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Summary

The Office of Inspector General plans to initiate an audit on the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) approval and oversight process for civil Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). Since September 2014, FAA has approved over 1,200 commercial UAS to operate by exempting them from certification requirements, under an authority granted by Congress. We are initiating this audit given the significant and complex challenges of safely integrating UAS into the National Airspace System and the increasing number of UAS operations. Accordingly, our objectives are to assess: (1) FAA’s process for exempting civil UAS from certification requirements, and (2) FAA’s safety oversight process for civil UAS operations.