The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.

GAO-05-728 Aviation Safety: FAA Management Practices for Technical Training Mostly Effective; Further Actions Could Enhance Results

"The nation's aviation system is one ofthe safest in the world, but with airtravel projected to increase over thenext 20 years, efforts to ensure thecontinued safety of aviation areincreasingly important. The FAA isseeking to further enhance safety byshifting to a data-driven, risk-basedsafety oversight approach-referred toas SMS. SMS implementation isrequired for FAA and several of itsbusiness lines and the agency is takingsteps to require industryimplementation.As requested, this report addresses(1) the status of FAA's implementationof SMS, (2) the extent to which FAA'sSMS efforts have been consistent withkey practices for successful planningand implementation of a new program,and (3) challenges FAA faces inimplementing SMS. To address theseissues, GAO reviewed FAA SMSdocuments, compared FAA efforts tokey practices, and interviewed agencyand industry officials."