A Chronology of the FAA laws

Some of the early roots of aviation came before the early years of World War I. War pilots returned home with a surplus of war aircraft and put them to good use. Some pilots used the planes for barnstorming the country and gave local rides to citizens others were used for aerobatic shows. Then about the mid-1920s, pilots then began using planes for adverting, aerial photography, crop dusting, and carry of illegal shipments of liqueur. The efforts to carry passengers where small since it only catered to wealthy people. In addition, planes were also used to carry mail at an expedited time compared to rail and horse. Here are some major milestones in laws and events that have evolved the FAA into what it is now.

1. Air Mail Act of 1925- The U.S. Air mail service saw the value in using planes to carry mail over long distance in less amount of time. In an effort to boost safety, the Post Office required pilots to have at least 500 hours of time. It was a dangerous job; however, in 1924 since the Post Office used its regulatory requirements, the Post office only had one fatality for every 463,000 miles compared to other commercial aviation that had a rate of one fatality for 13,500. A big improvement! In 1925, the Air Mail Act of 1925 was passed. It purposes was too allow the Post Office to transfer mail to private carriers. Mail was passengers were carried together; however, it was more profitable to carry mail until payment was paid by weight carried.
2. Air Commerce Act 1926- This was passed in an effort to minimize accidents and give confidence to the public that aviation is safe. The act created the Aeronautics Branch in the Department of Commerce which duty was to guarantee aircraft airworthiness, licensing pilots, make and enforcing safety rules, certificating aircraft, establishing airways, operate navigation aids, and accident investigation. The system improved safety and it was found in 1930 and 1932 that the fatality rate of 100 million passengers miles declined by 50 percent. In addition in 1934, pilot were restricted to 100 hours per month, 1000 hour during 12 months period, 30 hours for and 7 day period, 8 hours for any 24 hour period, and a 24 hour rest period every every 7 -day period. These restrictions are almost used the same today! Lastly, requirements made framework rules for the composition of flight crews, established standard for schools, improved takeoff and landing procedures, set minimum flight altitudes, weather restrictions, and the requirement for multiengine aircraft to being capable of flying with only one engine.
3. Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938-This formed the Civil Aeronautics Authority with gave government the role authority in regulating airline fares and what routes carriers would serve. In 1940, the agency was split by President FDR into the Civil Aeronautics Administration(CAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). The CAA was in charge of ATC, airman, aircraft certification, safety enforcement, and airway development. The CAB was in charge of safety regulation, accident investigation, and economic regulation of airlines. As you can see, these are the administrations that have helped parent the NTSB and FAA today.
4. Federal Aviation Act of 1958- This transfered all the CAA functions to the new Federal Aviation Agency. Air safety regulations were tranfers from CAB to FAA. This gave the FAA responsibility for civil military system.
5. U.S Dept of Transportation (DOT) 1966- this brought together all air and surface transport federal agencies together. This caused the Federal Aviation Agency name to be changed to Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA administrator would now report to the secretary of transportation, not the president. The NTSB then took over CAB and merged into DOT.
6. Airline Deregulation Act of 1978- phased out the CAB
7. Airport and Airway Improvement Act of 1982-make funds available for airport improvement and help pay for Noise Abatement Act of 1979
8. Aviation Safety and Capacity Expansion Act of 1990- authorized passenger facility charge to support fund of airport related projects that preserve safety, security, and reduce noise
9. Commuter Safety Initiative- all plane with 10 or more passengers and all turbo jets must operate under FAR part 121. This set the record straight for dispatch requirements, retirement age, new flight duty time, manual for all personnel, all cabin safety, maintenance duty limits, and new equipment standards for 10-19 seat planes(exit markings, radar, locking of doors, fire protection, etc)
   
10. September 11, 2001 and post- Department of Homeland security was formed. This removed the FAA from the majority of its security functions. In an effort of praise, the FAA grounded all flights during 9/11/2001 and several days after in an effort to secure our national airspace from further terrorist attacks.
11. Future?- It is popular with many airlines to have a Safety Management System (SMS) seal of approval from FAA. It is an extracurricular safety program used to promote popularity among customers because the airline with holds a safety seal of approval.

Need help sleeping? old FAA GA video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usdVAuKSHaE