Air Commerce Act Of 1926 Essay

In the early days of flight, following the Wright brother’s historic flight on December 17,1903, and it finally being acknowledged by Scientific American in 1906. The idea of flying was considered a novelty and wasn’t taken seriously. Air shows began to travel the country, performing aerial stunts, giving people a chance to see airplanes in action. Then people began to realize the potential of the aircraft, with the first transcontinental flight being completed in 1911, by Calbraith P. Rogers. Following WWI, the U.S. Post Office established air mail routes along the East Coast. During the day the mail was transported by air until dusk, then it was transferred to railcars and transported until dawn, where it would be loaded onto a waiting aircraft to continue the delivery by air. Postal officials noticed the increasing value of the air mail service and began to make plans to operate 24hrs a day, however, they needed a way to be able to fly during the night. From the early 1920s to the 1960s, air navigational aids have made navigating the skies safer and

Post Office to award government mail contracts to be awarded to private carriers. The following year The Air Commerce Act of 1926 was passed, establishing federal regulations regarding aircraft, airmen, navigational facilities and the establishment of air traffic regulations. The federal government was required to build new airports, institute regulations that would address aircraft altitude separation, develop and maintain airways and navigational aids, and by June, 1927, over 4,000 miles of airway had lighting (Lehrer, 2014). In 1928, The Bureau of Standards developed a ground to air radiotelephone that could communicate with pilots up to 150 miles away. In September 1929, Army Lieutenant James Doolittle was the first pilot to use the cockpit instruments to complete a flight, using his radio range and marker beacons, an altimeter and a