FAA fails to ensure pilots' manual flying skills: Report

(Reuters) — The Federal Aviation Administration is failing to ensure that airline pilots maintain their flying skills so they can safely take control of an aircraft from automated systems during an unexpected event, according to a U.S. Transportation Department report released on Monday.

The report by the department's Office of the Inspector General concludes that the FAA cannot determine how often pilots fly manually and has not ensured that airline training programs adequately focus on manual skills.

Airline pilots typically fly planes manually on landings and takeoffs, leaving the aircraft under the control of automated technology 90% of the time. While automated systems have generally improved aviation safety, experts say the practice and the growing complexity of automated technology have raised concerns about flying skills.

The government watchdog also found that the U.S. aviation regulatory agency lacks the ability to ensure that pilots are fully trained to use and monitor automated flight systems.

"The agency is missing important opportunities to ensure that pilots maintain skills needed to safely fly and recover in the event of a failure with flight deck automation or an unexpected event," the report said.

The FAA had no immediate comment.

The National Transportation Safety Board found that an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crashed and caught fire at San Francisco International Airport in 2013 because the pilot lacked critical skills and the flight crew relied too heavily on an automated system it did not fully understand. Three people died and 49 others were seriously injured in the crash.

In a separate case, the NTSB said that 49 passengers and crew members aboard a Colgan Air Inc. Bombardier DHC-8-400 regional flight died in 2009 after the flight crew failed to monitor the plane's slowing airspeed while on instrument approach to Buffalo-Niagara International Airport. The crew responded incorrectly to an automated warning of an imminent stall.

The plane crashed into a residence, killing everyone on board and a man on the ground.