The Federal Aviation Regulations: Four Volumes

The current Federal Aviation Regulations consist of four volumes consisting of over 460 sections containing over 3500 pages of material. Before the Air Commerce Act of 1926 airman certificates, airworthiness certificates and planes for higher were very loosely monitored. Initially, the Department of Commerce was tasked with regulations the entire aviation sector. They started an Aeronautics branch who’s first act was to publish a 45 page document covering Licensing of Aircraft, Marking of Aircraft, Operation of Aircraft, Licensing of Pilots and Mechanics, Air Traffic Rules, and a Miscellaneous section. Regulation one stated that all commercial aircraft had to be registered and identifiable with a national identification number. Pilots of these aircraft were then required to be tested in order to acquire pilot’s licenses. At the time the only differentiation was between a private and commercial pilots license. Pilots were also required to maintain logbooks under this regulation making the burden of proof on the pilots to prove sufficient flight time requirements for higher licensing. Testing requirements at that time covered a seven page entry only requiring a minimal flight test around an airfield. Contrarily, today the regulation is well over 100 pages and has strict testing requirements as well as maintaining currency to hold licenses current. The third chapter of this regulation covered what would lay the groundwork for FAR’s 91,121, and 135. The first inspection requirements required a line inspection of an aircraft after 24 flight hours and after 100 flight hours the aircraft was to undergo a detailed periodic inspection by the owner or operator. In addition to this, the Department of Commerce was authorized to inspect a...

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...count much more than just the gross number of incidents and accidents. The aviation industry has exploded in size since recording such events has begun but overall the safety records have drastically improved. In 1965 5,196 accidents were recorded by the NTSB. This number appears very low as oppose to the 1980’s but as previously mentioned, air travel was much more exclusive during the 1960’s. In contrast, as the commercial aviation market had greatly expanded in the 1990’s. In 1996 462 commercial accidents were reported while in 2009 only 52 were reported. In comparison to highway travel 1996 had 41,907 accidents and 2009 had 33,808. (AOPA NTSB Statistics) In conclusion, these statistics show that the aviation world is by comparison to the auto world is incredibly safe and is showing continuing trends in improving the safety and efficiency of the aviation market.