[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 244 (Wednesday, December 18, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 66865-66866]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32304]


      

[[Page 66863]]

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Part VI





The President





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Proclamation 6965--Wright Brothers Day, 1996
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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 244 / Wednesday, December 18, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 66865]]

                Proclamation 6965 of December 13, 1996

                
Wright Brothers Day, 1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Ninety-three years ago, on a windswept North Carolina 
                beach, air travel by hot air balloon and gliders gave 
                way to American ingenuity and the era of powered 
                flight. Wilbur and Orville Wright--employing 
                innovations like the wind tunnel and single component 
                testing--designed, built, and ultimately flew the first 
                powered, heavier-than-air craft on the dunes of Kitty 
                Hawk. Years later, Wilbur was to say of this historic 
                event, ``It is the complexity of the flying problem 
                that makes it so difficult. It is not . . . solved by 
                stumbling upon a secret, but by the patient 
                accumulation of information upon a hundred different 
                points.'' No longer would the ability to travel by air 
                be bounded by the simple physics of wind and weather, 
                but by the power of the human imagination.

                As we have expanded the scope of our dreams, our love 
                of flight has extended our command of the sky. Today, 
                air travel is not only the fastest means of 
                transportation, but the safest as well, and the United 
                States air transportation system, which continues to 
                improve every year, serves as the model to which all 
                others are compared.

                My Administration continues to work to make the skies 
                ever safer. Integral to this effort has been the 
                dedicated service of thousands of men and women 
                throughout the air transportation community who strive 
                daily to protect air travelers. Indeed, this month, the 
                Vice President and I were pleased to announce that the 
                major airlines have agreed to install fire detection 
                systems in the cargo holds of some 3,700 airliners that 
                carry the vast majority of Americans flying each year. 
                We cannot make the world risk free, but we can reduce 
                the risks we face. Working together, we have taken 
                another important step to ensure the safety of the 
                flying public.

                This year marks the 50th anniversary of Federal aid for 
                our Nation's airports. Working in partnership with 
                State and local governments, private airport operators, 
                and the air carrier and general aviation communities, 
                the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has assisted 
                numerous airports with critical safety, security, and 
                capacity projects that directly benefit the American 
                traveling public. It is particularly fitting, as 
                Americans celebrate an important milestone in the 
                history of air transportation, that this year also 
                marks the beginning of important reforms for the FAA 
                that recognize its vital role in advancing sound 
                aviation management and development in the United 
                States and around the world.

                On April 1, 1996, the FAA began transforming itself 
                from the model previously mandated by law into a more 
                effective, streamlined system, better designed for the 
                challenges of the twenty-first century. In the recently 
                enacted Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996, 
                the Congress, working with my Administration, 
                complemented those important reforms with a new 
                financial model for the agency to help it meet the 
                safety and capacity challenges it faces. This 
                legislation also provided the FAA with improved tools 
                to perform its mission more effectively. It builds on 
                security recommendations of the Vice President's 
                Commission on Aviation Safety and Security that will 
                improve the FAA's ability to more comprehensively 
                address the threat posed by terrorists to civil air 
                transportation. With these statutory improve

[[Page 66866]]

                ments, the world of aviation will be an exciting one in 
                which future aviation pioneers may fulfill their dreams 
                and aspirations.

                The Congress, by a joint resolution approved December 
                17, 1963 (77 Stat. 402; 36 U.S.C. 169), has designated 
                December 17 of each year as ``Wright Brothers Day'' and 
                has authorized and requested the President to issue 
                annually a proclamation inviting the people of the 
                United States to observe that day with appropriate 
                ceremonies and activities.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim December 
                17, 1996, as Wright Brothers Day.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-six, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-first.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-32304
Filed 12-17-96; 9:01 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P