Federal Aviation Act of 1958

 

The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created the Federal Aviation Agency, later the name changed to the Federal Aviation Administration in April of 1967.  This piece of legislation created an government office that had the responsibility to regulate safety in the airline industry and oversee the airspace for both commercial and military use to prevent accidents.  The Civil Aeronautics Board previously had this responsibility.  The need for this legislation was due to the quickly increasing technology advances in aviation and the uptick in commercial airline traffic that was crowding the airspace.  Over the next decade or so, this legislation changed form a few times but ultimately the goal was accident prevention that included punishments for violating the law. Doing my research for this blog, I actually learned that the act required the identification of aircraft and gave the government the right to examine aircraft design to ensure for proper airworthiness.  The legislation established IFR and radar that gave air traffic control what they needed to properly move aircraft in the sky without the fear of collision.

 

US Legal, Inc. (n.d.). Federal Aviation Act – Aviation. https://aviation.uslegal.com/government-regulation-and-control/federal-aviation-act/