FAA Pilot Oversight ‘Lacks Rigor,’ U.S. Investigator Says

U.S. aviation regulators lack the “rigor” to identify and track pilots who repeatedly fail tests of their cockpit skills, according to a Transportation Department inspector general’s report.

Federal Aviation Administration inspectors are inadequately trained and the agency’s scattered data makes it difficult to find pilot records, the inspector general’s office said today in a report. The FAA has spent almost three years after a fatal crash near Buffalo, New York, trying to better monitor under-performing pilots.