Hello.
This is Ed Goldstein with the AVS Flyer.
Welcome to this month in aviation History.
Today we were talking with FAA history intern Hannah Chan.
Hannah has been an intern with the FAA history office for almost two
and a half years.
You've probably seen some of her articles on the on the agency's history website.
This fall, Hannah will be entering her senior year at the University of Maryland.
Welcome, Hannah, to today's webcast.
To start with, can you set please shed some light on why the 1956
Grand Canyon crash is so important in FAA history.
Thanks, Ed.
On June 30th, 1956, a Trans World Airlines
super constellation and United Airlines DC seven collided over the Grand
Canyon, killing all 128 people on the two airplanes.
It was the worst aviation disaster in the U.S.
to date.
The collision happened in good weather.
And while the planes were flying
under visual flight rules or VFR and congested airspace.
The accident shocked the nation and dramatized the fact that although U.S.
air traffic had more than doubled since the end of World War Two, little
had been done to expand the capacity of the air traffic control system.
Part of the concern rested on the fact that air traffic controllers
did not have the ability to segregate VFR traffic from instrument flight rules
or IFR traffic or slower moving flights and faster ones.
Many experts recognized a need to institute positive control,
requiring IFR flights over certain portions of the airspace,
irrespective of weather conditions.
In the wake of the tragedy, Congress opened hearings to probe its relationship
to the larger concerns of airspace and air traffic control management.
And what
was President Dwight Eisenhower's reaction to the accident?
With congressional hearings ongoing?
On May 10th, 1957.
Eisenhower received a report from one of his assistants, Edward Curtis.
The report warned of a crisis in the making as a result of the inability
of the airspace management system to cope with growing congestion.
Curtis recommended the establishment of an independent Federal Aviation Agency
to consolidate all necessary aviation management functions
to support the common needs of military and civil aviation.
Until the until the new agency could be established, which would require
congressional action.
Curtis suggested establishing an airways modernization board,
which would function as an independent agency responsible for developing
and consolidating requirements to improve aviation technology, enhance safety.
On August 14th, 1957, Eisenhower established the Airways
Modernization Board,
and Elwood Quesada his special assistant for aviation matters, became its chairman.
And what was the result of the congressional hearings?
On May 21st, 1958.
Oklahoma Senator Mike Moroney introduced legislation
to create an independent Federal Aviation Agency.
By the following day, 33 senators had signed on as co-sponsors of the bill.
Representatives quickly introduced the same bill in the House.
After a series of hearings 64 years ago on August 23rd, 1958,
President Eisenhower signed the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 into law
and the FAA, a cabinet level agency, came into existence.
The FAA, however, assumed its function in stages under the provision
of the legislation.
60 days after the appointment of the first administration administrator.
Most of the operative provisions of the Act would take effect
on November 1st, 1958.
Elwood Quesada became the first administrator at the Federal Aviation
Agency, and on December 31st, 1958, the Federal Aviation Agency, as the focus
its full the full scope of its statutory responsibilities.
Happy birthday, FAA.
Happy birthday, indeed.
Thank you, Hannah, for joining us today.
I wish you well as you return to school.
That's this month with Aviation History for the AVS Flyer.
And we look forward to seeing you in the future.