The FAA

ever since the first flight was made by Orville and Wilbur Wright in 1903. Their twelve-second flight on December 17 led to the development of the first practical airplane in 1905 and launched worldwide efforts to build better flying machines. Early aviation was a dangerous business there were no rules for any one to follow, except the ones that the pilots made up themselves. Most pilots only flew from 200 to 500 feet of the ground so they could navigate by the roads and railways that were there. Low visibility and night landings were made using bonfires on the field as lighting. Fatal accidents were routine.

In 1921 the Post Office Department installed ten radio stations along the New York-San Francisco air route to transmit weather forecasts for their airmail pilots.
Two years later, the department began work on a transcontinental airway of beacons placed on towers. Spaced ten miles apart, the beacons were bright enough to be seen for 40 miles in clear weather.

The Air Mail Act of 1925 authorized the Post Office Department to contract with airlines to carry the mail. This legislation facilitated the creation of a profitable commercial airline industry, and airline companies such as Pan American Airways, Western Air Express, and Ford Air Transport Service began commercial passenger service.

Leaders of the fledgling aviation industry believed the airplane could not reach its full commercial potential without federal action to improve and maintain safety standards. At their urging, President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act in 1926. This landmark legislation charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering air commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certifying aircraft, establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation.

While the Department of Commerce worked to issue civil air regulations to improve aviation safety, a number of high profile accidents called the department’s oversight responsibilities into question. The 1931 crash of a Transcontinental and Western Air Fokker trimotor airplane that killed all on board, including popular University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, elicited public calls for greater federal oversight of aviation safety. Four years later a DC-2, also flown by Transcontinental and Western Air, crashed and killed U.S. Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico.

Members of Congress believed the bureau worked too closely with the commercial airlines and aircraft manufacturers to be objective when investigating accidents. These critics pointed out that bureau employees divided their time promoting commerce through aviation and investigating the causes of accidents. To ensure a focus on aviation safety, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938. The legislation established the independent Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA), with a three-member Air Safety Board that would conduct accident investigations and recommend ways of preventing accidents back to the main body. This is also when the Government got involved in regulating airline fares and routes.

In 1940 President Roosevelt split the CAA into two agencies, the Civil Aeronautics Administration which went back to the Department of Commerce, and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The CAA retained responsibility for ATC, airman and aircraft certification, safety enforcement, and airway development. CAB responsibilities included safety rulemaking, accident investigation, and economic regulation of the airlines.

The Federal Aviation Act on August 23, 1958. Taking a comprehensive approach to the federal role in fostering and regulating civil aeronautics and air commerce, the new law repealed the Air Commerce Act of 1926, the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, the Airways Modernization Act of 1957, and those portions of various presidential plans dealing with civil aviation. The legislation assigned the functions exercised under these repealed laws to two independent agencies — a new Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) and a Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB).

Agency Order 1, issued on January 15, 1959, established FAA’s basic organizational structure. Three staff offices headed by assistant administrators for management services, personnel and training, and plans and requirements (shortened to “plans” on July 10, 1960) assisted the administrator and his deputy. Other staff officials reporting to the administrator included the general counsel, the civil air surgeon, and the heads of the offices of public affairs, congressional liaison, and international coordination. Four bureau directors ran the agency’s major programs: research and development (testing and development of new equipment); flight standards (certification of airmen, aircraft, and air carriers); air traffic management (planning and operation of the airspace system); and facilities (acquisition and maintenance of air navigation facilities and related equipment).
Now there are over 40,000 employees of the FAA.