(17) "Conditional sale" means (a) any contract for the sale of an aircraft or portion thereof under which possession is delivered to the buyer and the property is to vest in the buyer at a subsequent time upon the payment of part or all of the price, or upon the performance of any other condition or the happening of any contingency; or (b) any contract for the bailment or leasing of an aircraft or portion thereof by which the bailee or lessee contracts to pay as compensation a sum substantially equivalent to the value thereof, and by which it is agreed that the bailee or lessee is bound to become, or has the option of becoming, the owner thereof upon full compliance with the terms of the contract. The buyer, bailee, or lessee shall be deemed to be the person by whom any such contract is made or given.

(18) "Conveyance" means a bill of sale, contract of conditional sale, mortgage, assignment of mortgage, or other instrument affecting title to, or interest in, property.

(19) "Foreign air carrier" means any person, not a citizen of the United States, who undertakes, whether directly or indirectly or by a lease or any other arrangement, to engage in foreign air transportation.

(20) "Interstate air commerce", "overseas air commerce", and "foreign air commerce", respectively, mean the carriage by aircraft of persons or property for compensation or hire, or the carriage of mail by aircraft, or the operation or navigation of aircraft in the conduct or furtherance of a business or vocation, in commerce between, respectively

(a) a place in any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and a place in any other State of the United States, or the District of Columbia; or between places in the same State of the United States through the air space over any place outside thereof; or between places in the same Territory or possession (except the Philippine Islands) of the United States, or the District of Columbia;

(b) a place in any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and any place in a Territory or possession of the United States; or between a place in a Territory or possession of the United States, and a place in any other Territory or possession of the United States; and

(c) a place in the United States and any place outside thereof, whether such commerce moves wholly by aircraft or partly by aircraft and partly by other forms of transportation.1

(21) "Interstate air transportation", "overseas air transportation", and "foreign air transportation", respectively, mean the carriage by aircraft of persons or property as a common carrier for compensation or hire or the carriage of mail by aircraft, in commerce between, respectively

(a) a place in any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and a place in any other State of the United States,

1 This clause, "whether such commerce moves wholly by aircraft or partly by aircraft and partly by other forms of transportation.", is indented here as in the enrolled bill. The bill as passed by the Senate, S. 3845, sets forth the definitions as they appear here except that clause in question was extended to the left-hand margin of the page so that it unquestionably applied to all three subdivisions immediately above. The conference committee, as shown by the text of the bill contained in the conference report, H. R. Rep. No. 2635, 75th Cong., 3d Sess., adopted the form of the Senate bill and Congress passed the bill as recommended by the conference committee, without change. Consequently, a typographical error must have been made in printing the enrolled bill.

or the District of Columbia; or between places in the same State of the United States through the air space over any place outside thereof; or between places in the same Territory or possession (except the Philippine Islands) of the United States, or the District of Columbia;

(b) a place in any State of the United States, or the District of Columbia, and any place in a Territory or possession of the United States; or between a place in a Territory or possession of the United States, and a place in any other Territory or possession of the United States; and

(c) a place in the United States and any place outside thereof, whether such commerce moves wholly by aircraft or partly by aircraft and partly by other forms of transportation.2

(22) "Landing area" means any locality, either of land or water, including airports and intermediate landing fields, which is used, or intended to be used, for the landing and take-off of aircraft, whether or not facilities are provided for the shelter, servicing, or repair of aircraft, or for receiving or discharging passengers or cargo.

(23) "Mail" means United States mail and foreign-transit mail. (24) "Navigable air space" means air space above the minimum altitudes of flight prescribed by regulations issued under this Act. (25) "Navigation of aircraft" or "navigate aircraft" includes the piloting of aircraft.

(26) "Operation of aircraft" or "operate aircraft" means the use of aircraft for the purpose of air navigation and includes the navigation of aircraft. Any person who causes or authorizes the operation of aircraft, whether with or without the right of legal control (in the capacity of owner, lessee, or otherwise) of the aircraft, shall be deemed to be engaged in the operation of aircraft within the meaning of this Act.

(27) "Person" means any individual, firm, copartnership, corporation, company, association, joint-stock association, or body politic; and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or other similar representative thereof.

(28) "Propeller" includes all parts, appurtenances, and accessories thereof.

(29) "Possessions of the United States" means (a) Puerto Rico, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act of March 2, 1917, entitled "An Act to provide a civil government for Porto Rico", and any other Act or Acts which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act; (b) the Canal Zone, but nothing herein shall impair or affect the jurisdiction which has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, granted to the President in respect of air navigation in the Canal Zone; (c) the Philippine Islands, except that the operation of civil aircraft within the jurisdiction of the Philippine Islands shall be governed by laws enacted by the legislature of the islands and by executive regulations designating air-space reservations or other prohibited areas; and (d) all other possessions of the United States.

(30) "Public aircraft" means an aircraft used exclusively in the service of any government or of any political subdivision thereof, including the government of any State, Territory, or possession of

See footnote 1 (p. 7),

the United States, or the District of Columbia, but not including any government-owned aircraft engaged in carrying persons or property for commercial purposes.

(31) "United States" means the several States, the District of Columbia, and the several Territories and possessions of the United States, including the Territorial waters and the overlying air space thereof.

DECLARATION OF POLICY

SEC. 2 [49 U. S. C., Sup. V, 402]. In the exercise and performance of its powers and duties under this Act, the Authority shall consider the following, among other things, as being in the public interest, and in accordance with the public convenience and necessity

(a) The encouragement and development of an air-transportation system properly adapted to the present and future needs of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States, of the Postal Service, and of the national defense;

(b) The regulation of air transportation in such manner as to recognize and preserve the inherent advantages of, assure the highest degree of safety in, and foster sound economic conditions in, such transportation, and to improve the relations between, and coordinate transportation by, air carriers;

(c) The promotion of adequate, economical, and efficient service by air carriers at reasonable charges, without unjust discriminations, undue preferences or advantages, or unfair or destructive competitive practices;

(d) Competition to the extent necessary to assure the sound development of an air-transportation system properly adapted to the needs of the foreign and domestic commerce of the United States, of the Postal Service, and of the national defense;

(e) The regulation of air commerce in such manner as to best promote its development and safety; and

(f) The encouragement and development of civil aeronautics.

PUBLIC RIGHT OF TRANSIT

SEC. 3 [49 U. S. C., Sup. V, 403]. There is hereby recognized and declared to exist in behalf of any citizen of the United States a public right of freedom of transit in air commerce through the navigable air space of the United States.

TITLE II-ORGANIZATION OF AUTHORITY

CREATION OF AUTHORITY

Appointment of Members of Authority

SEC. 201 [49 U. S. C., Sup. V, 421]. (a) An agency is created and established to be known as the "Civil Aeronautics Authority" which shall be composed of five members who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, as soon as practicable after the passage of this Act, and who shall continue in office as designated by the President at the time of nomination through

the last day of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth calendar years, respectively, following the passage of this Act. The President shall designate annually one of the members of the Authority as chairman and one of the members as vice chairman who shall act as chairman in the absence or incapacity of the chairman. The successors of the members shall be appointed for terms of six years in the same manner as the members originally appointed under this Act, except that any person appointed to fill a vacancy occurring prior to the expiration of the term for which his predecessor was appointed shall be appointed only for the remainder of such term. The members of the Authority may be removed by the President for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office. No more than three of the members shall be appointed from the same political party. Each member of the Authority shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum.

Administrator

(b) There shall be in the Authority an Administrator who shall be appointed by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and who shall receive a salary at the rate of $12,000 per annum.

Qualifications of Members

(c) The members of the Authority shall be appointed with due regard to their fitness for the efficient dispatch of the powers and duties vested in and imposed upon the Authority by this Act. Each member of the Authority, and the Administrator, shall be a citizen of the United States, and no member of the Authority, or the Administrator, shall have any pecuniary interest in or own any stock in or bonds of any civil aeronautics enterprise. No member of the Authority, or the Administrator, shall engage in any other business, vocation, or employment.

Quorum, Principal Office, and Seal

(d) Three of the members shall constitute a quorum of the Authority. The principal office of the Authority shall be in the District of Columbia where its general sessions shall be held, but whenever the convenience of the public or of the parties may be promoted, or delay or expense may be prevented, the Authority may hold hearings or other proceedings at any other place. The Authority shall have an official seal which shall be judicially noticed and which shall be preserved in the custody of the secretary of the Authority.

ORGANIZATION OF AUTHORITY

Officers and Employees

SEC. 202 [49 U. S. C., Sup. V, 422]. (a) The Authority shall, without regard to the civil-service laws, appoint and prescribe the duties of a secretary of the Authority and a secretary for each member, and, subject to such noncompetitive tests of fitness as the Civil Service Commission may prescribe, appoint and prescribe the duties of a gen

eral counsel, a director for each Bureau, and such assistant directors and heads of divisions or sections as may be necessary. Subject to the provisions of the civil-service laws, the Authority shall employ such other officers and employees as it shall deem necessary in exercising and performing its powers and duties. The Administrator shall, without regard to the civil-service laws, appoint and prescribe the duties of a secretary, and, subject to the civil-service laws, appoint and prescribe the duties of such other officers and employees as he shall deem necessary in exercising and performing his powers and duties. The compensation of all officers and employees appointed by the Authority or by the Administrator under this subsection shall be fixed in accordance with the Classification Act of 1923, as amended.

Temporary Personnel

(b) The Authority, and the Administrator, may, from time to time, without regard to the provisions of the civil-service laws, engage for temporary service such duly qualified consulting engineers or agencies, or other qualified persons as are necessary in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties of each, and fix the compensation of such engineers, agencies, or persons without regard to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, and the expenses of such employment shall be paid out of the appropriatiton for the administration of this Act.

PERSONNEL, PROPERTY, AND APPROPRIATIONS

Personnel and Property

SEC. 203 [49 U. S. C., Sup. V, 423]. (a) Such officers and employees of the Bureau of Air Mail of the Interstate Commerce Commission and of the Bureau of Air Commerce of the Department of Commerce, and such property (including office equipment and official records), as the President shall determine to have been employed by the Secretary of Commerce in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties vested in and imposed upon him by the Air Commerce Act of 1926, as amended (44 Stat. 568; U. S. C., 1934 ed., title 49, sec. 171 et seq.), and by the Secretary of Commerce and the Interstate Commerce Commission in the exercise and performance of the powers and duties vested in and imposed upon them by the Air Mail Act of 1934, approved June 12, 1934, as amended (48 Stat. 933; U. S. C., 1934 ed., Supp. II, title 39, sec. 469 et seq.), are transferred to the Authority upon such date or dates as the President shall specify by Executive order: Provided, That the transfer of such personnel shall be without reduction in classification or compensation, except that this requirement shall not operate after the end of the fiscal year during which such transfer is made to prevent the adjustment of classification or compensation to conform to the duties to which such transferred personnel may be assigned: Provided further, That such of the personnel so transferred as do not already possess a classified civil-service status shall not acquire such status by reason of such transfer except (1) upon recommendation of the Authority within one year after such personnel have been so transferred and certification within such period by the Authority to the Civil Service Commission that such personnel