Among the functions the Aeronautic Branch performed were pilot testing and licensing, issuing aircraft airworthiness certificates, establishing and enforcing safety regulations.

The agency was also responsible for establishing airways and operating and maintaining aids to air navigation, in addition to investigating accidents and incidents.

A boom in the 1950s of aircraft technology and the airline industry crowded American airspace, and the regulation of air traffic was considered antiquated.

[7][8] The day after the Brunswick collision, Senator Mike Monroney and Representative Oren Harris introduced the Federal Aviation Act.

[9] Citing "recent midair collisions of aircraft occasioning tragic losses of human life," President Eisenhower announced the White House's support of the legislation on June 13.

[2] A Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DoD and FAA on the Future of Radar Approach Controls in the National Airspace System, 14 December 1988, states that the FAA "determines the standard for NAS equipment and ATC facilities" and that the "DoD will equip facilities providing services to civil users so that the ATC service is transparent to the user.