Federal Aviation Administration

Man has always with the fascination of flight, and in 1903 aviation became a reality. Orville Wright (the first unlicensed aviator) accomplished the first ever power sustained flight on December 17th, 1903. Since that day, aviation has become an interest shared by many. With the first flight accomplished: the never ending race to develop an aircraft as means of transportation began. In the beginning aviation fatalities were a routine occurrence, with pilots flying at only 200 to 500 feet to maintain a reference with the ground at all times. Many night landing areas were marked with a camp fire to designate the aircraft was in the correct area for landing. With the aviation industry growing the government developed the Air Mail Act of 1925. In 1926 Congress passed the Air Commerce Act giving Department of Commerce regulatory authority over commercial aviation and responsibility to promote the aviation industry. This lead to the creation of the commercial aviation industry.
As the aviation industry became more utilized, aviation mishaps were also on the raise. In 1934 the Department of Commerce renamed the Aeronautics Branch the Bureau of Air Commerce. This name change hoped to instill the importance of the aviation industry to the nation. In 1938 the Civil Aeronautics Act was signed by President Roosevelt. With this act came an Air Safety Board that was to conduct investigations and recommend ways of preventing accidents.
Following a devastating commercial aviation midair collision leaving 128 people dead, the President signed the Federal Aviation Act in 1958. The act named the Federal Aviation Agency responsible for the safety of civil aviation. In 1966, Congress authorized the creation of the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration. The main duty of the two organizations was to establish rules regulations for the aviation industry. At this time, the National Transportation Safety Board was also established. They were created to determine and report the cause of transportation accidents and conduct programs to help prevent them from occurring.
Since the start of aviation in 1903, the safety of the industry has continually improved. The agency has assisted aviation in becoming an industry capable of enabling Americans to leisurely travel or to conduct business around the globe safely. The FAA has created the safest, most reliable, most efficient, and most productive air transportation system in the world.