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Audit Reports

Date

FAA Delays in Establishing a Pilot Records Database Limit Air Carriers’ Access to Background Information

Requested By
Requested by the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Aviation Subcommittee
Project ID
AV2015079
File Attachment

Ensuring air carriers have all available information on a pilot’s training and performance remains a critical safety area for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The 2010 Airline Safety and Extension Act mandated that FAA create a pilot records database to ensure pilot records are retained for the life of the pilot and that air carriers review those records when making hiring decisions.

FAA’s progress in developing and implementing the pilot records database remains limited, and its completion remains uncertain. The Agency does not expect to issue a related rulemaking until 2017, and the database will likely not be fully implemented until more than a decade after Congress mandated its creation in 2010. Moreover, FAA has yet to make key decisions regarding how to incorporate historical records or how air carriers will transition to and access the database. In the meantime, air carriers, in large part, do not have all relevant pilot records available to review when evaluating pilot applicants. Specifically, FAA has not determined whether air carriers have followed through on their voluntary commitments to request additional records from FAA when hiring new pilots. As a result, air carriers are not able to fully evaluate prior performance when deciding whether to hire a pilot.

We made three recommendations to FAA to better manage its implementation of the pilot records database and ensure that air carriers have all available information on a pilot’s training performance. FAA concurred with all three recommendations. Based on FAA’s response, we consider two recommendations open but resolved, and we are requesting additional information for one recommendation. 

Recommendations

Closed on
No. 1 to FAA
Develop a clearly defined and expedited schedule for the development and implementation of a PRD, including cost estimates and project timelines.
Closed on
No. 2 to FAA
As part of the standard PRIA response letter, incorporate a written notification to air carriers that additional records may be available through FOIA and Privacy Act requests.
Closed on
No. 3 to FAA
Establish the FAA-records portion of the database and develop a single process for air carriers to request and obtain records currently available through PRIA, notices of disapproval, and summaries of enforcement actions in accordance with the Act.