A key department within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that provides critical oversight of maintenance practices at United Airlines was so understaffed that it relied upon ‘virtual’ inspections rather than postponing the work in accordance with its own regulations.
The shocking findings were published by the US Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General, which recently wrapped up an investigation into the FAA’s oversight of maintenance practices at United Airlines.
The report specifically looked at FAA oversight at United Airlines because of alleged maintenance non-compliance and violations at the Chicago-based carrier, which had prompted what was meant to be an in-depth probe by the FAA.
That probe concluded in October 2024 with the FAA finding that there weren’t “significant safety issues” at the airline, despite a series of embarrassing mishaps and accidents that had put United Airlines under intense media and regulatory scrutiny.
As a sign of just how serious the probe was, when the investigation was launched in April 2024, the FAA initially banned United from starting any routes to new cities.
But given that so many ‘mishaps’ had occurred in the first place, including wheels falling off planes, a high-profile hydraulic leak, and an external fuselage panel falling off a 25-year-old United Airlines Boeing 737-800 mid-flight, the DOT OIG decided it needed to audit the FAA’s inspection process up to this point.
The audit concluded that the FAA’s Certificate Management Office for United lacked resources, didn’t have enough inspectors, suffered from high staff turnover, lacked institutional knowledge, and had ineffective workforce planning.
The report also found that in 2024, during the time of the FAA’s probe into United, the United CMO carried out around 40% of what were meant to be on-site inspections at the airline’s maintenance facilities virtually.
Inspectors at the FAA told the Office of Inspector General that their bosses had instructed them to carry out virtual inspections when resources to conduct an on-site visit were not available.
The FAA said it decided to continue inspections virtually rather than postponing them in order to prioritize “surveillance continuity and risk-based oversight, even when faced with resource constraints.”
The use of virtual inspections, however, meant that many of the things that the FAA inspectors were meant to observe weren’t possible. The DOT OIG reviewed 33 virtual inspection reports and discovered that in nearly half of those, 50% or more of inspection questions had been marked “not observable.”
As of July 2025, the FAA’s CMO for United still had 33% of authorized positions vacant.
“The FAA’s under-resourced inspections, low Certificate Management Office (CMO) inspector staffing levels, and ineffective workforce planning are insufficient to oversee safety risks,” the report slammed.
“The shortage of inspectors has caused them to refocus their priorities on investigations, accidents, and incidents first, followed by surveillance, then certification activities if time permits.”
Inspectors concluded their report with six recommendations to improve oversight of United’s maintenance practices, which include developing a staffing action plan.
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