FAA HISTORICAL CHRONOLOGY, 1926-1996 You may use this chronology in three ways: Browse by scrolling through this document. Search this document for words, phrases, or numbers (for example, Lindbergh Field or 747). To do this, select Edit, then Find, or use the Control + F command. To quickly reach the beginning of any year, search for that year preceded by an asterisk (for example, *1957). Use the index *1926 May 20, 1926: President Calvin Coolidge signed the Air Commerce Act of 1926 into law. The act instructed the Secretary of Commerce to foster air commerce; designate and establish airways; establish, operate, and maintain aids to air navigation (but not airports); arrange for research and development to improve such aids; license pilots; issue airworthiness certificates for aircraft and major aircraft components; and investigate accidents. (See Introduction.) May 23, 1926: 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 Apr 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 Jun 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 Mar 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. Jun 3, 1926: Amended legislation introduced a more workable method of paying airlines for carrying mail. The Air Mail Act of Feb 2, 1925, commonly known as the Kelly Act, had provided for transportation of mail on the basis of contracts between the Post Office Department and individual air carriers, a system that was to prove a great boon to America's fledgling airlines. Under the original Kelly Act, however, the carrier's compensation was computed as a percentage of the actual postage affixed to the mail carried. Since this computation proved cumbersome, the 1926 amendment substituted a procedure under which the airlines were paid by the pound for mail carried. (See May 17, 1928.) Jun 11, 1926: The Ford Trimotor made its first flight. The famous "Tin Goose" was a high-wing monoplane with all-metal construction and a corrugated skin. The original 4-AT model seated eight passengers, later increased to twelve, and the improved 5-AT seated up to thirteen passengers. The Trimotor became a workhorse for U.S. airlines and remained in production until 1933. Jul 2, 1926: A drop of tree seeds over a burned area in Hawaii on this date was the first recorded instance of reforesting by airplane. Jul 3, 1926: A congressional joint resolution authorized the President to detail officers of the Army Air Corps to the Commerce Department to help in promoting civil aviation, provided the details did not exceed one year. Jul 16, 1926: The Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company inaugurated the first daily passenger air service between Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., in connection with the celebration of the 150th anniversary of Declaration of Independence. Both passengers and mail were carried on a schedule of three trips in each direction daily, using three-engine Fokker monoplanes seating 10 passengers. The flying time was approximately 1 hour 30 minutes each way, and the passenger fare was $15 one way and $25 roundtrip. The service lasted for five months. Aug 11, 1926: William P. MacCracken, Jr., took office as the first Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Aeronautics (see Oct 1, 1929). He thus became the first head of the Aeronautics Branch, created in the Department of Commerce by Secretary Herbert Hoover to carry out the Secretary's responsibilities under the Air Commerce Act of 1926. MacCracken, who had assisted in drafting that act, brought to the position experience as a World War I Army pilot, as chairman of the American Bar Association's committee on aviation law, and as general counsel of National Air Transport, a contract mail carrier he helped organize in 1925. With the appointment of MacCracken as its chief, the organization of the Aeronautics Branch proceeded rapidly. Secretary Hoover believed that the duties imposed by the Air Commerce Act should be carried out by existing Department of Commerce components. Although five principal units made up the Aeronautics Branch, which ranked as a bureau, only two were structurally part of the new Branch--the Air Regulations Division and the Air Information Division. The other three units followed directions from the Branch concerning work to be undertaken, but received detailed guidance and administrative support from other bureau-level components of the Department. Thus, the Airways Division was organized within the Bureau of Lighthouses, the Aeronautical Research Division within the Bureau of Standards, and the Air Mapping Section within the Coast and Geodetic Survey. Oct 1, 1926: Northwest Airways began service as a contract mail carrier. The company began passenger service the following year, and expanded its routes in the late twenties and early thirties, changing its name to Northwest Airlines on Apr 16, 1934. Further expansion included routes to Asia, beginning in the 1940s, and for a time the carrier used the name Northwest Orient Airlines. Nov 15, 1926: The Post Office invited bids from private operators to take over the transcontinental air mail route in two sections: San Francisco-Chicago and Chicago-New York. Although no satisfactory bids were received for the Chicago-New York route, the contract for the San Francisco-Chicago route went to the organizers of Boeing Air Transport on Jan 29, 1927. After new biding, the Post Office on Apr 3, 1927, announced the award of the Chicago-New York route to the newly formed National Air Transport. (See Aug 31, 1927.) Nov 16, 1926: Dr. Louis Hopewell Bauer became the first Medical Director of the Aeronautics Branch. A major in the Medical Corps at the time of his appointment, Dr. Bauer had spent more than half of his 13- year Army career in the Air Service. (See Feb 28, 1927.) Dec 7, 1926: The first airway light beacon erected by the Aeronautics Branch began operation. The beacon was located 15 miles northeast of Moline, Ill., on the Chicago-Dallas air mail route. By Jun 30, 1927, there were 4,121 miles of lighted airways, including 2,041 miles on the transcontinental airway that had been previously lighted by the Post Office Department. (See Apr 1973.) Dec 7, 1926: The Aeronautics Branch made its first official airworthiness inspection of an American aircraft when Inspector Ralph Lockwood tested a Stinson Detroiter before its delivery to Canadian Air Express. Dec 18, 1926: The first issue of Domestic Air News, the Aeronautics Branch official publication, appeared. (See Jul 1, 1929.) Dec 31, 1926: The first Air Commerce Regulations of the Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, became effective. Promulgated under provisions of the Air Commerce Act of 1926, these regulations resulted from many conferences between the Aeronautics Branch and pilots, operators, manufacturers, the Army, the Navy, and the Post Office Department. The regulations required all aircraft engaged in interstate or foreign commerce to be licensed and marked with an assigned identification number. Pilots of licensed aircraft were required to hold private or commercial licenses. Commercial pilots were classed as either transport or industrial. Mechanics repairing aircraft engaged in air commerce were required to secure either engine or airplane mechanic licenses, or both. Owners, pilots, and mechanics affected had until Mar 1 (later extended to May 1), 1927, to place their applications on file. Pending action on these applications by the Aeronautics Branch, those applying by the specified date could continue operating as previously until Jul 1, 1927. Failure to apply as required was punishable by a $500 fine. The regulations also prescribed operational and air traffic safety rules. (See Mar 22, 1927.) *1927 Feb 28, 1927: Domestic Air News published a list of 57 physicians qualified to give medical examinations for pilot licenses. Scattered over the United States, these physicians (soon to be known as aviation medical examiners) had been selected and qualified by Aeronautics Branch Medical Director Louis H. Bauer. By Oct 1, 1927, the number of qualified physicians had grown to 188, and additional appointees were added from time to time. Besides these civilian medical examiners, all Army and Navy flight surgeons were qualified ex officio to give airman medical examinations. (See Jun 1, 1945.) Mar 22, 1927: The first general amendments to the Air Commerce Regulations took effect (see Dec 31, 1926). Among the many mandated changes were the addition of a limited commercial pilot license classification to the existing categories of transport, industrial, and private. The new category permitted pilots to carry passengers within a ten mile radius of their base while building up flight time for a transport license. The amendments altered the original system under which the identification numbers for licensed aircraft would be preceded by the letter “C” (commercial), “S” (state), or “P” (private). The “P” designation was now dropped and “X” (experimental) was added. The regulations also required the identification number of an aircraft engaged in foreign air commerce be preceded by the letter "N" (denoting U.S. registry in accordance with a 1919 international convention). The “N” was optional at this time for other licensed aircraft. Later, the identification numbers of all U.S. licensed aircraft began with “N”, followed by numbers and/or letters under systems that varied as the registration process evolved.