Federal Aviation Association History

Federal Aviation Association
The modern day and age that we live in would be amazingly different if we did not have the technology of flight. The long journey to where we are today began in the year 1903. On December 17, 1903 Orville wright, with the assistance of his brother, sustained the first powered flight. The flights duration only last a total length of twelve seconds, but it was a gigantic stepping stone into the world of aviation.
The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, ignited a determination to create more elite airplanes throughout the world. Within two years the first practical airplane was created. The development of aviation flourished for many years. Within 10 years of the first recorded flight the airplane showed its value

in the First World War by delivering mail to the soldiers.
In 1925 the Air Mail Act was passed giving birth to the profitable commercial airline industry. Western Air Express, Ford Air Transport Service and Pan American Airways were the first airline services in which they offered commercial flights to passengers. Approximately 10 years later, in the 1930’s there were four major domestic airlines. The companies which were thriving in this time period were American Air, Eastern Air, United Air and Transcontinental and Western Air. After these companies were established many airports tried to improve safety. They did this by having controllers on the runways to communicate with the pilots in the planes so they could know when it was safe for them to move their planes; this created the first system of air traffic control.
The Aviation business was thriving in this time but it was known by many in the business that there must be federal action implemented to have commercial airlines reach their maximum potential and be able to uphold a constant level of safety throughout the airports.

The airlines pushed for an act to help them reach these goals. In 1926 the Air Commerce Act Was passed. The act was passed due to the fact that President Calvin Coolidge appointed a team of investigators to look into the aviation business. The team of investigators reported back to the president threat the airline industry would flourish more at the hand of federal safety regulations. Before this act aviation in America was not regulated. There were many accidents in the 1920’s; which was exponentially increased due to the phase of barnstorming. Barnstorming was the act of stunt pilots performing tricks with their planes which much of the time were created for the most part on their own farms meaning that there was no regulation of the safety of these

aircrafts.
After the passing of this action the Secretary of Commerce was given many tasks to ensure the safety of the Commercial Airlines.

Some of the responsibilities placed upon them are: stating and then later enforcing air traffic rules, certifying aircrafts and pilots, establishing airports along with airways and creating and improving air navigation systems. The Department of Commerce’s Aeronautics Branch was later renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce. This was done because of the rapid growth of aviation in America and the demand put forth by the American public for the ability to take safe and efficient commercial flights. One of the first moves by the bureau, once established, was to have the airlines create traffic control centers to be able to deliver traffic control to pilots midflight. The first groups of traffic control stations were dominantly on the east coast. The locations were Chicago, Illinois, Cleveland, Ohio, and Newark, New Jersey. In the year 1936 the Bureau took over the traffic control centers to ensure that all regulations are bring upheld consistently throughout these stations. This helped to ensure the safety of pilots and passengers. Through in many incidents brought the depertments abilities into question. There were two main incidents within the 1930’s which created pulic outcry for better safety measurments to be implemented; the deaths during crashes of United States Senetro Bronson Cutting and the University of Notre Dame coach Knute

Rockne.
Just twelve years after Air Commerce Act of 1926, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Civil Aeronautics Act which created the independent Civil Aeronautics Authority or as commonly known the CAA. The CAA contained a Air Safety Board containing three members which would establish investigations into accidents and use that information to give advice into ways of avoiding accidents; they were also put in charge of airline fares for routes they then established. Two years later President Roosevelt split the CAA into two separate agencies, one which reverted back into the Department of Commerce, being the CAA. The other split administration was the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). CAA withheld the responsibilities of the ATC. CAB Withed the responsibilities included investigations of accident, economic regulation of the airlines and utterly most important, safety rulemaking.