Commerce, Not Safety Long at Forefront of Aviation Industry Oversight

March 28, 2019 by Dan McCue
Commerce, Not Safety Long at Forefront of Aviation Industry Oversight

The issues raised Wednesday during a meeting of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation and Space went to the very heart of a conflict that has plagued aviation and the entities created to regulate it since the days of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.

The FAA of today traces its roots to the Civil Aeronautics Authority, an entity created in 1926 to both promote and regulate commercial aviation — on its face a conflict of interest.

President Calvin Coolidge created the authority by signing the Air Commerce Act on May 20, 1926. According to a New York Times account at the time, the Act directs the Secretary of Commerce “to encourage the establishment of airports, civil airways and other navigation facilities,” to consult the Secretary of Agriculture about a “necessary meteorological service” and “to study the possibilities for the development of air commerce and the aeronautical industry and trade in the United States.”

The Act focused on the creation of “air navigation facilities” and directed those in charge of airports to “provide temporary shelter for commercial aircraft and to sell fuel, oil, equipment and supplies.”

The Times article paraphrases then Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover predicting that by 1929 the United States would have “the most complete air service in the world.”

Nowhere in the piece is safety ever mentioned.

A latter New York Times article, from September 1931, noted that many modifications had been made to the Act, and went on to say that most of the “restrictions,” presumably safety regulations, incorporated into it, focused on “traffic rules,” “weather regulations” and “pilot technique” and were based on “conservative authority which has resulted from years of experience.”

“Other restrictions impressed into the code are based on the natural laws of property, and the rights of citizens to be protected against hazard,” the article said.

Still, the tone of the article is decidedly on the side of protecting commerce, the reporter, Leo Kieran stating in his lede that despite the fact flying safety had increased “fourfold” since the Act went into effect “the aviation industry is harassed periodically by individual but glaring errors in the judgment of pilots, some of which result in sensational crashes over cities.”

There’s no doubt that both the nation’s airlines and regulators were under pressure when that piece was written. Months earlier, on March 31, 1931, a crash in Bazaar, Kansas killed everyone on board, including the popular University of Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne.

Despite an outcry, little changed on the safety front.

Four years later, on May 6, 1935, a DC-2 crash near Kansas City, Missouri killed U.S. Senator Bronson Cutting of New Mexico.

Cutting’s death did have a profound national impact. In its aftermath, Congress created the Copeland Committee, which later issued a scathing report on air safety, saying regulators failed to provide adequate money to programs directly related to aircraft safety and flight navigation.

In response, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Civil Aeronautics Act in 1938. The legislation established the independent Civil Aeronautics Authority, with a three-member Air Safety Board that would conduct accident investigations and recommend ways of preventing accidents.

The legislation also expanded the government’s role in civil aviation, and created a new position, the director of the United States Bureau of Air Commerce.

Under the first director, Fred Dow Fagg Jr., the bureau was reorganized and regulations were drawn up that formed the basis for modern aviation policies. Fagg helped write the Air Commerce Act of 1938, on which many private and commercial aviation rules are based.

Among the safety measures he proposed were those requiring planes to be equipped for ”blind” flying in bad weather or at night, and requiring pilots to file flight plans.

The modern FAA was created in August 1958, with the passage of the Federal Aviation Act. Although the agency was effectively created immediately, it actually came together in stages.

With no dedicated office space for the Federal Aviation Agency, employees of the growing agency were housed in several widely dispersed buildings around Washington, DC, including some “temporary” buildings of World War II vintage.

It was during this period that the Organization Designation Authorization program came into being.

President Lyndon Johnson, concerned about the lack of a coordinated transportation system, soon decided a single department was needed to develop and carry out comprehensive transportation policies and programs across all transportation modes.

In 1966, Congress authorized the creation of a cabinet department that would combine major federal transportation responsibilities. This new Department of Transportation began full operations on April 1, 1967.

A+
a-
  • Boeing
  • Federal Aviation Administration
  • U.S. Senate
  • In The News

    Health

    Voting

    Transportation

    March 20, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    White House Unveils Sweeping Rules to Speed Switch to Cleaner Cars

    WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration on Wednesday rolled out an ambitious new regulatory regime aimed at bolstering the standards of... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Biden-Harris administration on Wednesday rolled out an ambitious new regulatory regime aimed at bolstering the standards of electric and hybrid vehicles by placing new restrictions on tailpipe emissions. According to administration officials, who briefed reporters on the new rules during a conference call... Read More

    February 27, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    House Republicans Raise Questions About EV Charger Program

    WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are raising questions about the implementation of the Biden administration’s... Read More

    WASHINGTON — Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are raising questions about the implementation of the Biden administration’s electric vehicle charger subsidy program. In a letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, a trio of Republican lawmakers led by Committee... Read More

    EPA Approves Year-Round Sales of Higher Ethanol Blend in Eight Midwest States

    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drivers in eight Midwestern states will be able to fuel up with a higher blend of... Read More

    DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drivers in eight Midwestern states will be able to fuel up with a higher blend of ethanol throughout the year under a final rule announced Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The biofuels industry and farming groups, with support of Midwest governors, sought... Read More

    February 6, 2024
    by Tom Ramstack
    FAA Administrator Grilled in Congress Over Aviation Safety Lapses

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration’s new administrator pledged more aggressive safety oversight during a congressional hearing Tuesday to avoid... Read More

    WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration’s new administrator pledged more aggressive safety oversight during a congressional hearing Tuesday to avoid disasters like the near-miss last month aboard an Alaska Airlines flight. FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said the watchdog agency is shifting to a strategy that anticipates... Read More

    January 29, 2024
    by Dan McCue
    ExxonMobil Drilling First Lithium Well in Arkansas

    SPRING, Texas — ExxonMobil has begun drilling its first lithium well in southwest Arkansas, an area known to be rich... Read More

    SPRING, Texas — ExxonMobil has begun drilling its first lithium well in southwest Arkansas, an area known to be rich in the soft, silvery white metal, with an eye toward becoming a leading supplier for electric vehicles by 2030. Lithium is essential to the production of... Read More

    Cold Hard Facts: Winter EV Charging Woes Prove Need for Consumer Choice and Smarter Policy

    In the United States, transportation accounts for close to 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, if we’re going to achieve our... Read More

    In the United States, transportation accounts for close to 30% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, if we’re going to achieve our carbon reduction targets, addressing and solving the problems associated with transportation sector-based carbon emissions is imperative. It has also been quite cold across the country and... Read More

    News From The Well
    scroll top