Category: TDiFH

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19660425: FAA established the National Airspace System Program Office, replacing the NAS Special Projects Office as a staff element under the Associate Administrator for Development. Headed by the Deputy Associate Administrator for Development, NASPO had responsibility for design, engineering, procurement, and installation–in addition to central programming, planning, and scheduling — of designated program elements of the air traffic control subsystem of the National Airspace System. (See May 18, 1970 and February 10, 1972.)
19690425: More than 800 aviation community representatives attended the first National Aviation System Planning Review Conference, held in Washington, D.C.

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19460424: Winged Cargo, Inc. began the first glider commercial freight service, using a DC-3 to tow a Waco glider. The flight took off from Philadelphia and made stops at Miami, Havana, and San Juan.
19630424: President Kennedy approved a new statement of U.S. international air transport policy based on a report submitted earlier by an Interagency Steering Committee, chaired by the FAA Administrator (see September 15, 1961). A change in emphasis rather than in fundamental approach, the new statement stressed the necessity for keeping the environment of the international air transport industry as free as possible from restrictions, whether imposed by government or intercarrier agreement. U.S. policy was to seek an atmosphere of free enterprise that would benefit U.S. international air carriers and strengthen the entire system generally.

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19670423: A project completed on this date made Washington National Airport’s main runway the first U.S. runway for commercial operations to be grooved. Developed by the British, runway grooving proved highly successful in reducing the tendency of landing aircraft to aquaplane on wet surfaces. The grooves at National were 1/8 inch wide, 1/8 inch deep, and cut at angles to the runway centerline with a 1- inch spacing. They carried water away in what amounted to thousands of tiny gutters. On May 24, 1968, FAA announced that Chicago Midway Airport would receive the first funding allocation for runway-grooving under the Federal-aid airport program. (See August 4, 1965 and July 13, 1983.)
19690423: FAA abolished the Kenai and Cordova (Alaska) Area Offices. The Anchorage and Juneau Area Offices absorbed the territory formerly served by these offices.

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19570422: CAA commissioned the Spokane air route traffic control center.
19700422: The first annual Earth Day observance throughout the United States included protests indicating environmentalists’ rising opposition to the supersonic transport (SST) program. Concerns about the SST included such issues as sonic booms (see January 27, 1965) and the aircraft’s effect on the ozone layer of the earth’s upper atmosphere.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19280421: George Hubert Wilkins, an Australian explorer, and Carl Ben Eielson, an American pilot, made the first flight across the Arctic in a heavier-than-air craft, flying from Point Barrow, Alaska, to Spitsbergen, Norway, in a Lockheed Vega. Later in the year, Wilkins and Eielson flew the same Vega along the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, earning the distinction of being the first to operate an airplane in Antarctica.
19510421: The experimental Chase XC-123A, powered by four J47 turbojet engines, made its first flight. Designed as a troop and cargo transport for the Air Force, the XC-123A was fitted with four turbojet engines, installed as pairs in pods.
19580421: An Air Force jet fighter collided with a United Air Lines DC-7 near Las Vegas, Nev., killing both occupants of the fighter and all 47 persons aboard the airliner.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19630420: FAA commissioned the Albuquerque air traffic control center’s new building on this date. Other new center buildings commissioned during 1963 included: Washington at Leesburg, Va., on April 28 (FAA held formal dedication ceremonies on June 15) and Miami on September 2.
19780420: FAA proposed a new and much higher schedule of user fees for certificating airmen and for aircraft registrations. The agency based the proposal on an existing government policy, contained in a statute of 1952, that individuals or groups receiving special services from Federal agencies should pay their cost. In 1967, FAA had proposed a new fee schedule, but withdrew the proposal after the General Accounting Office pointed out that it did not entirely meet the costs of the services supplied. The April 1978 proposal encountered considerable opposition from within the aviation community, and Congress adopted legislation prohibiting FAA from implementing the proposed fees without prior congressional approval. FAA withdrew the proposal on May 8, 1981, stating that the data on which it was based were no longer valid.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19450419: Forty-one airlines from twenty-five nations created a voluntary organization, the International Air Transport Association (IATA), at Havana, Cuba, to prevent airlines from practicing unethical methods of setting rates and schedules. Other international airlines subsequently joined the association. IATA succeeded the International Air Traffic Association, which had been formed at The Hague in 1919.
19580419: CAA commissioned the Phoenix air route traffic control center.

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19390418: The minimum age requirement for a private pilot’s license was increased from 16 to 18 years. The rule change resulted from a protracted campaign by the father of Edward Mallinckrodt. In 1932, the 16-year-old Mallinckrodt took a friend on a flight that ended in an accident costing both their lives. The young man’s parents had been unaware that their son possessed a pilot’s license, since parental consent was not then required for pilot applicants (see December 7, 1933). The elder Mallinckrodt failed to convince the Department of Commerce that the age requirement should be raised to 18. Eventually, however, he enlisted the support of CAA board member Oswald Ryan, who pushed the reform through the Authority.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19340417: As a result of recent developments connected with flying the air mail (see March 10, 1934), the Secretary of War appointed the Baker Committee to report on “the operation of the Army Air Corps and the adequacy and efficiency of its technical flying equipment and training for the performance of its mission in peace and in war.” Named for its chairman, former Secretary of War Newton D. Baker, the committee was composed of six civilian and five military members. It was directed to include in its report a study of the proper relationship between the Army and civil aviation.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19380416: Denis Mulligan became Director of Air Commerce, succeeding Fred D. Fagg, Jr. (see February 28, 1937), who had resigned the previous day. Mulligan brought to this position broad experience in aviation, business, and law.