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Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19350506: A Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA) DC-2 crashed near Atlanta, Mo., killing five of the eight persons aboard. Senator Bronson M. Cutting (R-N.Mex.) was among the fatalities. A Bureau of Air Commerce report cited the accident’s causes as the U.S. Weather Bureau’s failure to predict hazardous weather and misjudgments by the pilot and TWA ground personnel. In June 1936, however, a committee chaired by Sen. Royal S. Copeland (D-N.Y.) issued a report alleging that the tragedy was caused by malfunctioning navigational aides and voicing other criticisms of the Bureau of Air Commerce. The controversy gave impetus to legislative efforts that eventuated in the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. (See June 23, 1938.)
19370506: The German airship Hindenburg burst into flames while mooring at Lakehurst, N.J., the U.S. terminal for its regular transatlantic service, killing 35 of the 97 persons aboard. The tragedy signaled the end of serious efforts to use rigid airships in commercial air transportation.
19500506: To improve communications between CAA and the general aviation community, Administrator Rentzel established an Aviation Development Advisory Committee.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19300505: The Post Office Department, hoping to stimulate air passenger traffic, issued an order calling for the installation of at least two passenger seats in each mail plane operated by day.
19550505: An agreement between the United States and Canada provided for the construction and operation of a new distant early warning (DEW) radar defense line in northern Canada.
19610505: Navy aeronauts Malcolm Ross and Victor Prather set a balloon high altitude record of 113,740 feet while testing space suits developed for use by Project Mercury astronauts.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19550504: President Eisenhower, acting through the Director of the Bureau of the Budget, requested William Barclay Harding to serve as a consultant to study long-range needs for aviation facilities and aids. On December 31, 1955, Harding’s Aviation Facilities Study Group submitted its report to the Director of the Bureau of the Budget. Concluding that the need to improve air traffic management had already reached critical proportions, the group recommended that an individual of national reputation, responsible directly to the President, be appointed to provide full time leadership in developing a program for solving the complex technical and organizational problems facing the government and the aviation industry.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19550503: Preliminary plans were announced for sending CAA specialists to assist Pakistan in developing its airways system under an agreement between Pakistan and the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration.
19700503: Upgraded certification requirements for aviation maintenance technician schools (formerly called “aviation mechanic schools”) became effective. The changes, which included new curriculum requirements for both certification and operations, were designed to reflect recent technological advances in aviation.
19710503: FAA’s Management Training School at Cameron College, Lawton, Okla., admitted its first class.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19400502: President Roosevelt gave final approval for development of a version of the instrument landing system (ILS) favored by CAA. Deployment of the system was delayed, however, by continued disagreements with the military and by World War II defense priorites. ILS did not become available for civil airliners until after the war.
19520502: The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) inaugurated the first scheduled air service with turbojet airliners, de Havilland Comet I’s, operating between London and Johannesburg. (See January 10, 1954.)
19610502: The FAA Administrator and the CAB Chairman issued a joint policy statement favoring the use of a single air carrier airport serving adjacent communities when such an arrangement might cut costs and improve service.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280501: Pitcairn Aviation began operations along the Atlantic seaboard as a contract mail-hauler. The airline inaugurated passenger operations between New York and Washington on August 18, 1930, under the name Eastern Air Transport. The growing carrier acquired New York Airways in 1931 and Luddington Air Lines in 1933, and later took the name Eastern Air Lines in 1934. Eastern subsequently absorbed Colonial Airlines in 1956 and Mackey Air Lines in 1967.
19390501: The Civil Aeronautics Authority completed a $7 million airways modernization and improvement program begun July 1, 1937.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19270430: The Aeronautics Branch announced that it had recently acquired three aircraft: two Buhl Airsters (open cockpit) and one Stinson-Detroiter (cabin plane). The Branch planned to add one Wright Travel Air (open cockpit) and one Fairchild FC-1A (cabin plane).
19390430: The National Institute of Municipal Law Officers issued the first model Airport Zoning Act, prepared with CAA assistance, to encourage enactment of such legislation by state governments. By November 1944, when a fifth revision of the Model Act was published, 12 states and one territory had passed similar acts. (See September 1, 1946.)
19460430: CAA began biweekly publication of a new Airman’s Guide, consolidating into one comprehensive volume for private and commercial pilots information formerly issued in three separate publications.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19300429: The Watres Act further amended the Air Mail Act of 1925 (see May 17, 1928), replacing the weight basis for computing compensation to air carriers with a space-mile formula. The new act gave the Postmaster General very broad regulatory control over route locations, route consolidations and extensions, contract bidding conditions, service conditions, equipment and personnel accounts, and compensation. (See May 19, 1930.)
19370429: The Commerce Department announced a new plan of organization for the Bureau of Air Commerce.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19370428: The Pan American Hong Kong Clipper, a Sikorsky S-42B flying boat, arrived at Hong Kong from Manila. Linking with the existing Pan Am route from San Francisco to Manila, this new service completed the first commercial airline route from the United States to a point close to the Asian mainland. (See October 21, 1936.)
19670428: The McDonnell Douglas Corporation came into being, the result of a merger between the Douglas Aircraft Company and the McDonnell Company. Douglas had been founded in 1920, McDonnell in 1939.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19530427: Frederick B. Lee was sworn in as CAA Administrator. He succeeded Charles F. Horne (see May 18, 1951), who resigned on March 6, 1953, because of the change in administration following President Eisenhower’s election. Lee received his A.B. degree from Stanford in 1928 and a law degree from Harvard in 1931. A naval aviator in World War II, he rose to the rank of commander, authored a manual for naval flight instructors, and supervised training in night fighters and torpedo units. He joined CAA in 1946 as Program Planning Officer, was made executive assistant to the Administrator in January 1947, and became Deputy Administrator the same year. He was still Deputy Administrator when nominated on March 11, 1953, to be Administrator. (See December 8, 1955.)
19590427: FAA announced a contract award for development of an air height surveillance radar (AHSR-1) to automatically provide air traffic controllers with information on aircraft altitudes up to a range of 50 nautical miles.