Aviation Safety

FAA's Efforts to Improve Oversight of Foreign Carriers Gao ID: T-RCED-95-33 October 4, 1994

Although the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has taken several steps to strengthen its oversight of foreign countries' civil aviation programs and their individual carriers, GAO believes that FAA could do more. The agency has finished assessments of the oversight capabilities of the civil aviation authorities of 30 foreign governments, and the Transportation Department has announced the results of these assessments. Also, FAA is working with foreign aviation authorities to improve their safety oversight programs and is increasing the frequency of its inspections of carriers with known safety deficiencies. FAA and the State Department have also developed better ways to track enforcement cases referred to foreign governments for action. However, these oversight efforts could be further refined if FAA implemented GAO's recommendations that the agency (1) do more comprehensive inspections of foreign carriers with safety problems, (2) inspect U.S.-registered, foreign-operated aircraft before they return to service in this country, and (3) follow up to determine whether identified safety deficiencies have been corrected.



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