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New Audit Announcements

Date

Audit Initiated of FAA's Aviation Safety Inspector and Analyst Staffing

Project ID
11A3007A000
File Attachment

As directed by Congress in the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, the Office of Inspector General plans to review the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI) and Operations Research Analyst (ORA) staffing at commercial (i.e., Part 121) air carriers.  The National Transportation Safety Board also highlighted this issue in its report on the 2009 Colgan Air accident, concluding that commercial carriers that experience rapid growth, increased complexity of operations, or increased accidents or incidents warrant more stringent FAA oversight.  Therefore, our audit objectives are to:  (1) evaluate FAA’s process for assigning ASIs and ORAs to each Part 121 air carrier; (2) assess the number and level of experience of ASIs and ORAs assigned to each Part 121 air carrier; and (3) evaluate FAA’s use of other surveillance processes to supplement the inspections performed by assigned oversight offices.