Aviation Safety

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for examining and testing the qualifications of airmen, such as pilots, mechanics, and flight engineers, as well as those of aviation entities, such as airlines and airports, seeking a certificate to operate. When violations of the federal aviation regulations by certificate holders are detected, FAA can take a range of actions--from issuing warning letters to suspending or revoking operating certificates. Since the 1996 crashes of ValuJet Flight 592 and TWA Flight 800, FAA's oversight of the aviation community and the agency's enforcement actions in response to violations have come under greater scrutiny. Although some have criticized FAA for not responding swiftly or forcefully enough to safety violations, others have questioned its haste in using emergency orders to suspend or revoke the certificates that pilots, airlines, and others need to operate. GAO found that in three percent of the 137,506 enforcement cases closed in fiscal years 1990 through 1997, FAA used emergency orders to initiate action or revoke or suspend operating certificates. Most of the emergency orders revoked or suspended pilots' operating certificates or the certificates of their medical fitness to fly. In 1990, FAA decided that, for those cases in which revocations are based on a demonstrated lack of qualifications to hold the relevant certificate, the certificate generally should be revoked immediately and not after the lengthy appeal process that nonemergency certificate actions can be subject to. This shift in policy is reflected in the greater numbers of emergency actions that GAO observed. Although the use of emergency orders is intended to speed the handling of serious enforcement cases, the time needed for FAA to investigate violations and issue emergency orders varied widely, often taking several months or longer. During this time, the certificate holder could continue to operate, that is, to fly or repair aircraft and possibly pose a safety risk. GAO summarized this report in testimony before Congress; see: Aviation Safety: FAA's Use of Emergency Orders to Revoke or Suspend Operating Certificates, by Gerald L. Dillingham, Associate Director for Transportation Issues, before the Subcommittee on Aviation, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. xxx/T-RCED-98-253, Aug. 6 (18 pages).

GAO noted that: (1) FAA used emergency orders to initiate action to revoke or suspend operating certificates in 3 percent (3,742) of the 137,506 enforcement cases closed during fiscal years 1990 through 1997; (2) as FAA moved to handling less serious enforcement cases through administrative actions rather than certificate actions, the number of certificate actions decreased, and emergency orders came to represent a larger proportion of the more serious certificate actions that remained, increasing from 10 percent in 1990 to an annual average of nearly 20 percent over the following 7 years; (3) emergency orders as a percentage of certificate actions varied by FAA region, resulting from differences in enforcement practices and from unusual circumstances in an individual case; (4) in fiscal years 1990 through 1997, nearly 60 percent of the emergency orders revoked or suspended pilots' operating certificates or the certificates of their medical fitness to fly; (5) FAA initiated a substantially higher proportion of certificate actions with emergency orders for pilots with commercial operating certificates than for air transport pilots; (6) over three-quarters of the enforcement cases initiated using emergency orders resulted in the suspension or revocation of the certificate holder's operating certificate, and fewer than 5 percent resulted ultimately in FAA's dropping the case because it determined that no violation was committed or had insufficient evidence to prove a violation; (7) during fiscal years 1990 through 1997, FAA implemented a formal change in its policy on emergency actions that is reflected in the increased number of revocations using emergency orders; (8) in 1990, FAA decided that, for those cases in which revocations are based on a demonstrated lack of qualification to hold the relevant certificate, the certificate generally should be revoked immediately and not after the lengthy appeal process that other nonemergency certificate actions can be subject to; (9) FAA informally implemented this policy change in 1990 and 1991 before formally incorporating it into its compliance and enforcement guidance in 1992; (10) FAA initiated 184 revocations using emergency orders in fiscal year 1990, after which this number increased, ranging between 264 and 382 annually; and (11) although the use of emergency orders is intended to expedite the handling of serious enforcement of cases in which operating certificates are revoked or suspended, the time needed for FAA to investigate violations and issue emergency orders varied widely.