The FAA in OKC

What began in 1941 as the Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) Standardization Center in Houston, has now grown and transformed in Oklahoma City as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center (MMAC).

The CAA was established to standardize training for airplane licensing instructors, and the discussion to move CAA started during World War II. With the help of the Chamber, Oklahoma City was selected, and the move began in March 1946 to the former Will Rogers Field. Within two years, CAA occupied all the space at Will Rogers Field and needed more. After approaching the city council in 1953 with a 10-year plan, the City of Oklahoma City created the Oklahoma City Airport Trust with the authority to purchase land, maintain and lease buildings, and issue bonds for financing. Agreeing to build what CAA needed, CAA was able to expand and lease all the new facilities.

In 1956, a tragic collision of two airliners over the Grand Canyon revealed the need for additional, better-trained aviation controllers, inspectors and technicians. The chair of the Senate Aviation Committee was A.S. “Mike” Monroney, Oklahoma’s junior senator, who wrote the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 transforming CAA into what is known today as the Federal Aviation Administration and renaming the OKC hub as the FAA Aeronautical Center. Nine years after Monroney retired from the Senate, Pres. Jimmy Carter approved the renaming of the center to the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center.

By 1990, more than 4,000 FAA employees and 90 contract employees were located at MMAC. By 2004, that had grown to 3,600 FAA and 2,000 contract employees. Today, more than 6,300 employees, contractors and students call MMAC home. The center provides products and services to all five of the FAA’s lines of business: airport, air traffic organization, aviation safety, commercial space transportation, and security and hazardous materials safety. With all these services included at the MMAC, the center serves other federal agencies, including the departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Transportation, as well as the Security Exchange Commission, and many more. To learn more about the FAA and the aerospace industries’ deep ties to our city, click here.