Category: TDiFH

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19260523: Western Air Express (WAE) became one of the first U.S. airlines to offer regular passenger service, flying from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City via Las Vegas. WAE had begun flying on April 17 as the fourth carrier to begin operations under a new air mail contract system that became the major source of income for the era’s small but growing airline industry (see June 3, 1926).
Over twelve years earlier, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line had offered the world’s first regularly scheduled airline service using heavier-than-air craft. This enterprise lasted for only the first three months of 1914. On March 1, 1925, T. Claude Ryan’s Los Angeles-San Diego Air Line had begun the first scheduled passenger service operated wholly over the U.S. mainland and throughout the year.
19330523: Clarence M. Young resigned as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, effective June 15. (See June 10, 1933.)
19480523: The Secretaries of Defense and Commerce announced preliminary agreement to set up an Air Navigation Development Board (ANDB).

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19320522: Amelia Earhart became the first woman to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic by airplane, flying from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Londonderry, Northern Ireland, in a Lockheed Vega.
19620522: An explosion blew the tail off a Continental Air Lines 707 flying over southern Iowa, killing all 45 persons aboard. Officials later cited the probable cause as a dynamite detonation in a rear lavatory. On June 5, a government/industry steering committee headed by FAA Administrator Halaby convened to review efforts to combat the aircraft bombing hazard.
19690522: Administrator Shaffer requested plans for consolidating regional and area offices located in the same city within the contiguous United States.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19270521: Charles A. Lindbergh, a former air mail pilot, made the first nonstop solo flight across the Atlantic in an airplane, a Ryan monoplane dubbed the Spirit of St. Louis. He flew the 3,610 miles from Roosevelt Field, Long Island, N.Y., to Le Bourget Field, Paris, France, in 33 hours 29 minutes.
Lindbergh’s feat provided a strong stimulus to U.S. aviation, and made him a world hero whose fame overshadowed earlier Atlantic crossings by air.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19300519: Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown held the first of a series of meetings with representatives of the large commercial airlines to discuss air mail routes to be awarded under the Watres Act (see April 29, 1930). All but two of the twenty-two air mail contracts awarded under the act went to airlines in attendance at the meetings, which were subsequently attacked as “spoils conferences.” (See February 9, 1934.)
19390519: The Civil Aeronautics Authority announced issuance of a certificate of public convenience and necessity to Pan American Airways authorizing transatlantic air transport service of two round trips per week. Before any passengers were to be carried, Pan American was required to complete a minimum of five trips as proving flights (see June 28, 1939); however, Pan American began the first regular transatlantic airplane mail service on May 20.
19660519: According to a Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences staff report entitled, “Policy Planning for Aeronautical Research and Development,” civil aeronautics was served by technology in a haphazard manner.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19490518: New York’s first helicopter station began operating at pier 41 on the East River.
19510518: Charles F. Horne became Administrator of Civil Aeronautics. He succeeded Donald W. Nyrop (see October 4, 1950), who became Chairman of the Civil Aeronautics Board on this same day. (Nyrop had submitted his resignation from the CAA post on March 18.) Horne, a regular Navy officer, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1926 and received an M.S. degree in communications and electronics from Harvard in 1935. On loan from the Navy, he became Acting Director of CAA’s Airways Division in 1949.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280517: Another amendment to the Air Mail Act of 1925 (see June 3, 1926) provided that air carriers that had operated satisfactorily on mail routes for two years could exchange their contracts for “air mail route certificates” for a period not to exceed 10 years. The amendment protected the investment of the airlines in the equipment necessary for carrying out their original contracts since the life of that equipment was considerably longer than the life of those contracts. At this time, mail contracts provided virtually the only profitable form of airline operation. (See April 29, 1930.)
19850517: United Airlines pilots went on strike over the company’s plan for a two-tiered pay structure with lower pay for new pilots. The union and management soon reached an economic agreement that permitted such a two-tier system, but back-to-work issues delayed settlement until June 14.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.
19280516: Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) came into being. Backed by powerful financial groups that allied manufacturers with operating airlines, TAT was unusual for its time in giving priority to passenger service rather than mail. The airline was popularly known as the “Lindbergh Line” because of its association with the famous aviator. (See July 7, 1929, and July 19, 1930.)
19320516: The official Air Commerce Bulletin published a rule providing for a new scheduled air transport pilot rating. Those receiving the rating had to demonstrate their ability to use airway navigation aids and to fly specified manuevers guided entirely by instruments. Effective January 1, 1933, the Aeronautics Branch required the new rating for all pilots on scheduled interstate passenger service. To meet this deadline, 330 pilots obtained the rating by the end of 1932. Fifty years later, on December 31, 1982, the estimated number of certificated airline transport pilots was 73,741.
19400516: President Roosevelt called for the production of 50,000 airplanes a year.

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).