Analyzing Academic Writing

Glenn L. Alpaugh

1045662

“The Leap from Kitty Hawk” (A Historical Perspective of the Air Transportation Regulatory Agencies in the United States)

June 24, 2004

Professor Matthew J. Stork

MC340 IA Spr 04, Air Transportation

“The Leap from Kitty Hawk”

Glenn L. Alpaugh

A century ago, on the barren dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, a small band of

impetuous upstarts ushered in the age of controlled, powered flight by defiantly

challenging the preconception that man is a creature forever bound to the earth, destined

never to share that unfettered joy known to even the smallest sparrow. Assuredly aware

of the historic import of their winged endeavor, these intrepid pioneers of aviation

certainly could not have foreseen the impact their 852 feet of ethereal travel would have

on a world ravenous for the gift of flight – for with that gift would come discovery, trade,

and ultimately, commercial expansion (Astrobiology Magazine, n.pg.). From that first

small hop across the roiling sands at Kitty Hawk would grow an industrial colossus,

spanning the man-made borders of nations and traversing those natural barriers of sea and

land that once impeded the growth of industry and civilization. From a fledgling oddity,

air transportation has grown into a global industry, employing millions and requiring the

oversight of government regulatory agencies and professional organizations to ensure its

safety, quality, security, and continued growth.

With flight a reality, its use as a rapid purveyor of information became immediately

apparent. Air transportation regulatory actions undertaken by the government began as

early as 1918, coinciding with the final battles of World War I and the beginning of air

mail service, and continued to 1925 with congressional passage of the Kelly Act for

contracting mail service to private individuals. As important as the Kelly Act was to air

transport regulation, it is actually the Air Commerce Act of 1926 (also known as the

Bingham - Parker Act) that is said to have laid the foundation for all future regulation of

air transportation. (Wells, Wensveen, 35, 62).

The growth of the industry continued barnstorming its way into the future, increasing

to the extent that regulatory decentralization became necessary. In 1929 the Department

of Commerce gave birth to its Aeronautics Branch, followed by the Bureau of Air

Commerce in 1934, which itself was reorganized in 1937 to further attempt to regulate

the expanding industry. This was evidently not the panacea hoped for, since, in 1938,

then-President Roosevelt sought further regulatory control of the burgeoning industry by

creating the Civil Aeronautics Authority (Wells, Wensveen, 63). Conspicuous in the

requirements for members of this agency was their forbiddance of financial interest in

any civil aeronautics enterprise – perhaps denoting a penchant of vested interests to be a

problem in earlier regulatory attempts.

In 1940, as the swastika of the Third Reich rose over Europe and the forces of Nazi

Germany blitzkrieged into Norway, the regulatory administration of the air transportation

industry in the United States saw an additional reorganization, with the transformation of

the Civil Aeronautics Authority into the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) (Wells,

Wensveen, 65). This organization eventually matured into an independent, executive

agency in 1958, via the labor of President Dwight Eisenhower to enact the Federal

Aviation Act, thereby making the CAB more powerful than all of its predecessors in,

coincidentally, the same year jets entered commercial service. Because of the broad and

unspecific congressional objectives of the Declaration of Policy contained within the

Federal Aviation Act, the CAB ruled the air transportation industry with a bureaucratic

iron fist, although its safety and regulatory functions now fell under the newly created

Federal Aviation Agency – a product of the Federal Aviation Act (Wells, Wensveen, 65).

Just 53 years after that historic leap from Kitty hawk, the nation found itself mired in

an extended war in Vietnam and focused on the 350,000 American troops committed to

that conflict – a legacy from fallen Camelot and the presidency of John Fitzgerald

Kennedy, spurred by an assassin’s bullet in 1963 and inherited by President Lyndon

Baines Johnson (Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files – Vietnam, n. pg.).

The “aw shucks” mannerisms and southern good-old-boy drawl of the jocular, jowley

Texan belied an astute political mind and a desire to complete a mission intimated by his

predecessor, that of creating “The Great Society” (Biography of LBJ, n.pg). Part of this

mission - another, less polarizing inheritance passed onto the Texas democrat, was a

desire to overhaul the regulatory structure of the U.S. transportation system – apparent in

the April 5, 1962 congressional address of President Kennedy, given just seven months

before his assassination the following November (Wells, Wensveen, 98).

In his own subsequent address to Congress in 1966, President Johnson followed up on

the desire of his fallen predecessor with vociferous advocacy of creating a federal

Department of Transportation (DOT), “to promote coordination of existing federal

programs and to act as a focal point for future research and development efforts in

transportation,” and an investigative body for transportation safety, which would come to

be known as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) (Wells, Wensveen, 98).

The NTSB would become independent of other regulatory agencies upon enactment of

the Transportation Safety Act in 1974, and its investigative authority was given priority

over other Federal agencies when the Transportation Safety Act was amended in 1982. In

addition to accidents in civil aviation, the NTSB became responsible for investigating

non-air transportation related accidents on state highways and, depending on

circumstance, those involving trains.

On April Fool’s Day in 1967, the Department of Transportation opened for business

with objectives set by Congress “to assure the coordinated, effective administration of the

transportation programs of Federal government; to facilitate the development and

improvement of coordinated transportation service, to be provided by private enterprise

to the maximum extent feasible; to encourage cooperation of Federal, State, and local

governments, carriers, labor, and other interested parties toward the achievement of

national transportation objectives; to stimulate technological advances in transportation;

to provide general leadership; to develop and recommend to the President and Congress

for approval national transportation policies and programs to accomplish these objectives

with full and appropriate consideration of the needs of the public, users, carriers,

industry, labor, and the national defense,” (Wells, Wensveen, 99). The Department of

Transportation sprang into existence fully grown, complete with multi-tiered command

structure and 70,000 strong army of employees – an organizational force that would put

most third-world military powers to shame.

The Federal Aviation Administration is one of ten transportation-based organizations

under the managerial umbrella of the Department of Transportation. Its responsibilities

include air traffic control, aircraft and aviator certification, airport aid and certification,

environmental protection, civil aviation security, and engineering and development. It

also plays a key role in international aviation matters such as civil aviation assistance,

training, establishing worldwide safety and security standards, product import and export,

and foreign-manufactured part certification (Wells, Wensveen, 106). Working in

conjunction with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation

Administration also works to determine required actions through root cause analysis, in

the event of accidents involving airline or general aviation aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration is an organization that is virtually hardwired

into the very heart of the air transportation industry. Its ability for overseeing adherence

to its command media - down to the minutia of the day-to-day running of the smallest

peripheral components of the industry - approaches a labor level of truly Herculean

proportion.

The newest regulatory agency for air transportation came about as a result of the

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The commandeering and subsequent use of

commercial airliners as devastating weapons of terror caused the deaths of thousands of

innocents, bringing to the world the realization that the protocols in place for air

transportation security were woefully inadequate to combat such extremist and

destructive philosophies as those motivating the hijackers. Established in November

2001, the Transport Security Administration is a facet of the Department of

Transportation and was created by enactment of the Aviation Transportation Security

Act, which set the historical precedent of placing airport security directly under federal

control. This organization “protects the nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom

of movement for people and commerce by setting the standard for excellence in

transportation security through its people, processes, and technologies,” (Wells,

Wensveen, 115). This system, put in place by President George W. Bush by signing the

Aviation and Security Act into law, is arguably the most important legislation enacted

during the administration of this president, and stands as the first line of defense for the

United States against the onslaught of terrorist attacks from enemies seeking its

destruction.

From 1903 to 2004, a century of flight has changed the face of our planet. The air

transportation industry has grown in leaps and bounds, faltering and stumbling along the

way to be sure, but lifting itself up, dusting itself off, and moving along – bringing the

people of the world closer together like nothing else in the history of mankind. Through

ten decades of flight, the controls put in place to govern and regulate the growth, quality,

and security of this industry have been adapted to overcome the challenges introduced by

the uncertainties of a world continuously in transition. From those first bold visionaries at

Kitty Hawk who made the leap of faith in a bi-winged contraption held together with

hope and inspiration, has unfolded a tale of wonder – a tale of flying men spreading the

magic of their abilities and the blessings of their legacy to a world hungry for such

miracles. We are the lucky ones. We can do more than simply observe as bystanders

while the tale unfolds, we can participate in this great adventure – we can fly.

Works Cited

“Biography of Lyndon B. Johnson.” Whitehouse.gov

20 Jun. 2004 <http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/lj36.html>

“Confidential U.S. State Department Central Files – Vietnam, Internal and Foreign Affairs, 1960–January 1963, Subject-Numeric Files, February 1963-1966.” Lexisnexis.com 20 Jun. 2004 <http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/2upa/Ias/sdCentralVietnam.asp>

“Hooked By Flying - The Wrights.” Astrobiology Magazine 20 Jun. 2004 <http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=artic le&sid=723>

Wells, Alexander T. and Wensveen, John G. Air Transportation – A Management Perspective. Brooks/Cole 2004.