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Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19360410: The President signed legislation that extended the jurisdiction of the Railway Labor Act to airline employees. The act guaranteed the right of collective bargaining and provided mechanisms, such as mediation and arbitration, for settling labor-management issues. It also provided for investigation of representation disputes and for certification of employee organizations as representatives of crafts or classes of carrier employees.
19530410: The U.S. Air Force decided to proceed with the production of SAGE (Semiautomatic Ground Environment), an electronic defense system developed by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory. (See July 10, 1956.)
19700410: Some 3,000 air traffic controllers, all members of PATCO, engaged in a “sick-out” strike.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19470409: CAA granted its first approval of the Air Forces’ Ground Control Approach (GCA) radar device for commercial planes, authorizing its use by Pan American Airways at Gander, Newfoundland. (See April 3, 1947, and July 11, 1947.)
19670409: The Boeing 737 made its first flight. On December 15, 1967, FAA type-certificated the airliner, a short-range jet transport with swept wings, wing-mounted twin engines, and a maximum capacity of 107 passengers, for operation with a two-man cockpit crew. The plane entered scheduled airline service on February 10, 1968.
19700409: Boeing 727-200 “stretch jets” were allowed to operate at Washington National Airport, initially on a temporary basis.

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19470408: American Overseas Airlines obtained rights for commercial service to Finland, the first U.S. route to the Soviet sphere in Europe.
19590408: CAB ruled that foreign airlines could not carry commercial traffic moving only between U.S. cities. Consistent with U.S. international commitments, the ruling was viewed as strengthening the stand of U.S. airlines against further invasion of domestic markets by foreign carriers.
19650408: FAA demonstrated, with the manufacturer’s assistance, a McDonnell Aircraft Corporation 188 STOL (short takeoff and landing) aircraft at Dulles International Airport as part of the agency’s long-range study of interurban air transportation (see April 1966).

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19410407: The War Department-sponsored Interdepartmental Air Traffic Control Board began operations on this date. The IATCB included representatives of the Army, Navy, CAA, and CAB, and became an important coordinating agency for the location of military air installations. Forerunner to the later Air Coordinating Committee (see March 27, 1945), IATCB helped evolve many of the procedures for the control and regulation of air traffic used during the war. The Board was abolished on May 31, 1946.
19610407: FAA rescinded previous orders that had authorized the establishment of field area offices in accordance with recommendations of Project Straight-Line. (See September 2,

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19270406: William P. MacCracken, Jr., Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics, received Pilot License No. 1, a private pilot license, from the Aeronautics Branch. MacCracken thus became the first person to obtain a pilot license from a civilian agency of the U.S. Government. (During World War I, the Joint Army and Navy Board on Aeronautic Cognizance had issued flying licenses to civilian individuals and companies. The Board acted under the authority of a Presidential proclamation, issued on February 28, 1918, which described the program as a wartime security measure; however, the proclamation remained in effect until July 31, 1919, more than eight months after the Armistice.) Before

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19880405: FAA decommissioned the last radar bright display equipment being used at a domestic air route traffic control center when it shut down the unit at the Los Angeles Center. (See April 27, 1960.) On the same day, FAA terminated the last broadband radar service, when it stopped that service at the Paso Robles, Calif., long-range radar facility. FAA had gradually replaced the broadband with the Direct Access Radar Channel (see February 2, 1981).
19910405: An Embraer 120 commuter plane crashed on approach to Brunswick/Glynco Jetport, Ga. All 23 persons aboard the Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight died in the accident, including former Sen. John G. Tower (R-Tex.). Citing several incidents, FAA during May required inspections of certain Hamilton Standard propellers used on the Embraer 120 and

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19470404: The Convention on International Civil Aviation came into force after being ratified by 26 countries. (Among these was the United States, which had ratified the Convention on August 9, 1946.) The Convention had been drawn up at a conference in Chicago over two years before (see November 1-December 7, 1944). The fact that it was now in force officially created the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to succeed its temporary predecessor, PICAO (see June 6, 1945). The first General Assembly of ICAO was held in Montreal during May 6-28.
19470404: CAB certificated Piedmont Airlines as a local service carrier. The airline, whose original routes ran along the Piedmont-Appalachia area, began operations on February 20, 1948. Piedmont expanded steadily during the succeeding decades, then grew rapidly after

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19470403: CAA began in service testing of GCA (ground controlled approach) radar systems at Washington National and Chicago Municipal Airports. This modified radar precision landing equipment had been developed for military use, loaned to CAA by the Army Air Forces, and installed by the Airborne Instrument Laboratory of the Air Transport Association. New York’s La Guardia Airport received similar equipment later in the year. (See December 31, 1945, and April 9, 1947.)
Another operational service test, started about the same time at Washington National Airport, involved a microwave early-warning radar (MEW), one of the best long-range sets developed during the war. A joint CAA/Army Air Forces undertaking, this test aimed at developing effective means of coordinating MEW data and information from ATC flight progress boards.
19700403: Under a rule effective this date, FAA would not approve Federal-aid airport program (FAAP) projects involving the displacement and relocation of people until adequate replacement housing was provided for (by construction, if

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19590402: FAA announced the adoption of a new “mobile lounge” concept of transporting airline passengers between the terminal building and parked aircraft at Washington’s planned jet airport at Chantilly, Va. Making possible a reduction in terminal building size, the mobile lounge system was intended to eliminate finger docks, tunnels, and other devices to get passengers to their airplane. Although passengers at some European airports traveled between terminal and aircraft on buses, this was the first time that a specially designed vehicle had been proposed for this purpose. On November 27, 1961, FAA reaffirmed the concept for use at

Full FAA Chronology at this link.

19460401: CAA assumed custody from the Army of the files and records relating to instrument approach procedures, and became responsible for processing and approving standardized instrument approach procedures for all civil airports under CAA’s jurisdiction. (See May 1, 1945.)
19460401: Standards for the Control of Instrument Flight Rule Traffic, a manual approved by the operations executives of the Army Air Forces, Navy, Coast Guard, and CAA, became effective. Its adoption recognized the need for common procedures in the control of civil-military air traffic.
19480401: CAA assumed administrative control of the Landing Aids Experimental Station at Arcata, Calif. The station was a joint civil-military,