Aviation Safety: Evolution of Federal aviation safety laws

The safety of flight in air carrier operations, and in all areas of aviation, is attributable to

the development of the FAA and Federal aviation safety laws and regulations. We could say that this all started with the Air Commerce Act of 1926. This Act put aviation regulation under the Secretary of Commerce. From 1926 to 1958, aviation regulation went through many identity changes, but eventually came to be known as the Federal Aviation Agency. This Agency was too spread out, so President Johnson formed the DOT and consolidated the FAA(Agency) into one central area, which we know today as the Federal Aviation Administration.

As the age of jet a

irline travel approached,
many Americans recognized the need for more
concerted effort to safeguard civil aviation.
A sever midair collision over the Grand Canyon
in 1956 underscored the necessity. in 1958,
the Federal Aviation Act created the FAA, an
independent agency combining scattered safety
responsibilities. On November 1, 1958, Elwood R
Quesada took the oath as FAA's first Administrator.(left)

Since the development of the FAA, numerous initiatives have been proposed and enacted to increase safety in air carrier operations. One example of how this is initiated is often a result of an aircraft accident. The following article from the Washington Post illustrates how certain deficiencies are identified, and safety laws and regulations are proposed to address problems and improve safety:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/30/AR2009093003002.html
The specific issues identified here were lax pilot hiring practices, problems related to training and fatigue and superficial regulatory oversight by the Federal Aviation Administration.

Through the creation of new aviation regulations, air safety has improved. This can be identified by the 2007 press release on NTSB website, citing that in 2006, after air carriers logging more than 19 million flight hours, there were only 31 accidents, which was down more than 20% from 2005. In comparison to general aviation, air carriers average 1 accident every 630,000 hours flown, while GA accidents averaged 7.5 accidents every 100,000 hours. As air carriers are more stringently regulated than General Aviation, this would conclude that there is an advantage, from a safety perspective, to the evolution air carrier regulation.

References

Princeton University website(www.princeton.edu) Safe Skies for Tomorrow:Aviation Safety in a Competitive Environment Chapter 3/Regulatory and Institutional Framework – Website link: http://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1988/8834/883405.PDF