Whilst the ancestry of the FAA goes back to the 1920’s  the “Modern” FAA essentially started with the Federal Aviation Act of 1958. A different level of aviation safety was to be found at this time with a number of accidents driving congress to mandate a new independent regulatory body with authority to address safety issues through the power of rulemaking.

Today the FAA has a broad reach with authority for all aspects of aviation related activity in the United States.

Meanwhile over in Europe the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA) forerunner of European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) can show its origins back to the early 1970’s. 

The original purpose of the JAA was to provide oversight and guidance related to the design and certification of large Aircraft, Engines and APU’s. It was during these early days that an alignment started to take place between the FAA and the JAA to introduce common certification codes for large aircraft and aircraft engines. Such alignment contributed to the common acceptance of Aircraft Parts and Alliances by participating entities.