This Day in FAA History: June 21st

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19680621: The U.S. Department of Labor ruled that FAA’s age-60 rule on airline pilot retirement represented a “bona fide occupational qualification” (BFOQ) under the provisions of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. On April 20, 1977, however, a U.S. appeals court held in the case of Houghton v. McDonnell Douglas that age did not necessarily constitute a BFOQ for test pilots. (See March 15, 1960, and January 24, 1974.)
19780621: The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) agreed to obey a Federal-court injunction and end a “work to rule” slowdown by its members that had intermittently snarled air traffic during the spring, particularly during the period May 25-26 and June 6-7 (see May 25, 1978). PATCO also agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 to the Air Transport Association for violating the permanent injunction won by the ATA in 1970 against air traffic slowdowns (see May 4, 1979).
19880621: FAA published a rule setting new requirements for aircraft to carry the Mode C transponder, an altitude-reporting radar beacon (see January 29, 1987). Effective July 1, 1989, the rule mandated Mode C carriage en route above 10,000 feet, instead of the 12,500 feet previously specified. With certain exclusions, the rule also required aircraft to carry and operate Mode C transponders within 30 miles of a primary airport in terminal control areas (TCAs). (On December 5, 1990, however, FAA suspended certain aspects of this provision, thus allowing aircraft without Mode C to have access to about 300 specified outlying airports within 30 miles of a TCA primary airport.) In addition, the rule required Mode C in Airport Radar Service Areas (ARSAs), effective December 30, 1990.
19910621: FAA issued a security regulation on foreign air carriers operating into or out of the United States, requiring such carriers to provide a level of protection similar to that of U.S. carriers serving the same airports.
19910621: FAA awarded a contract to Bendix for two Microwave Landing Systems. The contract included an option for 26 additional units, which the agency subsequently ordered. (See December 6, 1989, and June 15, 1992.)
19950621: FAA and Australia’s Qantas Airlines completed the first in a series of operational trials of a satellite-based communication, navigation, and surveillance system. Known as the Future Air Navigation System (FANS), the system was designed to improve communication between controllers and pilots on oceanic and remote flights. Other events related to oceanic aviation in 1995 included FAA’s July 26 announcement that the first component of the prototype Oceanic Data Link (ODL) system was operational at the Oakland Air Route Traffic Control Center. Single sector air-to-ground communications using ODL became operational at Oakland in October. On September 22, meanwhile, FAA announced the award of a contract to Hughes Aircraft Company to develop the Advanced Oceanic Automation System (AOAS) to upgrade and automate the agency’s oceanic air traffic control systems. (See December 14, 1989.)
19990621: Effective this date, FAA amended its commercial space transportation licensing regulations. The changes provided applicants and licensees greater specificity and clarity regarding the scope of a license, and codified and amended licensing requirements and criteria. (See April 21, 1999; November 9, 1999.)
20020621: FAA issued a notice of agency reconsideration of final rule regarding the charging of fees for providing air traffic services required by aircraft that fly in U.S.- controlled airspace but neither take off from, nor land in, the United States. Since August 1, 2000, the agency had been charging fees for these overflight services. Authorized by the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996, the fees were amended by the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, enacted on November 19, 2001. The newer legislation further required that the fees be “reasonably,” rather than directly, related to costs. The 2001 Act provided that the determination of costs by the FAA Administrator was not subject to judicial review. On May 6, 2002, FAA published a notice of inquiry in the Federal Register seeking public comment on whether, and to what (if any) extent, these statutory changes required the agency to modify its final rule on fees. (See August 20, 2001.)
20020621: Effective this date, FAA required improved flightdeck security and operational and procedures changes to prevent unauthorized access to the flightdeck on passenger-carrying aircraft and some cargo aircraft operated by foreign carriers under the provisions of part 129. This final rule applied the same flightdeck security enhancements to foreign air carriers as applied to U.S. air carriers. (See March 13, 2002; October 28, 2002.)
20100621: FAA announced the selection of Clay Foushee as director of the Office of Audit and Evaluation. FAA created the office in 2009 to ensure that safety complaints from both inside and outside the agency were handled in a fair and timely manner and that they received proper consideration. The office monitored the progress of the investigations and reported them to the FAA administrator. Foushee had wide experience in the aviation industry, having served in senior executive positions at Northwest Airlines and as chief scientific and technical advisor for human factors at the FAA. His most recent position was on the senior professional staff of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. (See September 17, 2009.)
20160621: Terrafugia announced FAA approved its 2014 petition for exemption, allowing a vehicle in the Transition® street-legal airplane configuration to be certified as a light sport aircraft (LSA) with a maximum takeoff weight of 1,800 pounds. This was a significant increase over the allowance received in 2010 which granted the Transition® a 1,430-pound weight limit, the same as currently imposed on amphibious LSA. The 1,800 pound weight allowed the Transition® to incorporate automotive occupant protection safety features, including a safety cage, energy absorbing crumple zones, and cabin features that are commonplace in today’s automobiles but unavailable in most general aviation aircraft. (See March 23, 2012; January 26, 2021.)
20170621: FAA established a new aviation rulemaking committee (ARC) to help the agency create standards for remotely identifying and tracking unmanned aircraft during operations. The rulemaking committee held its first meeting on June 21-23 in Washington, DC. The group’s membership represented a diverse variety of stakeholders, including the unmanned aircraft industry, the aviation community and industry member organizations, manufacturers, researchers, and standards groups. The rulemaking committee’s tasks included
* Identify, categorize, and recommend available and emerging technologies for the remote identification and tracking of UAS.
* Identify requirements for meeting the security and public safety needs of law enforcement, homeland defense, and national security communities for remote identification and tracking.
* Evaluate the feasibility and affordability of the available technical solutions, and determine how well they address the needs of law enforcement and air traffic control communities. (See April 27, 2017; December 19, 2017.)
20190621: FAA issued an emergency order to U.S. civil aircraft prohibiting all American aircraft operators from entering the Tehran Flight Information Region in the area above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, the region where a U.S. drone was shot down on June 20. (See September 9, 2018; August 20, 2019.)
20190621: FAA and NASA performed a crashworthiness test on a Fokker F28 aircraft at the Landing and Impact Research Facility at NASA’s Langley Research Facility in Hampton, VA. Data from the test will help researchers ascertain how portions of the cabin interior and occupants of the aircraft react in a crash. In addition, test results will support the development of a new performance based rule that will simplify the certification process by eliminating or minimizing the use of special conditions to certify aircraft.
20210621: FAA launched a new Voluntary Safety Reporting Program for those who worked in FAA’s Aviation Safety organization. The system gave employees the ability to report confidentially any safety concerns without fear of punitive action. The agency’s aviation safety workforce included about 7,400 professionals who provided oversight of airlines, manufacturers, maintenance providers, aviation medical practitioners and flight crews.
20210621: FAA and the Department of the Air Force signed an agreement for commercial activities at U.S. Space Force ranges. Under the agreement, the two agencies merged safety protocols at the ranges and eliminated duplicative processes and approvals. FAA accepted the Air Force’s safety rules as long if they met FAA regulations. The Air Force received FAA licensing decisions and did not impose its own requirements. The two agencies agreed to consult and coordinate actions before responding to requests and publishing safety materials.