Glossary of Aviation Terms | FAA

FAA | Paramount Business Jets

The FAA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Transportation and is charged with (1) regulating air commerce to promote its safety and development; (2) achieving the efficient use of the navigable airspace of the United States; (3) promoting, encouraging, and developing civil aviation; (4) developing and operating a common system of air traffic control and air navigation for both civilian and military aircraft; and (5) promoting the development of a national system of airports.

It was the passage of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 that created the group under the name "Federal Aviation Agency" and adopted its current name in 1967 when it became a part of the United States Department of Transportation. The FAA is one of the most influential government-run aviation agencies in the world and is recognized around the globe for its commitment to further aviation education, safety, and research.

Some of the FAA’s most recognized roles are regulating U.S. commercial space transportation, encouraging, researching, and developing civil aeronautics, issuing, suspending, or revoking pilot certificates, regulating civil aviation to promote safety, especially through local offices called Flight Standards District Offices, developing and operating both air traffic control and navigation systems for civilian and military air traffic, researching and developing the National Airspace System and civil aeronautics and developing and carrying out programs to control aircraft noise and other environmental effects of civil aviation.