Evolution of Aviation Safety Laws and Regulations

Beginning with the U.S. Air Mail Service in the early 1920's, regulations began to surface to improve the safety of aviation. The Post Office Department began to test pilots and required 500 hours of flight time. By 1926 Congress passed the Air Commerce Act. This gave regulatory authority to the Department of Commerce. The Department began to require inspections on aircraft, mechanics, and pilots setting a standard training requirement. The Department of Commerce laid the ground work for what would be the Civil Aeronautics Authority and later the Civil Aeronautics Board. By 1958, Aviation regulation had moved to yet again another agency known as the Federal Aviation Agency. In 1966, the regulating agency became what we know it as today, the Federal Aviation Administration. Through all the years of name changing and agency switching, the ultimate goal has stayed the same which is to promote aviation safety.

It can be said however; that the rules and regulations we have today was mostly developed through a trial and error process and at the cost of human lives. Most regulations did no take effect until lives were lost as a result of a preventable accident. However today, aviation is safer than ever because of the efforts of the FAA and the NTSB. The future of aviation regulation now has to turn its attention to a newly discovered issue, that of human factors and how they affect the safety of aviation.

Wells, Alexander, & Rodrigues, Clarence. (2003). Commercial aviation safety. McGraw-Hill Professional.