The Birth of Air Transportation

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Air transportation is a vital resource used not only in the United States but throughout the world. The Kelly Act of 1925 was the first step in the integration of air transportation into the daily lives of Americans. This was due in part to the postal service wanting to get more mail to more areas more efficiently back in 1911. The birth of air transportation and the advent of the Federal Aviation Administration took place because of the foresight by the postal service, the Kelly Act of 1925 and Federal Aviation Act of 1958.

In 1911 the postal service was looking for a new ways to transport mail to new places and faster. Demonstrations were held around the world of airplane mail service. The United States held the demonstration in air mail at an aviation meeting in Long Island, New York. During the week of September 23 to 30, 1911, Earle L. Ovington was appointed as and air mail carrier. He had a specific route between the airfield in Long Island and Mineola. According to Keogh, this service, performed without expense to the Department, was flown at regular intervals during the period, a total of 32,415 post cards, 3993 letters and 1062 circulars being carried.

After more experiments and trials, the Post Office Department realized that it had a new way to move large amounts of mail longer distances and with relative ease. In 1912, the Post Office Department requested from congress $50,000 to start a new experiment with aircraft delivering mail but was turned down by congress for four years. In 1916, congress finally approved the Post Office Departments requests for funding its airplane service. The funds were appropriated “out of the appropriation for Steamboat or other Power Boat Service” (Keogh, 1927) This step in the proces...

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...all Americans. The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 brought about evolution of safety in the skies with beginning of the Federal Aviation Administration. All of these factors are the small points in time which had a large impact not only in their time but what happened and is happening in the future.

Works Cited

Airmail: the air mail act of 1925 through 1929 (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/airmail/airmail/public/airmail_public_postal_long.html

Quilty, S. (2005). History, the regulation of air transportation, airports,. Unpublished manuscript, Department of Management, American Military University, Charles Town, West Virginia. Retrieved from https://edge.apus.edu/access/content/group/163593/Aiportt Management References/FAA.pdf

Keogh, Earl A. (1927). A brief history. Retrieved from http://www.airmailpioneers.org/history/Sagahistory.htm

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