This Day in FAA History: June 1st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19450601: Effective this date, CAA permitted the physical examination for private and student pilots to be made by any registered physician. (See February 28, 1927, and June 15, 1960.)
19450601: Ending a monopoly by Pan American Airways, CAB granted three U.S. airlines the authority to serve North Atlantic routes to Europe. The three were Pan American, Transcontinental & Western Air (TWA), and American Export Airlines. On the same day, CAB approved American Airlines’ acquisition of the control of American Export. (See June 28, 1939, and October 24, 1945.)
19480601: Delos W. Rentzel became CAA Administrator. He succeeded Theodore P. Wright (see September 23, 1944), who had submitted his resignation on January 11. Before his appointment, Rentzel had served as president of Aeronautical Radio, Inc., from 1943 to 1948, and for 12 years prior to that he had been director of communications for American Airlines. During World War II, he served as a consultant to the Secretary of War on navigational aids and to the Secretary of the Navy on Pacific routes. He was educated at Texas A. & M., where he studied electrical engineering. (See October 4, 1950.)
19480601: Limited operations began at a major new airport built on the site of Idlewild golf course at Jamaica, N.Y. Regular commercial operations started on July 1. The facility was dedicated on July 31 as New York International Airport, but was unofficially known as Idlewild. (See December 24, 1963.)
19520601: Forty-five thousand miles of very-high-frequency (omnirange) airways, referred to as “Victor” airways, were put in operation. Like the then existing 70,000 miles of Federally maintained low-frequency airways, the “Victor” routes were 10 statute miles in width. (See October 15-21, 1950 and June 29, 1961.)
19530601: Under the provisions of the Reorganization Act of 1949, President Eisenhower submitted Reorganization Plan No. 10 to the Congress. The plan provided for the separate payment of airline subsidies and fees by the Post Office Department for transportation of mail; such subsidies and fees had previously been paid as a lump sum by the Post Office. The plan went into effect October 1, 1953.
19590601: FAA commissioned the Guam air route traffic control center.
19610601: United Air Lines absorbed Capital Airlines in the biggest U.S. domestic airline merger up to that time.
19640601: La Guardia Airport opened to scheduled air carrier jet operations. Jet air carriers had begun operating at John F. Kennedy International Airport on October 4, 1958, and at Newark Airport on September 11, 1961. (See April 24, 1966.)
19640601: The French-Anglo-United States Supersonic Transport (FAUSST) group opened its first meeting. The group was established to exchange information on airworthiness and environmental matters in SST development, certification, and operation. FAA represented the United States in the group.
19670601: Two Sikorsky HH-3Es made the first helicopter non-stop transatlantic crossings, flying from New York to the Paris Air Show. Each aircraft required nine aerial refuelings during the flight. (See July 15-31, 1952.)
19690601: The shifting of the New York common IFR room from a manual radar system to a computerized alphanumeric radar system further enhanced the traffic-handling capabilities of the New York terminal area. The semiautomated system permitted an aircraft equipped with a beacon transponder to provide the terminal controller automatically with information on its identity, altitude, range, and bearing. Under the old system, the controller could obtain an aircraft’s altitude and identity only through voice contact with the aircraft’s pilot. (See July 15, 1968.)
19690601: In response to growing congestion, FAA implemented a rule placing quotas on instrument flight rule (IFR) operations at five of the nation’s busiest airports between 6 a.m. and midnight. The rule assigned the following hourly quotas: Kennedy International, 80 (70 for air carriers and supplementals; 5 for scheduled air taxis; 5 for general aviation); O’Hare, 135 (115 for air carriers and supplementals; 10 for scheduled air taxis; 10 for general aviation); La Guardia, 60 (48 for air carriers and supplementals; 6 for scheduled air taxis; 6 for general aviation); Newark, 60 (40 for air carriers and supplementals; 10 for scheduled air taxis; 10 for general aviation); Washington National, 60 (40 for air carriers and supplementals; 8 for scheduled air taxis; 12 for general aviation). The rule did not charge extra sections of scheduled air carrier flights (such as hourly shuttle flights) against the established quotas, except at Kennedy; this airport, however, was permitted 10 extra air carrier operations per hour during the peak traffic period between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m.
IFR flights were required to make advanced reservations for each operation. Pilots obtained IFR reservations by contacting the Airport Reservation Office (established May 30, 1969) in Washington, D.C., or any FAA flight service station. Aircraft under visual flight rules (VFR) made arrival reservations in the air when approximately 30 miles from their intended destination. Departure reservations for such aircraft were handled by the air traffic control facilities serving these five high density airports.
Originally implemented for a six-month period, this “High Density Rule” was subsequently extended to October 25, 1970. On that date, the hourly limitations on operations were suspended at Newark, where peak operations during fiscal 1970 had averaged 18 less than the assigned quota of 60. At the same time, the quotas were extended for another year at the other four airports. In taking this action, FAA noted that the percentage of aircraft delays at the five airports had decreased substantially since the rule was put into effect.
On August 24, 1971, FAA published an amendment extending the High Density Rule until October 25, 1972. Flight limitations remained unchanged at La Guardia and Washington National, but at O’Hare and Kennedy the quotas were now in effect only between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. The relaxation was due in part to a decline in aviation activity during a general downturn in the U.S. economy.
An amendment published on October 25, 1972, extended the High Density Rule until the same date in 1973, when another amendment was published giving it an indefinite extension. At the same time, FAA eliminated the requirement that pilots operating under visual flight rules at all five airports file a flight plan. FAA believed this requirement was no longer necessary since these airports were now operating under the terminal control area concept, which required pilots to establish radio communications with the tower and receive permission to enter the terminal airspace. (See March 23, 1978, November 3, 1980, and March 6, 1984.)
19880601: FAA opened a three-day international conference on the problems of aging airliners attended by more than 400 participants. Concerns about the continued airworthiness of the many high-service aircraft in the air carrier fleet had been heightened by a recent accident (see April 28, 1988). The gathering led to the establishment of a government-industry task force on the issue, and to FAA actions that included: increased research and development in the aging aircraft field; acquisition of expertise in nondestructive inspection techniques; consideration of new structural inspection programs for older commuter aircraft; the use of FAA teams to monitor maintenance checks on older aircraft; and rulemaking projects aimed at improving the safety of high-service airliners (see March 7, 1990). The conference became the first in a series of such meetings.
19900601: The U.S. Secretary of State and Soviet Foreign Minister signed an agreement providing for expanded air service between their two countries. The accord was one of several pacts concluded in the context of a Washington summit meeting between Presidents Bush and Gorbachev. DOT subsequently authorized several airlines to provide new service to Soviet airports. On June 17, 1991, Alaska Airlines became the first U.S. carrier to offer scheduled service from the West Coast to the Soviet Far East. (See April 29, 1986, and May 25, 1993.)
20050601: FAA proposed adding procedures for obtaining a voluntary safety approval to its commercial space transportation regulations. If the agency raised no objection to its launch vehicle, reentry vehicle, safety system, process, service, or personnel, the safety approval holder could then offer its equipment or personnel to prospective launch and reentry licensees for use within a defined and proven envelope. (See February 11, 2005; December 29, 2005.)
20100601: U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood joined federal and state officials in breaking ground for a new air traffic control tower at Palm Springs International Airport, CA. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding totaling $13.9 million would finance the construction of an approximately 150 foot-tall tower and a 7,000 square-foot base building.
20100601: Effective this date, FAA approved a certification of authorization (COA) for an unmanned aerial vehicle to patrol a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border extending from Arizona to the El Paso region of Texas. Three drones were already used along the border in Arizona. Several others were deployed for border patrols in North Dakota and Florida. Officials at Customs and Border Protection intended to deploy the unmanned vehicles along the entire U.S. border by 2015. (See September 28, 2010; June 9, 2010.)