This Day in FAA History: July 18th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19340718: The Baker Committee (see April 17, 1934), having taken the testimony of 105 witnesses, visited various aviation centers, and received 536 communications from Air Corps officers, filed its report. The Committee found that the United States surpassed other countries in “general,” commercial, and naval aviation, but that U.S. military aviation needed financial support. Practically all deficiencies in Air Corps armament, equipment, and munitions, the Committee found, were traceable to lack of funds.
Considering the aviation industry essential to national defense, the committee recommended that the Federal government refrain from competition with private industry. It further recommended that in addition to purchase by open competitive bids, purchase by design competition and by negotiation should be lawful. Moreover, since the committee believed that commercial equipment and methods would continue to lead the way, it recommended that the Air Corps take steps to keep abreast of and adopt the latest such equipment and methods and that Army cargo and transport planes be converted or developed from commercial types. It also recommended that Army pilots be trained to use the national airways.
19470718: President Truman established a temporary Air Policy Commission, chaired by Thomas K. Fineletter of New York, to assist in formulating an integrated aviation policy. On December 27, 1947, the commission submitted its report, Survival in the Air Age, to the President. Released to the public on January 13, 1948, the report recommended immediate action to increase the military air arm and suggested major changes in the organization of civil aviation agencies. The Commission recommended the creation of a Department of Civil Aviation and a Department of Industry and Trade, both headed by Secretaries reporting directly to the Secretary of Commerce. CAA functions plus the Civil Aeronautics Board’s responsibility for safety regulations were to be vested in the new aviation department, and CAB’s responsibilities would be narrowed primarily to rate and route decisions. An Air Safety Board would be established with responsibility for accident investigations. The CAB and the Safety Board would be independent, but placed within the Civil Aviation Department for housekeeping. The report further proposed that a Government Aircraft Development Corporation be set up within the Department of Civil Aviation to encourage the development of a suitable cargo aircraft, and recommended that a decision be made as to whether military or civil air authorities should have responsibility for the future development of a common system of air navigation.
19600718: As part of its noise abatement program, FAA issued a new series of detailed takeoff and landing instructions for jet airliners. Applying to individual aircraft by type and intended for inclusion in pilot training programs, the new instructions were designed to become standard methods of operating the Boeing 707, the DC-8, the Convair 880, the Lockheed Electra, the Fairchild F-27, the Viscount, and the Napier Eland Convair. The new procedures were drawn up and voluntarily agreed upon by all elements of the aviation industry during an FAA-sponsored meeting in the spring of 1960. Further such meetings were planned for reviewing and updating the procedures. (See April 4, 1960, and January 25, 1967.)
19850718: FAA published a rule setting forth simplified flight and rest time requirements for domestic airline pilots, effective October 1, 1986. The new rule was intended to allow greater flexibility in scheduling while ensuring that pilots had adequate rest. For major airlines, the rule replaced a complex flight duty time regulation that had remained virtually unchanged for over 30 years. The new rule also covered air taxi and commuter air carrier pilots, who previously had only minimal restrictions on the number of hours they could fly. FAA drafted the rule with the aid of an advisory committee composed of representatives of the various groups interested in the outcome. The agency adopted this “Regulatory Negotiation” approach after several years of unsuccessful attempts to update and simplify flight duty time regulations.
20020718: FAA awarded the Boeing Company a $23 million contract to examine the feasibility of incorporating satellite-based communications and air traffic management systems into the national airspace system. This was the first significant FAA contract for Boeing’s new air traffic management division.
20060718: FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that secured enhanced cooperation toward building a more efficient and seamless air traffic system between Europe and the United States. The MOU focused on building administrative bridges between the United States’ NextGen and the Commission’s Single European Sky Air Traffic Management Research (SESAR) airspace modernization programs. In addition to annual meetings and regular, informal communications between FAA and the Commission, the MOU formalized pre-existing exchanges for facilitating enhanced understanding of these international programs. The memorandum acknowledged the importance of participation by both European and U.S. industry in each other’s air traffic modernization efforts. (See July 18, 2006; May 16, 2007; June 18, 2010.)
20070718: FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) signed the NATCA multi-unit agreement covering approximately 1,200 engineers and architects responsible for the planning, design, and installation of facilities, systems and equipment. Negotiations took place over the course of nine months before the agreement was overwhelmingly ratified by the union membership. This development was expected to help ensure the continuing safety of the national airspace system. (See July10, 2005.)
20080718: The engineered materials arresting system installed at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, Chicago, IL, successfully stopped a Mexicana Airlines Airbus A320 aircraft that overran the runway. (See July 17, 2006; January 19, 2010.)
20120718: DOT’s Inspector General (IG) testified before the House Subcommittee on Aviation regarding FAA’s contract tower program. Established in 1982, the program oversaw 250 contract towers providing air traffic control services to airports nationwide. The IG testified contract towers continued to provide safe air traffic services. Those towers had a lower number and rate of reported safety incidents and Agency-identified deficiencies when compared with similar FAA towers. The IG found the average contract tower cost roughly $1.5 million less to operate annually than a comparable FAA tower, largely due to lower staffing and salary levels. However, the IG noted FAA could improve its oversight of the program by implementing a voluntary safety incident reporting program at contract towers, reviewing labor hours worked to ensure contract compliance, and implementing processes to regularly evaluate contract towers as required by Congress. (See February 2, 1994.)
20160718: FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced Victoria Wassmer would serve as acting deputy administrator. Deputy Administrator Michael Whitaker had left the agency at the end of June. (See June 28m 2017.)
20230718: FAA released an implementation plan detailing the steps it and others must take to enable advanced air mobility operations in the near term. The “Innovate 28” plan included various components and the sequence needed for operations at one or more sites by 2028. (See May 4, 2023; October 25, 2023.)