Two subsequent mid-air collisions between military aircraft and commercial airliners , one near Las Vegas , Nevada ( United Airlines Flight 736 ) on April 21 , 1958 , where 49 died , and one involving Capital Airlines over Brunswick , Maryland a month later on May 20 that cost 11 lives , showed further imperfections in the regulation of air traffic , particularly the need for unified control of airspace for civil and military flights . The day after the Brunswick collision , Senator Mike Monroney and Representative Oren Harris introduced the Federal Aviation Act . Two days after the Capital Airlines mid-air , a stopgap presidential proclamation was issued that 1 ) required military jet aircraft to fly by Instrument Flight Rules while in the civil airways below 25,000 ft. ( later reduced to 20,000 ft. ) ; 2 ) prohibited jet penetration swoops from high to low altitudes through civil airways . An exception was made for emergency jet-bomber and fighter " scrambles , " which would be continued whenever necessary for the national defense
United Airlines Flight 736
United Airlines Flight 736
Federal Aviation Act of 1958