Federal Aviation Administration

=== Formation ===
The approaching era of [[Jet aircraft|jet]] travel (and a series of midair collisions—most notably the [[1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision]]) prompted passage of the [[Federal Aviation Act of 1958]]. This legislation passed the CAA's functions to a new independent body, the Federal Aviation Agency. The act also transferred air safety regulation from the CAB to the FAA, and gave it sole responsibility for a joint civil-military system of air navigation and air traffic control. The FAA's first administrator, [[Elwood Richard Quesada|Elwood R. Quesada]], was a former [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] general and adviser to [[Dwight D. Eisenhower|President Eisenhower]].

The same year witnessed the birth of the [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA), which was created in response to the [[Soviet Union]] (USSR) launch of the first manmade satellite.  NASA assumed NACA's aeronautical research role.