This Day in FAA History: August 4th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19650804: In a letter to Senator A. S. “Mike” Monroney (D-Okla.), FAA Administrator William F. McKee revealed an FAA decision not to incorporate emergency arresting systems for large air carrier aircraft into the National Airspace System.
19710804: Recognizing that noise was a major source of environmental pollution, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued guidelines for housing construction near high-noise areas, including airports. HUD hoped to discourage the construction of new dwelling units on sites that had, or were projected to have, an unacceptable noise exposure by withholding financial assistance for their development. For existing buildings located in a noisy environment, the Department encouraged soundproofing, provided a structure’s life was not substantially increased.
19770804: FAA Administrator Bond signed a policy paper reaffirming the age-60 rule on mandatory retirement of airline pilots (see March 15, 1960). Bond had promised to review the rule during his confirmation hearings. Citing a new study by FAA’s Office of Aviation Medicine, the policy paper concluded that medical examination could not sufficiently predict the future health and functional capacity of a pilot who reached age 60. (See December 29, 1979.)
19780804: The Department of Transportation Appropriation Act signed by President Carter on this date discontinued funding for the Air Traffic Controllers Second Career Program (see May 16, 1972). FAA Administrator Bond said later that congressional anger over recent controller slowdowns (see June 21, 1978) may have cost them their special rehabilitation program, but it had in fact been under attack for some time. Two studies–by the House Appropriations Committee staff and by the General Accounting Office–were begun in 1977 and issued to Congress in 1978. The GAO report revealed that about 50 percent of the 2,580 controllers eligible to participate in the program since 1972 either declined or withdrew from training, and only 7 percent of those who had completed training actually entered the new careers they had prepared for. The cost for each successful participant had averaged $370,000. About 1,900 former controllers had enrolled in the program, and its total cost since fiscal year 1973 had been $104 million. The House Appropriations Committee report suggested that controllers who had been incapacitated on the job should seek rehabilitation services under the auspices of the Office of Worker’s Compensation. FAA agreed that the program had not been a success and did not contest the conclusions of either report. An attempt to restore the program failed in the House of Representatives in December 1979.
19800804: FAA commissioned the first En Route Automated Radar Tracking System (EARTS) at the air route traffic control center at Anchorage, Alaska. The system was the product of contracts with Sperry Rand’s Univac Division announced by FAA in July 1974 and August 1976 (See August 10, 1976). Developed for the special needs of the widely dispersed centers at Anchorage, Honolulu, and San Juan, EARTS was simpler and less costly than the automated systems used to track en route traffic at centers within the contiguous U.S. It was essentially an expanded Automated Radar Terminal System (ARTS III) modified for en route operations by adding a plan view display component. FAA commissioned Hawaii’s EARTS in July 1982 and Puerto Rico’s in December 1982. (See March 1984.)
19990804: Due to provisions in legislation passed the previous year by the Congress, Monte Belger returned to his position as FAA associate administrator for air traffic services. The legislation, called the Vacancies Reform Act, was designed to limit the amount of time an executive in any federal agency might act in a position requiring Presidential appointment and confirmation by the Senate. The FAA Administrator had no plans to name another executive as acting deputy pending nomination by the White House of a candidate for the position. Monte Belger, however, still continued to perform significant management functions, because, under agency procedures, in the absence of a confirmed candidate, the associate administrator for air traffic services assumed the deputy administrator’s duties. The air traffic services organization continued to be managed by Steve Brown, as deputy associate administrator. (See February 1, 1997; November 8, 1999.)
20040804: FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told the carriers serving O’Hare Airport that, if a voluntary approach to reducing their schedules at O’Hare did not work, FAA would use its statutory authority to impose a solution. The agency advised that relaxing schedules would help ease the congestion and reduce delays that started at O’Hare and then rippled throughout the system. (See April 21, 2004; August 18, 2004.)
20050804: Effective this date, FAA adopted a new noise standard to ensure that the latest available noise reduction technology was incorporated into new aircraft designs for subsonic jet airplanes and subsonic transport category large airplanes. The new standard, stage 4, was to apply obligatorily to any entity submitting an application for a new airplane type design on and after January 1, 2006, and could be applied voluntarily prior to that date. This noise standard was intended to provide uniform noise standards for stage 4 airplanes being certified in the United States as well as for airplanes that met Annex 16, Chapter 4 of the noise standard published by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
20100804: Lexington Blue Grass Airport opened a new 4,000-foot runway, R 9/27. The $27 million runway would be used for crosswind operations.
20140804: DOT issued new standards to strengthen safety conditions for the shipment of lithium cells and batteries. These changes, some of which focus specifically on shipments by air, will better ensure that lithium cells and batteries are able to withstand normal transportation conditions and are packaged to reduce the possibility of damage that could lead to an unsafe situation. The rule, which became final six months after DOT issued the notice of proposed rulemaking
* Enhanced packaging and hazard communication requirements for lithium batteries transported by air.
* Replaced equivalent lithium content with watt-hours for lithium ion cells and batteries,
* Adopted separate shipping descriptions for lithium metal batteries and lithium ion batteries.
* Revised provisions for the transport of small and medium lithium cells and batteries including cells and batteries packed with, or contained in, equipment.
* Revised the requirements for the transport of lithium batteries for disposal or recycling.
* Harmonized the provisions for the transport of low production and prototype lithium cells and batteries with the ICAO technical Instructions and the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code.
* Adopted new provisions for the transport of damaged, defective, and recalled lithium batteries. (See July 25, 2013; October 8, 2015.)
20150804: FAA announced it had issued 1,008 exemptions to businesses to fly unmanned aircraft in the national airspace. The majority of the exemptions went to companies interested in aerial filming for motion picture productions, precision agriculture, and real estate photography. (See June 14, 2015; October 14, 2015.)
20200804: Virgin Galactic and its subsidiary, The Spaceship Company, introduced a new supersonic jet design concept aimed at the long-distance commercial aviation segment. In addition, the companies announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Rolls-Royce to develop and design “engine propulsion technology for high speed commercial aircraft.” According to Virgin Galactic, the FAA’s Center for Emerging Concepts and Innovation reviewed the project direction last week and authorized FAA resources to work with the company on outlining a certification framework for the design. (See March 30, 2020.)
20200804: FAA proposed an airworthiness directive that listed requirements Boeing had to meet before the 737 Max would be allowed to fly again. The changes included installing new flight control computer software; revising the existing airplane flight manual to incorporate new and revised flightcrew procedures; installing new display system software; changing the horizontal stabilizer trim wire routing installations; completing an angle of attack sensor system test; and performing an operational readiness flight. FAA gave the public 45 days to comment. (See June 29, 2020.)
20200804: FAA and the Colorado Division of Aeronautics announced the availability of 53 new weather cameras installed on the Division’s network of 13 AWOS sites. The initiative was funded by the Division with $226,000 of funds and allocated to FAA under a reimbursable agreement. Under the arrangement, the FAA and the Governor’s Office of Information Technology installed and configured four weather cameras on each of Colorado’s Mountain 13 AWOS units. These were the first weather cameras installed outside of Alaska. (See March 3, 2020; February 8, 2021.)
20230804: In connection with the official state visit between Vice President Kamala Harris and Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Mongolia Road and Transport Development Minister Byambatsogt Sandag signed the U.S.- Mongolia Open Skies Agreement. The agreement facilitates greater air connectivity between the United States and Mongolia and will provide the legal framework for nonstop passenger flights.