Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the national aviation authority of the United States. An agency of the United States Department of Transportation, it has authority to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the U.S. The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 created the organization under the name "Federal Aviation Agency", and adopted its current name in 1966 when it became a part of the United States Department of Transportation.
The FAA's major roles include:
*Regulating U.S. commercial space transportation
*Regulating air navigation facilities' geometry and flight inspection standards
*Encouraging and developing civil aeronautics, including new aviation technology
*Issuing, suspending, or revoking pilot certificates
*Regulating civil aviation to promote safety, especially through local offices called Flight Standards District Offices
*Developing and operating a system of air traffic control and navigation for both civil and military aircraft
*Researching and developing the National Airspace System and civil aeronautics
*Developing and carrying out programs to control aircraft noise and other environmental effects of civil aviation.
==Anti-Gravity==
The Development of anti-gravity has the FAA scrambling to adjust. While no commercially built vehicles exist as of 2012 any sufficiently talented hacker can make one. Hobby built flying cars are turning up all over. The controls only slightly more complex than a wheeled car. 
So far the FAA has classified anti-gravity vehicles into two broad groups. 
*Ground Cars -- Ground cars are limited to a height of two meters. This must be a hard setting not something that can be turned off. Ground cars require only a normal driver's license with such endorsements and/or certifications as the local State requires. They are not the concern of the FAA. 
*Flying Cars -- Everything that can go higher than two meters. The FAA is still sorting out the exact classifications. "Flying cars" exist as everything from Earth movers with anti-gravity plates to make helicopter lifts easier, to sub orbital impulse powered aircraft that can do mach 7. As there are no standards as to what is and is not exactly what, every single air car is a one off effort. Nailing down the classifications is difficult. Currently any such craft that is piloted requires an anti-gravity endorsement on a single engine pilot's license minimum. Doubtless more mind-numbing regulation is in store. 
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