This Day in FAA History: December 19th

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19281219: Harold F. Pitcairn made the first autogyro flight in the United States at Willow Grove, Pa. Designed by Spain’s Juan de la Cierva, the rotary-wing aircraft obtained its support in flight from a rotor turned by the air forces resulting from its motion. Propulsion came from a conventional engine and airscrew. On February 12, 1931, the Detroit News placed the first order for a commercial autogyro in the United States, the Pitcairn PC A-2. The Aeronautics Branch type-certificated the plane on April 2, 1931, and Pitcairn’s Autogyro Company of America built 51 autogyros in 1931.
19601219: The Martin Company delivered its last airplane, a Marlin Patrol Boat, to the Navy. Since the company’s founding by Glenn L. Martin in 1912, it had produced more than 12,000 aircraft. Since 1948, the company had also been active in the missile-space field, and it would continue in that field.
19601219: FAA Administrator Quesada announced the establishment of the Interagency Group on International Aviation (IGIA). With the Administrator as chairman, the group included one representative each from the Civil Aeronautics Board and the Departments of State, Defense, and Commerce, and one ad hoc representative each from any other agencies having a substantial concern in business before the group. The IGIA was to develop recommendations for the Secretary of State on international aviation questions involving the substantial interest of two or more agencies other than the Department of State. The work to be done by IGIA had formerly constituted part of the function of the Air Coordinating Committee. (See August 11, 1960.)
19801219: New York Air began operations, competing against Eastern Air Lines’ Washington-New York shuttle. The new, non-union regional carrier was a creation of Texas Air, a holding company created by Frank Lorenzo in 1980. Texas Air also owned Texas International Airlines, which Lorenzo had headed since 1972. (See August 6, 1981, and February 1, 1987.)
19871219: Effective this date, FAA required a positive baggage/passenger match on all international flights by U.S. airlines. FAA had placed the same requirement on selected international flights since the summer of 1985.
19971219: Top FAA and National Transportation Safety Board officials, often at odds over aviation safety issues, agreed to move forward aggressively with plans to make Boeing 747 fuel tanks safer. The agreement between FAA Administrator Jane Garvey and NTSB Chairman Jim Hall followed board hearings on the crash of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 off the coast of Long Island on July 17, 1996, which killed 230 people. Investigators determined that the plane’s center fuel tank exploded and split the plane apart, but did not yet know what sparked the explosion. (See December 12, 1997; April 7, 1998.)
19971219: Barry Valentine stepped down as FAA deputy administrator (acting) and retired from the agency. (See February 1, 1997.)
19971219: FAA issued a launch site operators license to Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority to operate a space launch facility at Wallops Island, Virginia. (See May 22, 1997; February 10-11, 1998.)
19991219: FAA informed U.S. carriers that reserve rest requirements for pilots must be fully implemented. The decision to no longer offer exceptions to the policy was welcomed by the Air Line Pilots Association, who said that U.S. carriers have known about the requirement since June 1998 and had no excuse for asking for further extensions. A spokesperson for the union also said that it would be unfair to airlines already implementing the reserve rest requirement, as well as the public, if nonconforming airlines were granted exceptions. The reserve rest rule stipulated that airlines must give pilots who are reserve duty at least nine hours rest before placing the on reserve or “on call” status.
20051219: A Grumman Turbo Mallard amphibious airplane, on a regularly scheduled passenger flight to Bimini, Bahamas, experienced an in-flight separation of its right wing from the fuselage and crashed into the shipping channel adjacent to the Port of Miami shortly after takeoff. Two flight crewmembers and 18 passengers on board were killed; the airplane was destroyed by impact forces. May 30, 2007, the National Transportation Safety Board determined the probably cause of the crash was the failure and separation of the right wing, which resulted from the failure of Chalk’s Ocean Airways’ maintenance program to identify and properly repair fatigue cracks in the wing, and the failure of FAA to detect and correct deficiencies in the company’s maintenance program.
20071219: Department of Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced new measures to reduce airline delays over the holiday season as well as new actions designed to reduce congestion in the New York area starting next summer. The agreement among the major airlines serving John F. Kennedy International Airport, caps the number of flights at either 82 or 83 per hour, depending on the time of day. The hourly caps took effect on March 15, 2008, and would remain in place for two years. Airlines were now allowed to shift their flights to times of the day when the airport has unused capacity, allowing 50 more flights per day than the previous summer. The Secretary also directed the FAA to enter into negotiations to set hourly caps at Newark International Airport. Effective this date, Peters also announced new take-off patterns at Newark and Philadelphia International Airport that allowed aircraft to fan out after take off, which provided more options for aircraft waiting to depart. Peters also authorized the appointment of an aviation “czar” to serve as director of the newly-created FAA New York Integration Office. The new office will coordinate regional airspace issues and all projects and initiatives addressing problems of congestion and delays in New York. In addition, the Secretary formed a new federal advisory task force to help airlines and airports better coordinate when unexpected weather strands passengers on tarmacs and in airports. She also authorized the FAA to exercise liberal use of overtime to make sure facilities are staffed to handle the surge in traffic, and placed a moratorium on nonessential maintenance through the holidays so controllers can focus on traffic.
20161219: DOT announced it had selected 25 stakeholders representing a cross-section of airport officials, state aviation officials, regional airline executives, consultants, and academicians to serve on its working group on improving air service to small communities. DOT created the working group in accordance with Section 2303 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (Reauthorization Bill), P.L. 114 190. The bill established the group and directed the Secretary of Transportation to issue a report to Congress by July 2017. The group would operate completely independently from DOT. Their deliberations would be guided by the provisions of the statute, specifically those directing the group to
* consider whether funding for essential air service program (EAS), small community air service development program (SCASDP) and airport improvement program (AIP) is sufficient, and
* identify initiatives to help increase the supply of commercially qualified pilots.
20171219: The Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Identification and Tracking ARC chartered in June submitted its report and recommendations to the agency on technologies available to identify and track drones in flight and other associated issues. (See June 21, 2017; May 9, 2018; December 26, 2019.) Those recommendations included
* FAA should consider two methods for remote ID and tracking of drones: direct broadcast (transmitting data in one direction only with no specific destination or recipient) and network publishing (transmitting data to an internet service or group of services).
* The data collected must include a unique identifier for unmanned aircraft, tracking information, and drone owner and remote pilot identification.
* FAA should promote fast-tracked development of industry standards while a final remote ID and tracking rule is developed.
* FAA should implement a rule in three stages, with an ultimate goal that all drones manufactured or sold within the United States that comply with the rule must be so labeled.
* FAA should coordinate any ID and tracking system with the existing air traffic control system and ensure it does not substantially increase workloads.
* FAA should exempt drones operating under air traffic control or those operating under the agency’s discretion (public aircraft operations, security or defense operations, or with a waiver).
* FAA should review privacy considerations, in consultation with privacy experts and other federal agencies, including developing a secure system that allows for segmented access to the ID and tracking information. Within the system, only persons authorized by FAA (e.g., law enforcement officials, airspace management officials, etc.) would be able to access personally identifiable information.