Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is an agency of the United States

Department of Transportation with authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of
civil aviation in the U.S. (National Airworthiness Authority). The Federal Aviation Act
of 1958 created the group under the name "Federal Aviation Agency", and adopted
its current name in 1967 when it became a part of the United States Department of
Transportation.

The Federal Aviation Administration's major roles include:

 Regulating U.S. commercial space transportation

 Regulating air navigation facilities' geometry and Flight inspection standards
 Encouraging and developing civil aeronautics, including new aviation
technology
 Issuing, suspending, or revoking pilot certificates
 Regulating civil aviation to promote safety, especially through local offices
called Flight Standards District Offices
 Developing and operating a system of air traffic control and navigation for
both civil and military aircraft
 Researching and developing the National Airspace System and civil
aeronautics
 Developing and carrying out programs to control aircraft noise and other
environmental effects of civil aviation

Activities

In December 2000, an organization within the FAA called the Air Traffic Organization,
or ATO, was set up by presidential executive order. This became the Air Navigation
Service Provider for the airspace of the United States and for the New York (Atlantic)
and Oakland (Pacific) oceanic areas. It is a full member of the Civil Air Navigation
Services Organization.

The FAA issues a number of awards to holders of its licenses. Among these are
demonstrated proficiencies as a mechanic, an instructor, a 50-year aviator, or as a
safe pilot. The latter, the FAA "Wings Program", provides a series of ten badges for
pilots who have undergone several hours of training since their last award. A higher
level can be claimed each year. For more information see "FAA Advisory Circular 61-
91H".
FAA ordered its inspectors March 18, 2008 to reconfirm that airlines are complying
with federal rules after revelations that Southwest Airlines flew dozens of aircraft
without certain mandatory inspections. The FAA exercises surprise Red Team drills
on national airports annually.

Regions and Aeronautical Center Operations

From an operational standpoint, the FAA is divided into nine regions plus
Headquarters in Washington DC and the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center in
Oklahoma City. The nine regions are

 Alaskan – Anchorage Alaska

 Northwest Mountain – Renton, WA
 Western Pacific – Hawthorne, CA
 Southwest – Fort Worth, TX
 Central – Kansas City, MO
 Great Lakes – Chicago, IL
 Southern – Atlanta, GA
 Eastern – Jamaica, NY
 New England – Burlington, VT

History

FAA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

The Air Commerce Act of May 20, 1926, is the cornerstone of the federal
government's regulation of civil aviation. This landmark legislation was passed at
the urging of the aviation industry, whose leaders believed the airplane could not
reach its full commercial potential without federal action to improve and maintain
safety standards. The Act charged the Secretary of Commerce with fostering air
commerce, issuing and enforcing air traffic rules, licensing pilots, certifying aircraft,
establishing airways, and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation. The newly
created Aeronautics Branch, operating under the Department of Commerce assumed
primary responsibility for aviation oversight.
In fulfilling its civil aviation responsibilities, the Department of Commerce initially
concentrated on such functions as safety regulations and the certification of pilots
and aircraft. It took over the building and operation of the nation's system of lighted
airways, a task that had been begun by the Post Office Department. The Department
of Commerce improved aeronautical radio communications and introduced radio
beacons as an effective aid to air navigation.

The Aeronautics Branch was renamed the Bureau of Air Commerce in 1934 to reflect
its enhanced status within the Department. As commercial flying increased, the
Bureau encouraged a group of airlines to establish the first three centers for
providing air traffic control (ATC) along the airways. In 1936, the Bureau itself took
over the centers and began to expand the ATC system. The pioneer air traffic
controllers used maps, blackboards, and mental calculations to ensure the safe
separation of aircraft traveling along designated routes between cities.

In 1938, the Civil Aeronautics Act transferred the federal civil aviation
responsibilities from the Commerce Department to a new independent agency, the
Civil Aeronautics Authority. The legislation also expanded the government's role by
giving them the authority and the power to regulate airline fares and to determine
the routes that air carriers would serve.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt split the authority into two agencies in 1940, the
Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB). CAA
was responsible for ATC, airman and aircraft certification, safety enforcement, and
airway development. CAB was entrusted with safety regulation, accident
investigation, and economic regulation of the airlines. The CAA was part of the
Department of Commerce. The CAB was an independent federal agency.

On the eve of America's entry into World War II, CAA began to extend its ATC
responsibilities to takeoff and landing operations at airports. This expanded role
eventually became permanent after the war. The application of radar to ATC helped
controllers in their drive to keep abreast of the postwar boom in commercial air
transportation. In 1946, meanwhile, Congress gave CAA the added task of
administering the federal-aid airport program, the first peacetime program of
financial assistance aimed exclusively at promoting development of the nation's civil
airports.

The approaching era of jet travel, and a series of midair collisions (most notable was
the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision), prompted passage of the Federal Aviation
Act of 1958. This legislation gave the CAA's functions to a new independent body,
the Federal Aviation Agency. The act transferred air safety regulation from the CAB
to the new FAA, and also gave the FAA sole responsibility for a common civil-military
system of air navigation and air traffic control. The FAA's first administrator, Elwood
R. Quesada, was a former Air Force general and adviser to President Eisenhower.
The same year witnessed the birth of the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), created in the wake of the Soviet launching of the first
artificial satellite. NASA assumed NACA's role of aeronautical research while
achieving world leadership in space technology and exploration.

In 1967, a new U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) combined major federal

responsibilities for air and surface transport. Federal Aviation Agency's name
changed to the Federal Aviation Administration as it became one of several agencies
(e.g., Federal Highway Administration, Federal Railroad Administration, the Coast
Guard, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway Commission) within DOT (albeit the largest).
The FAA administrator would no longer report directly to the president but would
instead report to the secretary of transportation. New programs and budget requests
would have to be approved by the DOT, which would then include these requests in
the overall budget and submit it to the president.

At the same time, a new National Transportation Safety Board took over the Civil
Aeronautics Board's (CAB) role of investigating and determining the causes of
transportation accidents and making recommendations to the secretary of
transportation. CAB was merged into DOT with its responsibilities limited to the
regulation of commercial airline routes and fares.

The FAA gradually assumed additional functions. The hijacking epidemic of the
1960s had already brought the agency into the field of civil aviation security. In
response to the hijackings on September 11, 2001, this responsibility is now
primarily taken by the Department of Homeland Security. The FAA became more
involved with the environmental aspects of aviation in 1968 when it received the
power to set aircraft noise standards. Legislation in 1970 gave the agency
management of a new airport aid program and certain added responsibilities for
airport safety. During the 1960s and 1970s the FAA also started to regulate high
altitude (over 500 feet) kite and balloon flying.

By the mid-1970s, the FAA had achieved a semi-automated air traffic control system
using both radar and computer technology. This system required enhancement to
keep pace with air traffic growth, however, especially after the Airline Deregulation
Act of 1978 phased out the CAB's economic regulation of the airlines. A nationwide
strike by the air traffic controllers union in 1981 forced temporary flight restrictions
but failed to shut down the airspace system. During the following year, the agency
unveiled a new plan for further automating its air traffic control facilities, but
progress proved disappointing. In 1994, the FAA shifted to a more step-by-step
approach that has provided controllers with advanced equipment.

In 1979 the Congress authorized the FAA to work with major commercial airports to
define noise pollution contours and investigate the feasibility of noise mitigation by
residential retrofit programs. Throughout the 1980s these charters were
implemented.
In the 1990s, satellite technology received increased emphasis in the FAA's
development programs as a means to improvements in communications, navigation,
and airspace management. In 1995, the agency assumed responsibility for safety
oversight of commercial space transportation, a function begun eleven years before
by an office within DOT headquarters. The FAA was responsible for the decision to
ground flights after the September 11 attacks.

Criticism

Many experts on the FAA have been critical of what they perceive as fundamental
problems with the FAA in conducting oversight on the airlines and pilots, predicated
on the belief, as expressed by the FAA itself, that both the airlines and pilots are
their customers. Retired NASA Office of Inspector General Senior Special Agent
Joseph Gutheinz, who formerly was a Special Agent with both the U.S. Department of
Transportation Office of Inspector General and FAA Security, is one of the most
outspoken critics of the FAA. Rather than commend the FAA for imposing a 10.2
million dollar fine against Southwest Airlines for its failure to conduct mandatory
inspections in 2008 he was quoted as saying the following in an Associated Press
story: "Penalties against airlines that violate FAA directives should be stiffer. At
$25,000 per violation, (which is how the 10.2 million dollar figure was reached)
Gutheinz said, airlines can justify rolling the dice and taking the chance on getting
caught. He also said the FAA is often too quick to bend to pressure from airlines and
pilots.

The History of U.S. Flight Inspection

Through the brief but brilliant span of aviation history, the United States has been at
the leading edge of advancing technology, from airframe and engines to navigation
aids and avionics. One key component of American aviation progress has always
been the airway and navigation system that today makes all-weather
transcontinental flight unremarkable and routine. From the initial, tentative efforts
aimed at supporting the infant air mail service of the early 1920s and the
establishment of the airline industry in the 1930s and 1940s, air navigation later
guided aviation into the jet age and now looks to satellite technology for direction.
Today, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides, as one of many
services, the management and maintenance of the American airway system. A little-
seen but still important element of that maintenance process is airborne flight
inspection.

Flight inspection has long been a vital part of providing a safe air transportation
system. The concept is almost as old as the airways themselves. The first flight
inspectors flew war surplus open-cockpit biplanes, bouncing around with airmail
pilots and watching over a steadily growing airway system predicated on airway
light beacons to provide navigational guidance. The advent of radio navigation
brought an increased importance to the flight inspector, as his was the only platform
that could evaluate the radio transmitters from where they were used: in the air.
With the development of the Instrument Landing System (ILS) and the Very High
Frequency Omni-directional Range (VOR), flight inspection became an essential
element to verify the accuracy of the system. In the modern airspace system, GPS
satellites now provide the basis for air navigation and signals further changes to
aviation. Flight inspection has been there all along, quiet and meticulous, changing
and developing through various government agencies charged with air safety: the
Aeronautics Branch, Bureau of Air Commerce, the Civil Aeronautics Agency, through
to the modern FAA. With continued growth of air transportation, and new
technologies to support that growth, the essential means of flight inspection also
changed, but its foundation, that of ensuring aviation safety, still remains the same.

American flight inspection began in function, if not yet in form, with the development
of an airway system in the early 1920s. The infant airways were created at the
behest of the U.S. Air Mail Service operated by the Post Office Department. The Post
Office developed the concept of the airway to provide a reliable means of safely
transporting the mail by airplanes on predetermined routes and schedules. The Post
Office initially sought to establish a coast-to-coast mail route from New York to San
Francisco, and the Air Mail Service laid out a route that followed a line from New
York to Cleveland to Chicago to Omaha to Cheyenne to Salt Lake City to San
Francisco. By 1920 air mail was flown from New York to Chicago in one day on the
new airway.

However, in the early days, the term "airway" was very loosely construed, as there
was no actual route specified, nor were there any means of aerial navigation
provided. There were no aeronautical charts, no terrain or obstruction information,
and no radio capability for weather, communication, or navigation, much less
anything resembling air traffic control. There was no civil aviation authority at either
the state or federal level. There were neither flight rules nor, at that point, a real
need for them. Airplanes and pilots were unlicensed and anyone with a self-
perceived skill could build his own version of a flying machine and sell it to anyone
who wanted an airplane. But this romantic idea of ultimate aeronautical freedom
was heavily mortgaged with the prospect that aviation, without the ability to provide
a safe, reliable, and productive means of transport, would remain relegated to the
circus sideshow as a venue for daredevils. And, with the lack of effective
aeronautical navigation, operations were limited to daytime flights in good weather,
obviating most of the advantages held by the airplane as a transportation medium.
The mid-1920s saw the beginning of federal navigational aids as efforts were made
to provide lighted airway beacons along the airways to allow safe nighttime
navigational assistance.

Drawing upon the methods of marine navigation, airway beacons were developed by
the Post Office. The earliest lighting consisted both of rotating beacons and fixed
course lights. The beacons were placed 10 miles apart and the 1,000-watt lamps
were amplified by 24-inch parabolic mirrors into a beam exceeding one million
candlepower. They were mounted onto 51-foot towers anchored on 70-foot long
concrete-slab arrows, painted black with yellow outline for daytime identification
and pointing along the airway. Course lights were also mounted on the light towers,
projecting a 100,000 candlepower searchlight beam along the airway course and
flashing a Morse-code number between one and nine that identified the individual
beacon along a hundred mile segment of airway. Intermediate landing fields were
spaced every 30 miles along an airway. These fields were primarily used for
emergencies during poor weather or for mechanical difficulties. Pilots could locate
these intermediate fields at night by green flashing lights installed on the nearest
airway beacon.

The transcontinental segment between Chicago and Cheyenne was equipped with
the beacons and nighttime service was begun on July 1, 1924. Additional segments
were lit both east and west and the entire route east of Rock Springs, Wyoming, was
lit by July 1925. Work continued to complete the lighting of the entire route, and the
segment between Rock Springs and Salt Lake City was lit in 1926. The last segment
over the California Sierras, with the most difficult terrain, was not completed until
1929 and was done by the new Aeronautics Branch of the Department of Commerce.
As the airway was lit, the movement of airmail became a viable service. Even with
only the eastern two-thirds of the route available for night flying, the mail could still
move from San Francisco to New York in 29 hours, versus 72 hours for the routine
rail service. By the mid-1920s, airmail was the greatest success story of commercial
aviation and became the foundation upon which the passenger airlines were built.

Whether or not these very early routes enjoyed any type of airborne inspection by Air
Mail pilots has been lost to history. However, the passage of the Air Commerce Act
of 1926 transferred the airway system to the Department of Commerce, which
created an Aeronautics Branch with an Airways Division. With the installation of
radio navigation aids, the Airways Division established airborne flight inspection as a
safety requirement and by 1932 six pilots were employed by the branch as airway
patrol pilots. These six pilots and the operations they conducted were the real
predecessors of the flight inspection mission as it is known today.

The first practical radio navigation aid, introduced

in 1928, was the low frequency Four Course Radio Range. Four directional lobes of
signal were transmitted from the range station, two with a Morse code letter "A"
(dot-dash) and two with an "N" (dash-dot). The lobes alternated so a course was
produced where a balance of the "A" and "N" signals produced a steady tone. Pilots
listened on their radio receivers to the transmitted signals and if a pilot heard a
preponderance of "A" or "N," he knew he was off course and could make a course
adjustment. The courses from two separate ranges could then be aligned with each
other to create an airway segment. Station identification, also transmitted in Morse
code, interrupted the navigation signal twice each minute. This new aid, rudimentary
as it was, nonetheless created the first all-weather airways. The four-course ranges
required airborne evaluation by the patrol pilots. They checked the radiated signals
to make sure the transmitted courses provided proper airway alignment over the
desired ground track. Minor adjustments were made by unbalancing the power
output from the four antennas to shift the courses.

Each of the airway patrol pilots

inspected 3,000-3,500 miles of Federal airways. The pilots were assigned to a
Lighthouse district and patrol offices were established within that area. The Airways
Patrol Headquarters were scattered at offices spread across the country. A variety
of aircraft were initially assigned to the patrol

pilots.  The early patrol fleet consisted of

five Bellanca Pacemakers, a Curtiss-Wright Sedan-15, several Stearman C-3Bs, and
three Stinson SM-8As. Three earlier Douglas M-4s were phased out by the end of
1930. Most of the aircraft were utilized for both airway survey work and airway flight
inspection. Later, Stinson SR-8Bs with an electrical system for radios replaced some
of the early fleet.

In 1938, the Bureau of Air Commerce was

reorganized as the Civil Aeronautics Authority, with newly established administrative
Regions given charge of flight inspection within their own area. In 1940, the Civil
Aeronautics Authority gave way to the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA),
establishing the organizational framework that carried forth to the modern FAA. With
U.S. involvement in World War II looming, flight inspection remained a relatively
small organization within the framework of each of the regional offices. Beginning in
1940, fifteen new twin-engine Cessna T-50 Bobcats were purchased for use in the
flight inspection fleet.

Work had progressed steadily since 1928 on the development of an instrument

landing system. In that year, the U.S. Bureau of Standards began work for the
Aeronautics Branch, incorporating a low frequency loop-type range localizer and
position marker beacon. Army Lt. James Doolittle conducted a series of
demonstration flights resulting in the first successful blind landing on September 23,
1929. As the conversion to the VHF frequency range was desired, research continued
at the CAA Indianapolis Experimental Station, Indiana, where the first modern VHF
ILS installation was demonstrated to the military and the airline industry in early
1940.

This
system incorporated all the elements of the modern ILS, including aircraft
instrumentation, which remains in use today. The localizer signal was standardized
to use a VHF frequency in the range of 108 to 112 megahertz (MHz), while the glide
path transmitter utilized a range of 330 to 335 MHz. Two marker beacons, termed the
outer and inner marker, each transmitted on 75 MHz and illuminated a purple and
amber light, respectively, in the cockpit. Also installed was a prototype runway
approach lighting system for demonstration.

The development of the radio direction finder and, later, automatic direction finder
(ADF) receivers enabled the use of low and mid-frequency non-directional beacons
(NDB) to also establish airways. However, work progressed on converting the low
frequency airway navigation transmitters to the VHF band, desirable due to the
reduction in interference in the higher frequency range.

The Visual-Aural Range (VAR) was the first

navigation range developed to utilize the higher frequency bands, but even though
the VAR system introduced both the VHF frequency band and direct course read-outs
to the airway navigational system, it was still limited by the number of navigable
courses. The VAR system was installed on the New York-Chicago airway for
demonstration purposes in 1941. However, the shortage of VHF equipment caused by
the war effort impeded the aircraft installations and minimized the effect of VHF
navigation through the war years.

The delay bode well for the development of the first

truly versatile en route navigation system. The VOR was under steady development
since 1937 and first deemed practical in late 1943. The creation of a rotating
radiation pattern transmitted simultaneously with a stable reference signal created
an unlimited number of possible courses and made true multi-course VHF navigation
a reality. A frequency range of 112 to 118 MHz was set aside for the new navaid. The
old four-course radio range was instantly made obsolete with the perfection of the
VOR. Widespread installation of the VOR system in the U.S. began after the war and
continued into the 1950s. When the first VOR airway was established in 1951, over
271 VOR units had been installed and commissioned. By June 1, 1952 over 45,000
miles of airways utilizing the VOR were in operation.

The advent of the ILS and VOR dramatically increased the importance of flight
inspection as each installation required extensive commissioning checks and
mandated regular rechecks of the transmitters. Instrument procedures developed
using the ILS and, particularly, the versatile VOR were such that dependable
instrument approaches would be possible at many smaller airports not previously
used for instrument flying. These procedures had to be developed by the CAA regions
and flight checked by the regional flight inspection sections, which only added to the
potential workload. To handle the increased work, the CAA obtained nearly thirty
war surplus Douglas C-47s and seventy-five Twin Beech C-45s. At least one C-47 and
several Twin Beeches were assigned to each of the regional aircraft fleets for flight
checks.

The installation of the VOR ranges went far to establish a reliable navigational tool.
Distance Measuring Equipment, or DME, was then developed to enhance navigation
by providing range information with the VOR signal and by 1950 the CAA was pairing
DMEs with VOR transmitters to create VOR/DMEs. The U.S. military worked to
develop its own navaid, creating the Tactical Air Navigation system, or TACAN,
which provided both azimuth and range information to military aircraft. In 1957, a
presidential commission mandated the dual installation of VOR and TACANs as
VORTACs to create a national system of airways. The TACAN transmitters provided
the DME signal for civil aircraft. In 1959, the International Civil Aviation Organization
(ICAO) selected the VOR as the navigational-aid standard for the international
community.

Through the early 1950s, the CAA developed a series of ambitious plans for the
widespread installation of standardized navigational aids consisting of VOR/DMEs for
the airways, plus long-range and terminal radar equipment and ILSs for airport
approaches. However, federal budget restrictions resulted in little action taken with
the CAA airspace plans. The continued growth of civil aviation and the advent of the
jet airliner soon pushed airspace problems into the headlines. Several mid-air
collisions, including one over the Grand Canyon in June 1956, pressed the Congress
and federal government into making a dramatic new commitment to expanding the
air navigation system. By the end of 1956 an overhaul of the system was begun, with
a price tag in excess of $450 million.

For CAA flight inspection, the planned

installation of hundreds of new VORs and ILSs demanded a likewise dramatic
increase in flight inspection capability. Toward that end, the U.S. Navy transferred
forty surplus R4Ds (Navy DC-3s) to the CAA for modification into the new "Type II"
DC-3 flight inspection aircraft. The Type II DC-3 became the standard flight
inspection aircraft system wide for nearly twenty years, with the CAA eventually
operating nearly sixty DC-3s. The prime mission of the DC-3 fleet was envisioned to
be ILS and terminal approach inspection, plus the detailed commissioning
inspections of all new facilities. Each DC-3 operated with two pilots and at least one
airborne electronics technician, a crew concept that has carried forth to modern
flight inspection.
  
Also, to explore how VORs and other navaids performed at the high altitudes new jet
aircraft were now routinely flying, the U.S. Air Force agreed to loan two Martin B-57
Canberra bombers to the CAA for high-altitude checks. The Air Force also pulled two
Boeing KC-135s from the production line for fitting as high-altitude flight inspection
aircraft for loan to the CAA.

The Semi-Automatic Flight Inspection

(SAFI) program was developed in the late 1950s to perform long-range airway-type
inspection. Five U.S. Air Force Convair C-131s were obtained and modified with DME
positioning sensors and computerized recorders. The Convairs were fitted with
Allison turboprop engines before they joined the flight inspection fleet. The SAFI
program flew predetermined grids across the country looking at each of the en route
VORTACs as part of the entire airspace system, a mission that continued until the
early 1990s when VORTAC reliability was established and determined predictable.

Before most of this new equipment had

been delivered, the CAA was transformed into the new Federal Aviation Agency
(FAA). The desire to enhance the authority and federal control of the entire airspace
system engendered the Congress to pass the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. This
legislation created a new independent agency, separated from the Department of
Commerce, and assigned it the final jurisdiction over civil and military aviation as
they participated in the national airspace system.

The new FAA faced many problems with

the expanding airspace system, but quickly established itself as a technically-
proficient, competent authority on aviation matters. In 1959, the U.S. Army and Navy
transferred their flight inspection programs to the FAA. The U.S. Air Force, under the
prodding of a 1962 Presidential executive order, developed a new sense of
cooperation with the FAA and, with "Operation Friendship," transferred much of its
own flight inspection capability to the FAA. This transfer included its fleet of Douglas
AC-54s, Douglas AC-47s, and Convair AT-29s for the FAA to perform routine Air Force
flight inspection both domestically and internationally. The combat flight inspection
mission was retained by the Air Force using Lockheed C-140 Jetstars in several
flight inspection squadrons.

On the international front, the FAA

worked in cooperation with the State Department and other agencies to help develop
foreign air navigation systems that included flight inspection. In 1965, for example,
nine DC-3s and DC-4s, obtained both from FAA and military sources, were provided to
the governments of Columbia, Kenya, Mexico, and Vietnam for use in flight
inspection or transportation. Other countries that received such assistance over the
years included Canada, Spain, Brazil, Greece, Somalia, Argentina, and Chile. The FAA
was also instrumental in developing a portable flight inspection package that many
nations found more practical to use than establishing a dedicated flight inspection
aircraft fleet.

The early 1960s were primarily devoted

to standardization of the flight inspection mission across the regions and solidifying
the gains made in the late 1950s. Installation of new navaids continued at a rapid
pace. By the mid-1960s, FAA flight inspection remained organized at the regional
office level but performed from nearly twenty Flight Inspection District Offices
(FIDOs) spread across the country. The SAFI program was based at three Flight
Inspection Field Offices (FIFOs), with the entire flight inspection program
administered from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, by the Bureau of Flight Standards
within the FAA. Other aircraft employed in the FAA fleet included five Lockheed L-
749 Constellations for Pacific and Far East flight inspection and several Lockheed
TV-2s (T-33) for high-altitude work.
 In April 1967, a reorganization occurred
that transferred the independent Federal Aviation Agency to the new Department of
Transportation to become the Federal Aviation Administration. Beginning in the late
1960s, an effort was made to consolidate the flight inspection fleet organization with
a smaller, more efficient fleet. The DC-3s, though still reliable, were deemed too slow
for the modern airspace system. Also, new technology using inertial navigation with
DME updating and computer analysis was available that made the DC-3 installations
obsolete. The FAA purchased a fleet of fifteen Sabreliner 80s to replace the DC-3s,
with an additional fleet of five Sabreliner 40s for international work and five Aero
Commander AC-1121 Jet Commanders to supplement the Sabreliner fleet. The
Sabreliner 80s were equipped with the new Automated Flight Inspection System
(AFIS) that utilized modern positioning technology with automated flight inspection
analysis.

In 1972, the entire flight inspection

program was reorganized into the Flight Inspection National Field Office (FINFO) and
removed from most of the regional organizations. With the delivery of the new jet
fleet, a dozen of the FIDOs were closed and consolidated to nine FIFOs, seven
located domestically with two overseas offices at Tokyo and Frankfurt. In 1975, the
FINFO was reorganized as the Flight Standards National Field Office (FSNFO). In
1982, the flight inspection program was removed from Flight Standards and
incorporated into the new Aviation Standards National Field Office (AVN). AVN later
incorporated other elements of Flight Standards including the Airmen and Aircraft
Registry.

During the mid-1980s, in an effort to address fuel

conservation and the structural condition of the Sabreliner 80 fleet, a decision was
made to purchase a new flight inspection aircraft to replace the Sabre 80.
Beechcraft offered a modified version of its Beechcraft BE-300 Super King Air
turboprop-powered corporate transport. In 1986 the FAA ordered 19 of the Super
King with an upgraded AFIS system, with deliveries commencing in 1988.

In 1991, the FAA assumed the entire U.S. Air

Force flight inspection mission and accepted the transfer of the six Hawker C-29s
(BAe-800) Air Force flight inspection aircraft into its fleet. The Hawkers were utilized
for international flight inspection, supplanting the last of the FAA Sabreliners. Also,
in 1991, the Aviation Standards National Field Office became the Office of Aviation
System Standards (AVN). For a short period the field offices were redesignated as
Flight Inspection Area Offices (FIAOs), by then located at Sacramento, California;
Battle Creek, Michigan; Atlanta, Georgia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Anchorage,
Alaska; and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. An International Flight Inspection Office
(IFIO) was established at Oklahoma City to perform the world-ranging FAA flight
inspection mission. Later, the field offices regained the FIFO designation and the
Oklahoma City office became the Office of Special Operations (OSO). In the mid-
1990s, instrument flight procedure development was consolidated in the new
National Flight Procedures Office (NFPO) in Oklahoma City. AVN was also
reorganized, losing the Airmen and Aircraft Registry and other regulatory functions,
concentrating the mission to procedure development, flight inspection, and aircraft
maintenance of the flight inspection fleet. In 2000, the aeronautical charting
functions established in 1926 within the Department of Commerce were transferred
to the FAA and the National Aeronautical Charting Office (NACO) was established in
AVN.

With the 1990s came also the development of Global Positioning System (GPS)
technology, a satellite-based positioning navigation source. The capability of Area
Navigation (RNAV) was greatly enhanced by GPS and point-to-point navigation could
now be routinely conducted. Thousands of new GPS approaches were developed to
supplement and eventually replace those that require ground-based navaids, some
incorporating vertical navigation as LNAV/VNAV standard instrument approach
procedures (SIAPs). With the advent of Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS),
precision minimums comparable to those offered by Category I ILS equipment are
now being published.

A new initiative for Required Navigation

Performance (RNP) instrument procedures is underway, whereby a requirement of
navigational accuracy is established for a procedure. The ability of an individual
aircraft's Flight Management System (FMS) or RNAV system, using available internal,
ground-based, or satellite based inputs, determines whether or not a particular RNP
procedure can be flown. Also on the horizon is the Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) system to replace FAA long range radars with new
navigation and air traffic possibilities.

In the mid-1990s, the FAA flight inspection fleet

was supplemented by the purchase of a six new Lear 60s and three Challenger CL-
601s. After 2005, the Hawker jets were slowly phased out and replaced by new
Challenger CL-604s to provide support for both USAF flight inspection mission
requirements and FAA international commitments. Also, beginning in 2006, an effort
began to upgrade the avionics and flight inspection equipment of the eighteen FAA
Beech 300s with state-of-the-art technology to match the RNP, RNAV, and WAAS
flight inspection requirements of the next decade.

Today, FAA flight inspection routinely inspects thousands of navaids and instrument
procedures across the acronymic breadth of aerial navigation including ILS, MLS,
VOR, DME, TACAN, GPS, RNP, RNAV, NDB, various radars, airport lighting, and
conducts airborne obstacle evaluations. Each and every public-use instrument flight
procedure, whether it is an airway, arrival, approach, or departure, is flight checked
by an AVN flight inspection crew for navaid support, flyability, obstacles, and overall
integrity. Continued advancements in avionics with Flight Management Systems
(FMS) combined with GPS positioning and other, new high-tech possibilities for
aerospace navigational and landing aids establishes an increasing role for flight
inspection in the future. Despite the relentless march of technology, there remains
the same need for an airborne evaluation of the aviation navigation systems and
flight procedures as was established by the original air mail pilots more than eighty
years ago.