Story ID: 
GAO Reviewing FAA Aircraft Registry System
By: Gordon Gilbert
Caption: Registry is under intense scrutiny by Congress since an expose on the alleged failure of the FAA to properly monitor and keep records current.
Word Count: 239
At the request of several members of Congress, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has opened a review of “FAA’s aircraft registry transparency,” a GAO spokesman told AIN. He said the review may be a “one-time examination” of the program or it might involve "recurring audit work,” depending on what the review finds. The office expects to complete the review and issue a report early next year.

The registry has come under intense scrutiny by members of Congress since the Boston Globe in September published a scathing attack on the alleged failure of the FAA to properly monitor and keep current its general aviation aircraft and pilot registration records. As a result, the article concluded, “A web of secrecy surrounds thousands of planes, making it nearly impossible to identify a plane’s real owners and hold them accountable.”

An FAA spokesman told AIN that the agency “welcomes the GAO’s review and help to identify ways to further strengthen the integrity of aircraft registry information.” In response to legislation introduced last year to require that the real owners of U.S.-registered aircraft be publicly disclosed, the FAA said, “As a practice, we do not comment on proposed legislation.”

Meanwhile, members of Congress have also asked the DOT IG to launch an investigation into the registry system, but a spokesman declined to say if the watchdog agency would initiate an audit.