WASHINGTON—The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) lacks effective oversight controls to ensure that American Airlines’ corrective actions for maintenance issues address root causes, a government watchdog report said on Friday.
The Transportation Department Inspector General’s office said in 171 of 185 of cases sampled, FAA inspectors accepted root cause analyses by American Airlines “that did not identify the true root cause of the problem” and the agency “closed compliance actions before the air carrier implemented its corrective actions.”
