Aviation Safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) provides weather information and flight plan filing services to pilots at no direct cost. FAA provides these services through direct contact with FAA staff, either in person or via a toll free number, and the Direct User Access Terminal System (DUATS), an automated system that pilots can access via personal computers. DUATS allows pilots to file their flight plan electronically and receive weather briefings on screen and in hard copy. As part of its budget reduction efforts, FAA eliminated funding for DUATS for fiscal year 1994--a move that the Senate later reversed. Subsequently, FAA established a subcommittee consisting of user, FAA, and industry exports to review issues relating to pre-flight weather and flight plan filing services. This briefing report discusses (1) whether the FAA subcommittee report responds to the Senate's requirement for restored funding and (2) the statistical validity of a contractor survey of DUATS users that FAA used in deciding to terminate fiscal year 1994 funding for DUATS.

GAO found that: (1) the FAA Subcommittee's report was responsive to the reporting requirement; (2) the Subcommittee reasonably reviewed available information on DUATS and other alternative technologies for flight plan filing and weather information services; (3) because of time constraints and incomplete data, the Subcommittee could not provide a detailed comparison of the alternatives; (4) the Subcommittee membership represented a diverse DUATS constituency and possessed considerable expertise; (5) the Subcommittee provided ample opportunity for interested parties to participate; (6) the results of the DUATS user survey were not statistically valid, since respondents were not representative of DUATS users; and (7) FAA should not have used the survey to justify its proposed termination of DUATS funding.