(FOX 46 CHARLOTTE) — The Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines are facing criticism from the Department of Transportation Inspector General. A report released on October 20 questions the ability of FAA inspectors to adequately track and report maintenance issues at the world’s largest airline.

The report alleges that on multiple occasions, FAA inspectors failed to provide “oversight controls to ensure American Airlines’ corrective actions for maintenance non-compliances addressed root causes.”
This means the FAA inspectors were not able to decipher whether or not an issue was a result of a new or persistent issue and failed in some cases to categorize the severity of a problem.

TWU Air Division President Gary Peterson says the shortfall outlined in the Inspector General report is directed at how FAA inspectors handled maintenance issues brought to the feds’ attention by American mechanics.

“The report is based around the FAA and the SMS program and the safeguards that were put in place. It looks like there was a breakdown within the FAA itself on root cause analysis when you look at it.”

American Airlines says they plan to work with the FAA to create a more effective Safety Management System in conjunction with the inspectors.

The Federal Aviation Administration says they would take recommendations from the report into account.