Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19430109: The Lockheed C-69 first flew. After the war, this four-engine, military transport was converted into a successful commercial airliner, the L-049 Constellation. In December 1945, CAA type-certificated the Constellation, which entered commercial passenger service on January 14, 1946, with Pan American. Model L-649, the first version manufactured entirely for civil use, carried 60 passengers and had a range of over 3,000 miles with 8 tons of payload. On November 26, 1968, a Western Air Lines “Connie” completed the type’s last scheduled airline flight in North America.
19470109: Regulations governing the administration of the Federal Airport Act received final approval, and two days later CAA announced the 1947 construction program, listing 800 airports for either construction or improvement.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19600108: The New York Times reported that Pan American World Airways had put into operation near Shannon, Ireland, the first unit in a planned worldwide radio transmission system using the “forward scatter” technique. This was the first such very-high-frequency ground station to be put into operation by an airline.
19620108: FAA established an Agency Regulatory Council to facilitate rulemaking and to insure the implementation of the Administrator’s rulemaking policies. The agency also established the position of Executive Director to provide full-time management for the Council.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19520107: CAA inaugurated radar departure control procedures at the Washington air route traffic control center. Use of radar for approach began July 1, 1952.
19590107: The Federal Aviation Agency began an extensive air traffic survey covering all segments of U.S. aviation–air carrier, military, and general aviation. Goals of the survey were to develop estimates of air activity through 1980 and to formulate a scientific method of forecasting air activity. FAA’s sampling of a period having the lowest level of air activity was followed in July and August by a second survey providing data on the summer peak.
19690107: FAA imposed additional airworthiness standards for small airplanes used in air taxi operations under Special Federal Aviation Regulation 23, effective this date. The standards applied to piston-powered and turboprop airplanes weighing 12,500 pounds or less and capable of carrying more than 10 occupants, including the flightcrew. (See September 7, 1964, and December 1, 1978.)

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19420106: Pan American Airways Pacific Clipper landed at New York, the first commercial airplane to circle the globe, exclusive of the continental United States. The aircraft had left San Francisco on December 2, 1941, and was operating in the South Pacific when the Pearl Harbor attack forced it to return to home territory by flying west.
19600106: A National Airlines DC-6B crashed near Bolivia, N.C., killing 34 passengers and crew. The Civil Aeronautics Board accident investigation revealed that the plane had disintegrated in flight as a result of a dynamite explosion. Bomb fragments were found imbedded in the body of passenger Julian Frank, who, in the preceding year, had taken out more than a million dollars in life insurance.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19520105: Using Douglas DC-6As, Pan American World Airways inaugurated the first all-cargo air service across the North Atlantic.
19720105: Betty C. Dillon, a career civil servant, became the first woman to be sworn in as Minister of the U.S. Government to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
19990105: FAA announced it would revise the implementation schedule for the Wide Area Augmentation System to allow more time to complete development of a critical software safety package that would monitor, correct, and verify the performance of the system.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19590104: A published report described the successful use of Doppler navigation techniques in aerial explorations for oil in remote areas.
19650104: Under a rule effective this date, FAA required approved survivor lights on all life preservers and liferafts carried by U.S. air carriers and other large commercial aircraft flying more than 50 miles from shore, to assist in the rescue of passengers in the event of a night ditching. (See January 28, 1966.)
19830104: Effective this date, FAA increased the minimum qualifications for air traffic controllers who provide on-the-job training (OJT).

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19360103: Executives of scheduled U.S. airlines met in Chicago to form the Air Transport Association of America as a separate trade association for air carriers. Until the end of 1935, the founding airlines had belonged to the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce (see Calendar Year 1945). The new Association’s first president was Edgar S. Gorrell, whose effective lobbying was soon to play an important role in the passage of the Civil Aeronautics Act (see June 23, 1938). Gorrell served until 1945, and was succeded by: Emory S. Land, 1946-53; Earl D. Johnson, 1954-55; Harold L. Pearson, 1955; Stuart E. Tipton, 1955-72; Paul R. Ignatius, 1972-84; Norman J. Phillion, 1985; William S. Bolger, 1986-88; Robert J. Aaronson, 1989-92; and James E. Landry, who began serving in 1992.
19500103: Pan American Airways changed its name to Pan American World Airways. Nine days later, on January 12, the company completed its round-the-world radio-telephone communications system, which the Civil Aeronautics Administration had approved for air-ground operations.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19740102: Public Law 93-239, enacted on this date, extended the deadline for installation of emergency locator transmitters (ELTs) in certain types of aircraft from December 30, 1973, to June 30, 1974. The law also added certain new categories of operation, such as flights incident to design and testing, to the list of exceptions to the ELT requirement. (See December 29, 1970, and March 16, 1978.)
19970102: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an airworthiness directive requiring operators to adopt procedures enabling the flight crew to reestablish control of a Boeing 737 experiencing an uncommanded yaw or roll – the phenomenon believed to have brought down USAir Flight 427 at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1994.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19320101: The first Air Commerce Regulations governing gliders and gliding became effective.
19350101: The Bureau of Air Commerce announced a new policy for the classification of airports, under which only those airports serving scheduled interstate airlines would be examined for compliance with its requirements.
19380101: An Airport Traffic Control Section was created in the Airways Operation Division of the Bureau of Air Commerce. The new section was to standardize airport control tower equipment, operation techniques, and personnel. Forty airport control tower operators had been certificated by June 30, 1938.