New Audit Announcements

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The Office of Inspector General plans to initiate an audit on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) progress in deploying air traffic controller automation tools for managing performance-based navigation (PBN) procedures. We are conducting this audit at the request of the Chairmen of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Aviation. PBN procedures can provide significant near-term benefits for airspace users, such as increased fuel efficiency. However, use of these procedures remain low, in part because FAA lacks automated tools for controllers to safely separate aircraft with differing equipment and capabilities. Our audit objectives are to assess (1) FAA’s progress in developing and deploying new air traffic controller automation tools for managing PBN procedures, and (2) the degree to which these tools meet air traffic controllers’ needs to improve PBN use.