Introduction to Flying

Traffic Controllers Organization (PATCO) culminated in a Howard Cannon. [Figure 1-11] There was stiff opposition to 1970 “sickout” by 3,000 controllers. Although controllers the bill—from the major airlines who feared free competition, subsequently gained additional wage and retirement from labor unions who feared non-union employees, and benefits, another period of tension led to an illegal strike in from safety advocates who feared that safety would be August 1981. The government dismissed over 11,000 strike sacrificed. Public support was, however, strong enough to participants and decertified PATCO. By the spring of 1984, pass the act. The act appeased the major airlines by offering the FAA ended the last of the special restrictions imposed to generous subsidies and pleased workers by offering high keep the airspace system operating safely during the strike. unemployment benefits if they lost their jobs as a result. The most important effect of the act, whose laws were slowly The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 phased in, was on the passenger market. For the first time Until 1978, the CAB regulated many areas of commercial in 40 years, airlines could enter the market or (from 1981) aviation such as fares, routes, and schedules. The Airline expand their routes as they saw fit. Airlines (from 1982) Deregulation Act of 1978, however, removed many of also had full freedom to set their fares. In 1984, the CAB these controls, thus changing the face of civil aviation in the was finally abolished since its primary duty of regulating the United States. After deregulation, unfettered free competition airline industry was no longer necessary. ushered in a new era in passenger air travel. The Role of the FAA The CAB had three main functions: to award routes to The Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) airlines, to limit the entry of air carriers into new markets, The FAA is empowered by regulations to promote aviation and to regulate fares for passengers. Much of the established safety and establish safety standards for civil aviation. The practices of commercial passenger travel within the United FAA achieves these objectives under the Code of Federal States went back to the policies of Walter Folger Brown, the Regulations (CFR), which is the codification of the general United States Postmaster General during the administration and permanent rules published by the executive departments of President Herbert Hoover. Brown had changed the mail and agencies of the United States Government. The payments system to encourage the manufacture of passenger regulations are divided into 50 different codes, called Titles, aircraft instead of mail-carrying aircraft. His influence that represent broad areas subject to Federal regulation. was crucial in awarding contracts and helped create four FAA regulations are listed under Title 14, “Aeronautics and major domestic airlines: United, American, Eastern, and Space,” which encompasses all aspects of civil aviation from Transcontinental and Western Air (TWA). Similarly, how to earn a pilot’s certificate to maintenance of an aircraft. Brown had also helped give Pan American a monopoly on Title 14 CFR Chapter 1, Federal Aviation Administration, international routes. is broken down into subchapters A through N as illustrated in Figure 1-12. The push to deregulate, or at least to reform the existing laws governing passenger carriers, was accelerated by President For the pilot, certain parts of 14 CFR are more relevant Jimmy Carter, who appointed economist and former than others. During flight training, it is helpful for the pilot professor Alfred Kahn, a vocal supporter of deregulation, to to become familiar with the parts and subparts that relate head the CAB. A second force to deregulate emerged from abroad. In 1977, Freddie Laker, a British entrepreneur who owned Laker Airways, created the Skytrain service, which offered extraordinarily cheap fares for transatlantic flights. Laker’s offerings coincided with a boom in low-cost domestic flights as the CAB eased some limitations on charter flights (i.e., flights offered by companies that do not actually own planes but leased them from the major airlines). The big air carriers responded by proposing their own lower fares. For example, American Airlines, the country’s second largest airline, obtained CAB approval for “SuperSaver” tickets. All of these events proved to be favorable for large-scale deregulation. In November 1977, Congress formally deregulated air cargo. In late 1978, Congress passed the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, legislation that had been Figure 1-11. President Jimmy Carter signs the Airline Deregulation principally authored by Senators Edward Kennedy and Act in late 1978. 1-7