Article Review On Airline History

The first airplane passenger was Henri Farman on 29 May 1908. The first American passenger was Charley Furnas. He flew in a plane designed to fly two people, the 1905 Flyer 3 adopted by the Wright brothers. In 1914, Glen Curtis and Tom Benoit designed a flying boat with a capacity of one passenger. It was scheduled for operations in the St. Lois factory.
In 1908, Orville Wright went to the army to demonstrate his Wright Flyer where one of the lieutenants, Lt. Selfridge made arrangements to ride along with Wright on September 17, 1908. Wright was able to control the flyer by shutting off the engine and fly about 75 feet. However, it nose-divided making Lt. Selfridge the first airplane passenger fatality.
Benoist built a flying boat which was adapted for the 23-mile 18 minute overwater flight. After several trials, it was inaugurated on January 1 1914. It consumed 10 gallons of gas and one gallon of oil in a thirty six mile venture. The standard fare was five dollars. This airline had two flights a day but later ran out of business after four months due to decline in tourist numbers.
Development of US airline was through the mail service. The post office experimented airmail service in 1911 and 1912. It was later authorized in 1916 and established in Alaska and in the Northeast. The army was used to make one round trip every day but Sunday from Washington D.C. to New York. Lieutenant George Boyle was chosen to fly the route twice.
The need to develop the airplane service was triggered by world war 1. Efforts were concentrated on making a high speed military aircraft. The Curtiss Company introduced an aircraft, the Jennies, which was made of cheap and readily available parts. After the war was over, commercial passenger flights started in Europe by mi-1919. However, they could not fly at night.
After the airmail service was deemed feasible, the government moved the airmail service to the private sector through competitive bids through the Kelly Act. President Calvin Coolidge appointed a board to recommend the national aviation who recommended the setting of civil aviation standards outside the military.
In 1927, Charles A. Lindbergh became a hero by making a non-stop trans-Atlantic flight. This attracted more investors into the airline venture. The investors include Aviation Corporation, United Aircraft and North American Air. Walter Folger, who was the postmaster general between 1929 and 1933 consolidated the airline routes which were to be used by three companies, Transcontinental Air Transport (TAT) and Western Air Express merged to form Transcontinental and Western (TWA). They operated across the US.
In 1934, president Roosevelt cancelled all existing airmail contracts after several army fatalities had occurred. On May 8, the postmaster Farley and Roosevelt returned the airmail contract to private companies with some conditions. In 1958, a federal aviation act was established. It created a new safety regulatory agency, the Federal Aviation Agency, later called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The Civil Aeronautics Board, established earlier retained its jurisdiction over economic matters, such as airline routes and rates.