By Jim Berard (202) 226-5064
A new report by the Government Accountability Office says the Federal Aviation Administration is making progress in its policing of pilots’ medical certificates, but the Chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure says he still has some concerns over the program.
The GAO report (Aviation Safety: FAA Has Taken Steps to Determine That It Has Made Correct Medical Certification Decisions, GAO 08-997) was requested by the Committee after its own investigation turned up gaps in the FAA’s ability to oversee and enforce the certification program. The Committee’s report, released in March, 2007, showed that a significant number of pilots were flying with fraudulent medical certificates. An earlier report by the Department of Transportation Inspector General termed some of the medical certificate cases “egregious.”
“I am pleased that the FAA is taking this issue seriously and is showing progress addressing this widespread problem,” said Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (Minn.). “However, the GAO report shows that the agency relies heavily on the ‘honor system,’ and lacks the resources to thoroughly evaluate medical certificate applications.”
According to the GAO study, FAA has developed a multi-step process for evaluating medical certificate applications. Even so, the report shows that a number of unfit applicants were issued medical certificates due to errors by the examining physician, FAA’s computer process, or clerical handling.
“Progress is good, but progress must lead to a goal,” Oberstar said. “In this case, the goal should be 100 percent certainty that certificates are not obtained fraudulently or erroneously. Perhaps that is an impossible goal, but it should be our goal nonetheless.”
The full GAO report is available at www.gao.gov.
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