’s first helicopter air traffic control service in the New York area to aid in an intensive government-industry test of all-weather helicopter operations.
19601231: FAA lifted the speed restriction on Lockheed Electras when modification to prevent recurrence of the nacelle-wing whirl mode phenomenon had been accomplished (see March 17, 1960). The agency informed all known operators of the Electra by telegram and published the airworthiness directive in the Federal Register on January 17, 1961.
19631231: Calendar Year, 1963: Marlon Green became the first African American to be hired as a pilot by a major U.S. passenger airline, after winning a discrimination suite against Continental Airlines. Earlier black pilots to fly for airlines had included August Martin, hired by a cargo line in 1955, and Perry Young, who joined a helicopter air carrier in 1956.
19641231: FAA and DOD established an Air Traffic Controller Training Council to develop recommendations on joint or cooperative efforts by the two agencies in the training of civilian and military air traffic controllers. A secretariat representing both agencies was located at the FAA Academy, Oklahoma City.
19641231: FAA began operating its first single-sideband (SSB) air-ground equipment at Point Barrow, Alaska, for aircraft flying the northern polar air route. Designed for remote operation, the Point Barrow transmitter beamed vital air traffic control information, weather, and other messages to pilots flying “on top of the world.”
19641231: FAA completed its codification of previous aviation regulatory issuances into a single body of rules, the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR’s). FAA had reorganized and streamlined the regulations to eliminate duplicate, obsolete, and unnecessary provisions of multiple regulatory systems inherited from the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) and the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA). The FARs consolidated and simplified the former Civil Air Regulations (CARs), Civil Aeronautics Manuals (CAMs), and Regulations of the Administrator.
19641231: The codification program had occupied several years (see August 31, 1961), and the various parts of the new FARs were published as completed. Examples were Part 135, covering air taxis and commercial operators of small aircraft, which was published on March 5 and became effective on September 7, 1964 (see that date). The last major part to be published was Part 121, which appeared on December 31, 1964. Part 121 covered domestic, flag, and supplemental air carriers and commercial operators of large aircraft over 12,500 lb.
19651231: Effective this date, FAA required scheduled helicopter air carriers to assign individual emergency evacuation duties to their crewmembers. The new regulations also included rules on drinking on helicopter airlines similar to those already in effect for fixed-wing airlines: passengers were prohibited from drinking alcoholic beverages unless served by the carrier, and carriers were prohibited from allowing persons who appeared intoxicated to board flights or to be served alchoholic beverages on board.
19651231: FAA published three studies concerning human circadian rhythms (biological rhythms with a period of about 24 hours, linked to mental and physical efficiency). The studies were based primarily on biomedical assessments of human subjects aboard a series of intercontinental flights. The subjects selected had daily work and sleep habits representative of the adult male population. The flights traveled across multiple time zones from east to west and from west to east, as well as from north to south within the same time zone. Subjects on all the flights displayed subjective fatigue. Those traveling east-west or west-east experienced shifts of circadian periodicity that required various periods for readjustment. The east-west travelers displayed a significant impairment of psychological performance not shown by those on the other flights.
19651231: Calendar year, 1965: Forty-two million people, or 38 percent of the adult population of the United States, had flown in a commercial aircraft, according to a survey made during 1965 by the Gallup Organization for Trans World Airlines. In 1962, a similar TWA-sponsored survey had shown that 33 percent of the adult population had flown in a commercial aircraft. (See June 1970.)
19661231: FAA declared the Boeing Company and the General Electric Company winners of the supersonic transport (SST) development program competitive design and study phase (Phase IIC). The agency selected Boeing’s variable-sweep-wing airframe design over the Lockheed Corporation’s double-delta-wing design and General Electric’s after-burning turbojet engine over the Pratt & Whitney ductburning turbofan engine. The selections were based on an intensive two-month evaluation conducted by a 240-person team of aeronautical experts from the Defense Department, NASA, CAB, and FAA. In addition, 10 U.S. and foreign airlines independently evaluated the proposals and submitted individual recommendations. (See July 1, 1965, and February 6, 1967.)
19661231: Calendar year, 1966: In crossing the North Atlantic, 89 percent of the year’s travelers went by air and 11 percent by sea. Total passengers were estimated to be 5,322,000, of which 4,720,000 flew and 602,000 sailed. (See Calendar year 1958 and May 8, 1967.)
19681231: The Soviet Union’s Tupolev TU-144 prototype became the world’s first supersonic transport to make its maiden flight. (See entry for December 11, 1967.)
19681231: Calendar year, 1968: The air taxi business was the fastest growing component of general aviation thus far during the 1960s. As of November 1, 1968, scheduled air-taxi operators in the United States numbered 240, with 1,272 aircraft in use. Less than five years earlier, on January 1, 1964, there had been only 12 scheduled air-taxi operators, with 72 aircraft in use. The main demand for this “third level” of service had come from people desiring air transportation from outlying points not served by local-service or trunk airlines. Another important part of the growth was in air-taxi carriage of the U.S. mail. (See September 7, 1964, February 1968, and July 1, 1969.)
Also during this year, FAA-approved courses in air traffic management were offered as part of the regular 1968-69 curriculum by a number of junior colleges participating in an FAA-organized cooperative aviation education program designed to help meet the critical need for air traffic control personnel. Under the program, FAA tested applicant students for suitability for ATC work. Those enrolled served tours of duty at FAA installations while pursuing their college work. During their first semester of ATC course work, these students were employed as GS-3 flight data aids; they were to become eligible for promotion for GS-4 during their second semester. (See June 29, 1948, and October 1968.)
19691231: The Air Traffic Control Advisory Committee (see July 17, 1968) submitted its report to the Secretary of Transportation. The committee saw a continued rise in the demand for air traffic control services during the decades ahead, and stated that if FAA expected to accommodate the anticipated growth in aviation traffic, three critical problems required solutions: the shortage of terminal capacity; the need for new means of assuring separation; and the limited capacity and increasing cost of air traffic control. The committee believed that major improvements in airport capacity could be achieved through the use of parallel runways, high speed turnoffs, advanced terminal automation, and reduced longitudinal separation between aircraft on final approach for landing. For the safe separation of aircraft, the report recommended further efforts to upgrade radar beacon transponders for tracking aircraft on radar. The committee believed that the midair collision problem could be overcome in airspace under radar surveillance by automating and making more precise the air traffic control advisory service. The report also noted that a higher level of automation would enable the system to handle perhaps two or three times the 1969 traffic with the same controller work force. This higher automation might be achieved by expanding NAS En Route Stage A and ARTS III version of the Automated Radar Terminal System to include spacing, sequencing, and conflict prediction/resolution, and by adding data link. The committee’s report, which was made public in May 1970, also recommended rapid development of the Microwave Landing System (see June 19, 1970).
19691231: Eastern Air Lines put into operation at its terminal at Kennedy International Airport the first computerized system for issuing seat assignments and boarding passes to airline passengers as they checked in at the airport.
19691231: Calendar year, 1969: Worldwide concern focused on hijacking as the number of aircraft involved in such incidents during the year totaled 87, as compared to 37 for 1968. The number of U.S. aircraft involved was 40, as compared to 47 foreign aircraft. (In 1968, 22 out of a total of 35 incidents involved U.S. aircraft.)
Cuba remained the most popular destination for hijackers during 1969: 31 U.S. and 25 foreign air carrier aircraft, as well as one foreign general aviation aircraft, were forced to land there. But the year also saw a break in the diversion-to-Cuba pattern when 11 foreign and 2 U.S. air carrier aircraft were forced to land in other countries. (See August 29 and October 31, 1969.) For U.S. aircraft, the only previous hijacking completed to a destination other than Cuba had been an August 31, 1965, incident in which an airliner was forced to return to Honolulu shortly after takeoff.
19691231: 1960s: The number of U.S. civil aircraft possessing current airworthiness certificates increased 89 percent during the decade, from 70,747 on December 31, 1959, to 133,814 on December 31, 1969. The general aviation fleet increased 90 percent (from 68,727 to 130,806), while air carrier aircraft increased 49 percent (from 2,020 to 3,008).
19701231: FAA established a Defense Readiness Staff in the Office of the Associate Administrator for Operations; at the same time, it abolished the Defense Coordination Staff. The new staff directed its efforts to maintaining FAA’s defense readiness and operational contingency plans, its post-attack and follow-on readiness plans, and liaison between FAA and other civil and military agencies regarding defense readiness. With the change in the organization of FAA’s emergency readiness activity, the Associate Administrator for Plans assumed responsibility for coordinating defense matters with the Department of Defense and for monitoring significant DOD-FAA programs and plans. Subsequent changes regarding these responsibilities included the assignment of the emergency operations function to the Office of the Deputy Administrator on August 8, 1984.
19701231: Public Law 91-604, the Clean Air Amendments of 1970, gave the recently created Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the responsibility to promulgate aircraft engine emission standards in order to control air pollution. Under the legislation, FAA would implement and enforce the standards if it deemed them to be technologically feasible and economically practicable. (See January 20, 1970, and July 6, 1973.)
19701231: The end of this day marked a calendar year in which there were no passenger or air crew fatalities in U.S. scheduled domestic airline service, the first such Jan-December period in Federal records. One person, however, was killed in a propeller accident on the ground, and two passengers died in scheduled international service. Certificated route air carriers in scheduled domestic and international passenger service recorded an unprecedented passenger fatality rate per l00 million passenger-miles flown of 0.00l. (See August 31, 1940, and December 31, 1980.)
19711231: FAA terminated its four-year-old policy of granting immunity from enforcement action to airmen reporting near midair collisions. FAA had adopted this policy on January 1, 1968, to encourage full reporting of near midair collisions, and thus gather adequate data for developing midair collision prevention programs. In 1969, FAA published a midair collision report based on data collected during 1968; data collected in subsequent years substantiated the findings of the 1969 report. FAA saw no need, therefore, to continue its immunity policy. (See July 15, 1969, and April 8, 1975.)
19721231: The crash of a DC-7 on takeoff from San Juan, Puerto Rico, killed baseball star Roberto Clemente and four other persons on a relief mission to Nicaragua. Relatives and representatives of passengers killed sued the Federal government, alleging that FAA employees negligently failed to warn that the aircraft was overweight and lacked proper flight crew. The plaintiffs cited an order by the director of FAA’s southern region concerning inspection of large turbine-powered aircraft. A U.S. district court found the government liable. On December 16, 1977, however, an appeals court reversed the decision, ruling that the regional director’s order did not give rise to legal obligation sufficient to support the plaintiff’s claim. While recognizing FAA’s safety mission, the court ruled that Congress could not have intended to authorize such FAA officials to create a legal duty of care between the Federal government and a particular class of passengers. The Court drew a distinction between an aircraft inspector and an air traffic controller, who “owes a duty to those dependent on the quality of his performance.”
19731231: Calendar year, 1973: Not a single airliner was hijacked in the U.S. in 1973, a record traceable at least in part to the stringent airport security measures implemented early in the year. (See December 5, 1972.)
19741231: Calendar year, 1974: FAA launched a program aimed at the renegotiation of bilateral airworthiness agreements with major aeronautical manufacturing countries. Previous U.S. bilateral agreements did not cover the export or import of all aviation products–engines, appliances, propellers, and other components. Since export sales frequently depended on foreign countries producing selected aircraft components, the lack of such agreements tended to inhibit the sale of U.S. aircraft abroad. (See January 26, 1972.)
19781231: Calendar year, 1978: Aircraft of U.S. registry experienced eight hijacking attempts during 1978–the highest level since the screening of passengers and carry-on luggage was instituted in early 1973. None of the hijackers, however, had been able to slip firearms or explosives through airport screening points. Their claims to have a gun or bomb in their possession proved to be false in every case. The eight hijacking attempts were the most since 1972, when 27 attempts were made, eight of them successful. In the six years since beginning mandatory screening, hijackers had attempted to commandeer U.S. airlines on 25 separate occasions. None involved the smuggling of weapons through a screening point, and only one was successful.
19791231: At Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, FAA installed the first operational ARTS IIIA automated radar terminal system, one of 29 produced under a contract announced on August 10, 1976 (see that date and March 1978). This initial group of ARTS IIIA systems at first used the same A1.01 software package employed at ARTS III facilities, pending completion of computer programs able to realize the full potential of the new equipment. While this software development continued, FAA in November 1980 awarded a contract to upgrade the other 34 operational ARTS III units to the IIIA hardware level. In October 1982, Seattle-Tacoma International Airport became the site of the first ARTS IIIA able to track aircraft not equipped with transponders, a capability made possible by the new A3.01 software (see October 1985). Since December 1978, meanwhile, Tampa International Airport had been the site of operational testing of an ARTS IIIA that used all-digital processing. FAA commissioned this unique system on September 7, 1982, but it did not become a model for use at other locations.
19801231: The end of this day marked the completion of the first calendar year without a fatal accident for major U.S. airlines (Part 121) in scheduled service, including the flag, trunk, and local service categories. The only fatal accident involving Part 121 operators engaged in any type of service was an incident in which a parachutist was struck by a military contract cargo flight. (See December 31, 1970, and December 31, 1981.)
19811231: The Federal Labor Relations Authority certified the Professional Airway Systems Specialists (PASS) as the exclusive representative of FAA’s electronics technicians. In a July election, PASS had defeated the Federal Aviation Science and Technological Association, known as FASTA (see October 5, 1976); however, PASS’s certification was delayed by objections filed by FASTA. FAA and PASS concluded a national labor agreement during fiscal 1984. (See May 1, 1991.)
19811231: Robert E. Poli resigned as president of PATCO. (See October 22, 1981, and July 2, 1982.)
19811231: The end of this day marked the completion of the second consecutive calendar year with no fatal airplane crashes by scheduled air carriers operating under Federal Aviation Regulations Part 121–an unprecedented two-year record. Despite the absence of fatal crashes, however, Part 121 operations involved four varied mishaps in and around aircraft that each claimed one life in 1981. (See December 31, 1980, and December 31, 1993.)
19831231: The General Aviation Reservation (GAR) system came to an end. FAA had imposed the GAR as part of the air traffic restrictions resulting from the air traffic controllers’ strike (see October 19, 1981). Initially, all general aviation pilots who wished to fly under Instrument Flight Rules had to obtain reservations. In June and July of 1982, FAA had lifted this requirement between airports within airspace controlled by the Seattle, Salt Lake City, and Alburquerque air route traffic control centers. Later, FAA grouped the centers into four geographic areas and allowed pilots to fly without reservation between airports in the same group. On October 1, 1983, the agency permitted unrestricted flights between the two western groups, and on October 31 the southeastern group was included with the western groups. During the final two months of 1983, the reservation system remained in effect only for pilots who wished to enter the northeastern group, which included the New York, Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, Indianapolis, and Cleveland centers.
19831231: Operational use of an IBM 4341 computer began at the Central Flow Control facility at FAA’s Washington headquarters. Physically located at the agency’s Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J., the new computer was connected by landline to terminals used by Central Flow personnel at headquarters. The IBM 4341 had 14 times more memory and was 70 percent faster than the IBM 9020A that it replaced. In addition, it allowed two-way data communication between the Flow Control facility and en route control centers (previously, this type of communication had been one-way from the en route centers). The computer was used to monitor the number of aircraft in flight, as well as their destinations and times of arrival, as part of Central Flow’s mission of keeping air traffic running smoothly. (See April 27, 1970, and May 17, 1987.)
19841231: In accordance with the Airline Deregulation Act (see October 24, 1978), the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) ceased to exist at the end of this day, having operated for 44 years and 7 months. Originally entrusted with airline economic regulation, accident investigation, and safety rulemaking, CAB lost the latter responsibility with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. The Department of Transportation Act of 1966 later deprived the Board of its accident investigation role, leaving economic regulation as its principal mission. After 1984, the Department of Transportation (DOT) assumed those CAB duties that had not been abolished by deregulation. Functions assigned to elements of the Office of the Secretary of Transportation included: international aviation responsibilities such as bilateral treaty negotiation, carrier selection, and tariff filing and review; the Essential Air Service Program, which protected service to small communities; consumer protection for airline passengers; antitrust review and immunity authority; and certification of the economic fitness of carriers. DOT’s Research and Special Projects Administration assumed responsibility for collection and dissemination of air carrier economic data.
19871231: At the end of this day, FAA completed its phased ban on all large transport and turbojet aircraft at the Phase I noise level, with the exception of non-revenue flights permitted under certain circumstances through the end of 1989. (See February 18, 1980, and November 5, 1990.)
19931231: The end of this day completed a calendar year in which major (Part 121) scheduled airlines experienced no passenger or air crew fatalities. The only fatal accident in Part 121 scheduled operations involved a ground crewmember struck by a propeller. The fatal accident rate for this segment of aviation was 0.013 per 100,000 departures, the lowest since 1980 (see December 31, 1980).
19951231: Authority to collect aviation user taxes expired at midnight. By this date, the tax levels had risen to: domestic airline passenger ticket tax; 10 percent; international departure tax, $6 per passenger; domestic air cargo tax, 6.25 percent of the freight waybill; non-commercial jet fuel, 17.5 cents per gallon; and non-commercial aviation gasoline tax, 15 cents per gallon (14 cents of which continued to be collected and depositied in the Highway Trust Fund). Loss of this revenue quickly reduced the amount of money in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Legislation enacted on August 20, 1996, temporarily reinstated these taxes, effective August 27, but they expired again at the end of CY 1996.
19991231: The U.S. air traffic control system successfully rolled over to January 1, 2000, with no disruptions to service.
20011231: The Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center began daily use of the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET). The tool enabled controllers to see traffic 20 minutes into the future and allowed them to safely assign and grant pilot requests for more direct and more fuel efficient routes. The prototypes at the Memphis and Indianapolis Air Route Traffic Control Centers had been shown to save the airlines $1.5 million per month based on an increase in direct routings of about 20 percent. (See September 30, 1999; January 26, 2002.)
20021231: FAA signed an industry-championed change, eight years in the making, adding Required Navigation Performance (RNP) instrument approach procedures to the rolls of the terminal instrument procedures document and other publications. In about one year from the nondescript event, operators would be permitted to begin flying scaled-downed versions of the futuristic RNP instrument approaches used by Alaska Airlines in remote locations. The RNP rating system defined an aircraft’s ability to know its own position in terms of nautical miles. The lower the aircraft’s RNP number, the more airspace access – particularly in new or reduced minimums approaches – would be available to it. The role of FAA in the new regime would be to set the required accuracy levels and criteria for routes or procedures, after which users could decide if the rewards of participating were worth the effort of their participation. (See October 8, 2002; July 25, 2003.)
20071231: According to a memo sent by FAA to its managers, the agency submitted its “second settlement proposal” to the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) in the last week of December. Former NATCA President John Carr reportedly sent the memo to Aviation Daily. The memo describes the offer as including several pay adjustments as well as additional projects that will further benefit the work force. A FAA spokeswoman confirmed that a new proposal was sent to NATCA. FAA said the agency had been in discussions with the union about a settlement since last spring, and the latest offer is part of this process. NATCA said FAA gave it a deadline of March 31, 2008, to accept the proposal. (See August 2007.)
20071231: In Calendar Year 2007, public agencies collected $2.8 billion in Passenger Facility Charge revenue.
20091231: FAA granted Delta Air Lines permission to integrate fully its Northwest Airlines subsidiary’s planes and flight crews into its fleet. Authority to fly under a single operating certificate allowed the airlines to use common technical manuals and organizational structure. Delta acquired Northwest for $2.8 billion in October 2008. (See October 30, 2008.)
20121231: Calendar Year 2012: According to the Netherlands-based Aviation Safety Network, 2012 was the safety year for air travel since 1945. The world’s airlines – including passenger and cargo flights – reported only 23 accidents resulting in 475 fatalities last year, compared with the 10-year average of 34 accidents and 773 fatalities per year. In the U.S., the network’s data base showed only two fatal commercial airline accidents, resulting in two deaths.
20141231: Calendar year 2014: According to Ascend, a Fligthglobal advisory service, 2014 was the best year ever for airline safety. Ascend’s director of air safety and insurance, Paul Hayes, stated the global airline fatal accident rate in 2014 was one fatal accident per 2.38 million flights. On this basis 2014 was, narrowly, the safest year ever. The figures excluded the loss of Malaysia flight MH17 on the grounds that it was shot down by a missile and was considered a war risk loss, not an accident. Although doubts exist about the status of missing Malaysia flight MH370, that incident was included in the fatal accident rate.
20201231: The Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriation Act (CRRSAA) (H.R. 133), signed into law by the President on December 27, 2020, included $2 billion in funds to be awarded as economic relief to eligible U.S. airports and eligible concessions at those airports to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency. To distribute these funds, FAA announced establishment of the Airport Coronavirus Response Grant Program. The agency plans to make grants to all eligible airports that are part of the national airport system, including all commercial service airports, all reliever airports, and some public-owned general aviation airports. Under this new grant program
* Primary commercial service airports, those with more than 10,000 annual passenger boardings, will share $1.75 billion based on the number of annual boardings, in a similar way to how they currently receive Airport Improvement Program (AIP) entitlement funds.
* Primary commercial service airports will share an additional $200 million based on the number of annual boardings, and these funds will then be available for these airports to provide relief from rent and minimum annual guarantees to on-airport car rental, on-airport parking, and in-terminal airport concessions. Airports will provide this relief to each airport concession based on its proportional share of the total annual rent and minimum annual guarantees for the airport.
* Non-primary commercial service and general aviation airports will share $45 million based on their airport categories, such as National, Regional, Local, and Basic. Of that $45 million, airports that participate in the FAA Contract Tower Program will divide $5 million equally.