Why the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 brought success to a budding aviation industry

 

The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 was signed into existence by President Franklin Roosevelt. It had many far-reaching impacts on the aviation sector as a whole, but even for transportation itself. Aviation was a largely unsuccessful enterprise until the Kelly Act was signed completely reforming the industry from being run on exclusively government backed mail cargo contracts, to an industry that could bring commercial transportation to fruition. Due to the scandalous nature of merging and shuffling companies as well as signing contracts behind closed doors however, this act was renounced, and Roosevelt again rebuilt the industry and through competitive bidding once again allowed aircarriers to use air mail contracts. This is why I feel that this act is so crucial to the success of airlines. 

Many improvements to aviation stem from this act being signed. Firstly, due to the competitive nature of the airmail contracts, aircarriers were forced to look for alternative means to sustain themselves. Commer Hence, a much larger push into commercial aviation was generated building on the wave that had already started forming. A young industry could now push forward and steadily become more organized which was sorely needed (Hester). This push does come with some important points. Safety, though somewhat neglected in my opinion, was pushed to the front with the creation of the Civil Aeronautics Authority (CAA). The regulations put in place by the CAA allowed aircarriers to branch across the states and get their feet under themselves.  Now from this entity many important groups came to be created, Civil Aeronautics Board (for all the bad some good came of it), down the road the National Transportation Safety Board eventually was created along with the Federal Aviation Administration. 

The entities that were derived from the signing of the Act of 1938 helped make massive strides in preventing recurring accidents, advancing air traffic management and modernization, aircraft feature improvements and requirements, and ultimately created the safest industry out there.

The Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938 (1938) Clinton Hester

https://scholar.smu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4016&context=jalc