Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270704: The Lockheed Vega first flew. The single-engine, high-wing monoplane seating up to six passengers marked an important step toward the low-drag designs with which U.S. manufacturers were to revolutionize airliners in the 1930s. The Vega went into passenger service on September 17, 1928, with International Airlines.
19820704: Following a ten-month interagency review, President Reagan issued a decision directive stating that expansion of U.S. private sector involvement in civil space activities was a national goal.

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19260703: A congressional joint resolution authorized the President to detail officers of the Army Air Corps to the Commerce Department to help in promoting civil aviation, provided the details did not exceed one year.
19450703: CAA created the new position of private pilot examiner to meet the anticipated flood of postwar demands for private pilot examinations.
19680703: PATCO president Michael J. Rock announced “Operation Air Safety,” which he described as a campaign among PATCO members to maintain FAA-prescribed separation standards between aircraft.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19260702: A drop of tree seeds over a burned area in Hawaii on this date was the first recorded instance of reforesting by airplane.
19320702: Franklin D. Roosevelt became the first U.S. presidential candidate to fly when he chartered a Ford Trimotor from Albany to Chicago to address the Democratic National Convention. (See January 14, 1943.)
19370702: A Lockheed Electra 10E carrying navigator Fred J. Noonan and famed pilot Amelia Earhart was reported overdue at Howland Island in the Pacific, a stop on an eastward trip planned as the first flight to follow an equatorial path around the globe. A massive search failed to locate the aircraft, and theories as to its fate abound.
19810702: PATCO’s nine-member executive board recommended unanimously that the union’s members reject the tentative contract agreed to on June 22 by PATCO President Robert Poli and Secretary of Transportation Drew Lewis.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270701: Frank Gates Gardner of Norfolk, Va., received the first Federal aircraft mechanic license.
19270701: The Secretary of Commerce appointed Clarence M. Young as Director of Aeronautics to administer the Aeronautics Branch under the general supervision of the Assistant Secretary for Aeronautics. A lawyer from Des Moines, Iowa, Young had served as a pilot on the Italian front in World War I and was later active in civil aeronautics. (See October 1, 1929.)
19270701: The transcontinental airway was transferred to the Department of Commerce from the Post Office Department. Extending from New York to San Francisco, the airway was 2,612 miles long, with 2,041 miles lighted (see January 29, 1929). Its facilities included 92 intermediate landing fields, 101 electric beacons, and 417 acetylene beacons. Also included were 17 radio stations (see March 1, 1960). Personnel involved in the transfer included 45 radio operators, 14 maintenance mechanics, and 84 caretakers.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270630: The Aeronautics Branch issued Transport License No. 199 to Phoebe Fairgrave Omlie, probably the first woman to obtain a pilot license from a civilian agency of the U.S. government. (Other American women had previously received pilot licenses from the Joint Army and Navy Board on Aeronautic Cognizance, which issued civilian flying licenses during 1918-19, as well as from organizations such as the Federation Aeronautique Internationale.) The Aeronautics Branch also issued one of the early aircraft and engine mechanic’s licenses to Omlie.
19270630: The Aeronautics Branch announced that its first airways strip map was available for purchase: Moline, Ill., to Kansas City, Mo.
19280630: During the quarter that ended on this date, the Commerce Department’s Aeronautics Branch established a five-member Aircraft Accident Board

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270629: Army lieutenants A. F. Hegenberger and L. J. Maitland made the first nonstop flight between the U.S. mainland and Hawaii, taking off from Oakland, Calif., in a Fokker three-engine monoplane.
19450629: CAA announced that it was conducting extensive tests of six different types of airport approach lighting systems under development at its Experimental Station at the Indianapolis Municipal Airport.
19460629: The Douglas DC-6 made its first flight, and CAA certificated the plane nine months later.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19390628: Pan American Airways inaugurated the first regularly scheduled transatlantic passenger airline service by heavier-than-air craft (see May 19, 1939). A Boeing 314 flying boat made the flight from New York to the Azores, Lisbon, and Marseilles. Pan American opened passenger service between New York and Southhampton, England, on July 8. The outbreak of World War II in Europe soon forced curtailment of these routes, and by October 3, 1939, only the New York to Lisbon portion was operating. (See June 1, 1945.)
19660628: The design of the Dulles International Airport terminal building won for Eero Saarinen and Associates one of three “first honors” awards for architectural excellence presented by the American Institute of Architects for 1966.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19350627: The Supreme Court of the United States handed down its ruling in the case of Rathbun (Humphrey’s Executor) v. United States–a ruling that was to have a direct effect on the structure of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (see June 23, 1938). The Court held that President Roosevelt had exceeded his power in dismissing William E. Humphrey, a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, without assigning a statutory cause. The decision was based on the Court’s finding that the FTC, since it included quasi-legislative functions among its responsibilities, was a creature of Congress; therefore, Congress had been within its powers in specifying by law the basis for removal of appointees.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19610626: FAA announced that as a result of a recent decision by the U.S. Civil Service Commission, many air traffic controller positions in approach control towers and air route traffic control centers would be raised one grade to reflect increased job requirements and complexity. Primarily affected were the positions of certain controllers performing coordination and radar control duties as well as facility chiefs and other supervisors. (See December 15, 1968.)
19640626: FAA issued a rule requiring Cockpit Voice Recorders to be installed in certain aircraft used by air carriers or commercial operators.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270625: Construction of the Propeller Research Tunnel was completed at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The largest research facility of its kind up to that time, the wind tunnel could accommodate the entire fuselage of a full-sized airplane, making it possible to conduct aerodynamic tests on full-scale fuselages, propellers, and other airplane parts. The facility, which was to make great contributions to aeronautical development (see November 1928), was part of a series of wind tunnels. NACA had begun operating its first wind tunnel on June 11, 1920.