Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19660222: Under a rule effective this date, FAA required newly certificated flight engineers to have an aircraft class rating for each class of aircraft (piston-engine, turboprop, or turbojet) in which they flew. Currently active flight engineers had until February 22, 1968, to exchange their existing certificate for one with a class rating.
19740222: At Baltimore-Washington International Airport, a former mental patient killed two persons and seriously wounded another in an attempt to hijack a DC-9 and crash it into the White House. The gunman committed suicide when wounded by a policeman.
19780222: Secretary of Transportation Brock Adams nominated the terminal building at Dulles International Airport for the National Register of Historic Places. Long recognized for the excellence of its design (see June 28, 1966), the terminal was ranked third on a list of important structures of the nation’s first 200 years in a 1976 poll sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. Concerns about FAA’s aesthetic stewardship of the terminal increased in 1977, when the agency announced plans for a large addition and stated its unwillingness to nominate the building to the National Register. After considerable public discussion, the proposed addition (for waiting rooms on the side of the terminal facing the airfield) was generally approved by critics. Inclusion on the National Register guaranteed that any future modifications would be submitted for review by the President’s Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Before actually placing the Dulles terminal on the National Register in May 1978, the Secretary of the Interior granted it a special exception from the Register’s rule excluding buildings less than 50 years old.
19930222: The first prototype of the McDonnell Douglas MD-90 series, a follow-on to the MD-80 series, made its initial flight. FAA type-certificated the MD-90 on November 16, 1994, and it entered commercial service on April 1, 1995, with Delta.
19960222: Confirming its intent to address staffing needs at key facilities, FAA announced that it planned to hire 100 more air traffic controllers during 1996, and that the Clinton Administration would request funding for hundreds more during 1997 (see September 30, 1996). The agency pledged to give fair consideration to former strikers (see August 12, 1993).
20000222: After the German airline Lufthansa found cracked copper lines and ordered Boeing 747s in its fleet grounded briefly for inspections, FAA announced plans to order an inspection of the engine fire suppression system on Boeing 747-400s registered in the United States. (See October 28, 1999; April 27, 2001.)
20020222: FAA announced establishment of government/industry agreements with three companies for the development of technology that would integrate digital voice and data into air/ground communications. Under the agreements, Rockwell Collins Commercial Systems, Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems, and Avidyne Corp. would develop VHF digital link mode-3 (VDL-3) avionics. The FAA would partially fund industry development of the airborne components of Next Generation Air/Ground Communications (NEXCOM) program, which would replace the ground radio system currently used for air traffic control communications with state-of-the-art digital technology. (See July 31, 2001; July 15, 2002.)
20130222: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood issued a statement which said as a result of mandatory sequestration, the majority of FAA’s nearly 47,000 employees would be furloughed for approximately one day per pay period until the end of the fiscal year. (See July 23, 2011; March 22, 2013.)
20160222: ICAO voted to ban cargo shipments of lithium ion batteries on passenger planes. The ban became effective on April 1, 2016. (See October 26, 2015; September 8, 2016.)