FAA Plans To Modernize Its Outdated Civil Aviation Registry Systems, but Key Decisions and Challenges Remain

What We Looked At The Civil Aviation Registry (The Registry) processes and maintains ownership information on approximately 300,000 private and commercial aircraft and records on almost 1.5 million airmen. The Registry is critical for ensuring aircraft are legally owned, maintained, and operated, and many users in law enforcement, safety, the aviation industry, and the public rely on the accuracy and timeliness of its data. The Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and its Subcommittee on Aviation requested that we assess FAA's overall management of the Registry and public access to certain Registry elements. We received a similar request from the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Our audit objective was to assess FAA's management of the Civil Aviation Registry. Specifically, we assessed FAA's (1) progress in modernizing the Registry and (2) policies for providing public access to Registry-related activities. What We Found The Registry's systems are outdated, and FAA has yet to develop a detailed plan for modernization. The Registry's current systems cannot support online access outside of the Registry's offices in Oklahoma City, OK. While FAA is in the early stages of developing plans to modernize the Registry's systems, the Agency has not yet made key decisions regarding the system. Consequently, the cost and timeframes for Registry modernization remain uncertain, even though FAA is mandated to complete Registry upgrades by October 2021. In addition, the regulations that govern aircraft registration do not reflect current technology or business practices, and FAA will likely need to conduct a rulemaking in conjunction with Registry modernization. If FAA does not complete the rulemaking in coordination with the development of the new system, the Agency risks spending resources on a system that lacks key capabilities. Due to the current system's limitations, users who need to access aircraft registration information in real time must access the system through the use of Government-owned computer terminals located at the Registry's Public Documents Room (PDR) in Oklahoma City. For users who cannot or do not want to travel to Oklahoma City, they can obtain aircraft information online, but that information is updated once a day, rather than in real time. Moving towards a more efficient process hinges on modernizing the Registry, but FAA has not yet developed a plan for allowing real-time access to aircraft information. Our Recommendations FAA concurred with all four of our recommendations and proposed appropriate actions and completion dates.