Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19300515: In regulations effective on this date, the Department of Commerce required airlines to obtain a certificate of authority to operate if they engaged in interstate passenger service. To qualify, an airline was required to demonstrate that it possessed aircraft that were properly equipped and maintained, a sufficient number of qualified airmen, and an adequate ground organization for the services provided. The routes served were required to possess such air navigation facilities as the Department deemed necessary for safe and reliable operations. Airlines were required to apply for the certificate by July 15, a deadline later extended to August 15, 1930.
19300515: Boeing Air Transport inaugurated the first airline stewardess service. The first stewardess was a registered nurse, Ellen E. Church, who has been described as the first female crew member aboard a commercial airliner.
19390515: The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), an organization devoted to the interests of general aviation, was founded.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19650514: The formation of a 12-member NASA-FAA Coordinating Board for the exchange of research and development information and for joint planning of related activities was announced. The aim of the Board was to strengthen the coordination, planning, and exchange of information between the two agencies.
19690514: Hamburger Flugzeubau GmbH and Messerschmitt-Bolkow GmbH merged to form Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm, the largest aerospace concern in Germany.
19710514: In United States v. Lopez, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York declared FAA’s antihijacking profile system constitutional (see July 17, 1970).

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19400513: The VS-300, precursor of today’s fully mature helicopter, made its first free flight, at Stratford, Conn. As designer Igor I. Sikorsky continued to improve the aircraft, which employed a single main rotor, it set records that included a world flight endurance record of over 1 hour, 32 minutes on May 6, 1941. The VS-300’s first flight in its final configuration took place on December 8, 1941.
19460513: President Truman signed the Federal Airport Act establishing the Federal-aid airport program (FAAP), the first peacetime program of financial aid aimed exclusively at promoting development of the nation’s civil airports.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19450512: CAA announced the iniation of tests to determine the radius of interference from low- and high-frequency radio stations on radio reception by airplanes. The tests were considered highly important because of their general applicability to the airport construction program being considered by Congress.
19770512: Administrator Bond imposed an agency-wide hiring and promotion freeze. At FAA’s national Headquarters and its Metropolitan Washington Airports office, the freeze affected both external and internal hiring. Field offices, however, could fill positions from within FAA, as long as promotions were not involved. The few exceptions to these rules included hiring required to meet air traffic training schedules. To further trim back Washington Headquarters personnel, Bond later instituted a field placement program between March 27 and October 24, 1978.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19590511: The Vertol 107 helicopter, a twin-turbine-powered transport, was demonstrated in flight at Philadelphia International Airport.
19700511: Kenneth M. Smith became FAA’s Deputy Administrator, succeeding David D. Thomas (see July 1, 1965). He was nominated by the President on March 24, and confirmed by the Senate on April 30.
Born in Sacramento, Calif., Smith began his career in aviation in 1939 as an aircraft electrical installer with Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corp. (later the General Dynamics Corp.) in San Diego. He was a Navy pilot during World War II, and attended St. Mary’s University and California Polytechnic University in 1943 and 1944 under a Navy training program.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19650510: The Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center provided air traffic control service for an emergency Air Force airlift to the Dominican Republic during U.S. intervention in civil conflict in that country. In 1,710 missions, the airlift carried 14,699 tons of cargo and 17,921 passengers.
19730510: The Civil Aeronautics Board published the first rule regulating smoking on aircraft for reasons of consumer comfort and protection. The Board required airlines to provide separate sections for smokers and nonsmokers. Subsequent modifications to the rule included a 1981 requirement that airlines guarantee a seat in the nonsmoking section to every nonsmoker who met the check-in deadline. (See March 19, 1970, and June 20, 1984.)
19820510: FAA began an experimental program of allowing airlines to buy, sell, and transfer airport landing “slots” among themselves.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19290509: An Interdepartmental Committee on Airways was established to study and pass on applications for extension of civil airways in the United States. Totaling six members, the committee consisted of three representatives each from the Post Office and Commerce Departments.
19360509: The German rigid airship Hindenburg moored at Lakehurst, N.J., after a nonstop transatlantic passage of 61 hours 38 minutes from Fiedrichshafen, Germany.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19450508: President Truman proclaimed the end of the war in Europe.
19460508: The Bell Aircraft Corporation’s Model 47 became the first helicopter to receive a CAA airworthiness type certificate, authorizing mass production.
19670508: The prevailing preference for flying rather than sailing among transoceanic travelers was pointedly emphasized as the Cunard Steamship Company announced retirement of the world’s two largest passenger liners, RMS Queen Elizabeth and the RMS Queen Mary.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19370507: The first flight by a fully pressurized airplane, the Lockheed XC-35, occurred. The Army used the plane, a modified Electra, to test equipment and material for use in high altitude operations. A few aircraft prior to the XC-35 had been fitted with experimental pressure cabins, but none of the earlier models flew successfully.
19640507: A passenger shot the captain and first officer of a Pacific Air Lines Fokker F-27 en route from Reno, Nev., to San Francisco, Calif. The aircraft crashed near San Ramon, Calif., killing all 44 occupants. (See August 6, 1964.)
19750507: FAA and PATCO reached agreement on a two-year contract (signed and effective July 8). The contract’s 74 articles included a guarantee of controller inclusion in the Aviation Safety Reporting Program

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.