Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19640917: FAA implemented a simplified two-layer airway route structure, replacing the previous three-layer system (see April 6, 1961). The lower layer of the new structure extended generally from an altitude of 1,000 feet to 18,000 feet, and the jet route portion from 18,000 to 45,000 feet. Airspace above 45,000 feet was reserved for point-to-point operations on a random routing basis. Besides requiring fewer aeronautical navigation charts, the new system reduced pilot-controller workload by requiring fewer radio contacts and navigational checkpoints. As a necessary complement, FAA revised rules governing use of the standard altimeter setting by lowering the base altitude for such settings from 24,000 to 18,000 feet above mean sea level. (See March 4, 1965.)
19710917: The first grant related to vertical/short takeoff and landing facilities under the airport planning grant program went to the New Jersey Department of Transportation to study the development of a special facility to accommodate V/STOL aircraft. (See April 29 and October 17, 1971.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19670916: Typhoon Sarah struck Wake Island with winds exceeding 140 miles per hour, knocking out the island’s electric power plant, air traffic control tower, air route traffic control center, and navigation aids. Damage to the island’s housing, sanitation system, and freshwater supply necessitated the evacuation of one fourth of Wake’s population.
19710916: The National Transportation Safety Board ruled that pilots who had suffered a stroke could not be automatically denied a first-class medical certificate. The Board stated that each pilot’s case must be treated separately rather than on the basis of general stroke statistics and predictions. The ruling reversed FAA’s denial of a first-class medical certificate to a pilot who had suffered a “pure motor stroke” in 1964. The Board noted that the pilot had met the pertinent rules and standards since the stroke, and hence his general medical condition allowed him to safely exercise the privileges of the certificate.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280915: The Aeronautics Branch published civil aviation accident statistics for the first half of 1928. There was a total of 390 accidents, of which 34 occurred in scheduled flying, 69 in student instruction, 17 in experimental operations, and 270 in miscellaneous flying. Assigned causes blamed pilot error for 43.29 percent of the accidents, engine failure for 16.59 percent, weather for 10.23 percent, and airport or terrain for 8.72 percent. There was a total of 153 fatalities and 276 injuries. Only six of the fatalities occurred in scheduled flying.
19330915: The Aeronautics Branch announced in the Air Commerce Bulletin a streamlining plan for the Air Regulation Service aimed at saving $500,000 in the current fiscal year.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19420914: To meet the increased tempo of military requirements, CAA established a Pacific Islands Office at Honolulu under the general supervision of the Sixth Region, headquartered at Los Angeles.
19630914: The Convention on Offenses and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (known as the Tokyo Convention) was opened for signature at a diplomatic conference held under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). An FAA official representing President Kennedy signed the document on behalf of the United States. The Legal Committee of ICAO had spent many years drafting the convention, which clarified certain jurisdictional issues concerning hijacked aircraft, and recognized the authority of aircraft commanders to use reasonable force to preserve law and order aboard their aircraft.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19340913: Following a conclusive demonstration of an Army Air Corps blind-landing system, the Bureau of Air Commerce adopted that system as its standard. The demonstration marked the conclusion of eleven months work by the Bureau in which it tested various systems and modifications for blind landing using a Ford tri-motor transport. (See March 1, 1933, and May 2, 1940.)
19480913: To speed certification of aircraft and aircraft parts, CAA announced that type certificates would be issued in its nine regions rather than at headquarters in Washington, D.C.
19570913: CAA held demonstrations of scan conversion equipment under evaluation at its Technical Development Center, Indianapolis. The equipment was designed to improve radar display techniques. (See April 27, 1960.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19840912: Airline representatives reached agreement on rescheduling flights to avoid congestion during peak hours at six major airports: New York’s La Guardia and Kennedy; Newark International; Chicago O’Hare; Atlanta Hartsfield; and Denver Stapleton. The representatives forged the agreement in eight days of intense negotiations with FAA participation and with the understanding that FAA might impose new regulations if no voluntary solution was found. The Civil Aeronautics Board granted immunity from anti-trust laws to those engaged in the talks, and later approved the agreement. Writing to the Air Transport Association on March 12, 1985, FAA Administrator Engen cited steps taken to reduce delays and indications that the airlines would not return to excess peak-time operations. Engen therefore stated that the scheduling agreement need not continue beyond April 1.
19940912: A pilot flying a stolen Cessna 150 crashed a few yards from the White House, dying on impact.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19510911: The National Security Resources Board completed its air transport mobilization survey. Developed by a large group of aviation leaders from government and industry, the program outlined requirements for rapid mobilization of the U.S. air transport industry in the event of expanded war. (See December 15, 1951.)
19610911: The Project Beacon task force on Air Traffic Control (see March 8, 1961) submitted its report to the FAA Administrator. While finding that the air traffic control system was “being expertly operated by a highly skilled organization,” the report concluded that substantial improvements were needed to meet the future challenge of aviation’s projected growth.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19300910: The Taylor E-2 Cub made its first flight. This design evolved into the famous Piper Cub, which was introduced in 1938 and became one of the world’s most popular general aviation airplanes.
19360910: Deutsche Luft Hansa’s twin-engine Dornier Do.18 flying boat Zephyr alighted offshore of Port Washington, N.Y., after a flight of 22 hours 18 minutes from Horta in the Azores, where it had been catapulted from the deck of a depot ship. This was the first of a series of German survey flights for possible transatlantic air mail service. The Germans continued such experimental flights into 1938.
19440910: The first airplane designed in World War II exclusively to carry cargo, the C-82, was successfully test-flown at the Fairchild aircraft plant in Hagerstown, Md. Fairchild manufactured 220 planes for the Air Force before discontinuing production in 1948.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19500909: Amendments to the Civil Aeronautics Act allowed the Secretary of Commerce and CAB, as directed by the President, to develop and implement a plan for security control of air traffic when U.S. security was endangered, while permitting the maximum flow of air traffic. The Secretary was authorized to establish security zones in the airspace and, in consultation with CAB and the Departments of Defense and State, prohibit or restrict flights which could not be effectively identified, located and controlled with available facilities. (See December 20, 1950.)
19600909: FAA permitted aviation medical examiners (AMEs) to deny, as well as issue, medical certificates to applicants that they examined. Previously, applicants whose fitness was questioned by the AME were automatically referred to the FAA Civil Air Surgeon in Washington.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19600908: FAA issued a new aircraft noise abatement technical planning guide for use by Federal and local officials. The guide discouraged certain kinds of construction in areas around large airports, such as residential subdivisions, schools, churches, hospitals, and other places of public assembly. Land lying immediately under the takeoff and landing patterns of jet runways, the guide recommended, should be utilized wherever possible for industrial, commercial, agricultural, or recreational purposes.
19600908: FAA adopted the British RAE visual glide path indicator landing lights as a national standard for use at U.S. airports. Developed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment in England, the RAE system required no equipment of any kind in the aircraft cockpit.