Audit Shows Government-Owned Aircraft Receive Less Oversight Than Private Airlines

Nonmilitary government agencies operate more aircraft than the world's largest airline but are subject to little federal safety oversight — a situation accident investigators say has contributed to air crashes and deaths.

Federal, state and local agencies own or lease more than 2,400 nonmilitary planes and helicopters for fighting forest fires, chasing crooks, conducting scientific research and other tasks. By comparison, the world's largest airline — created by the merger of United and Continental — and its regional carriers operate fewer than 1,300 planes.

But unlike United, Continental and other commercial airlines, government agencies are mostly left to police the safety of their flight operations themselves. The Federal Aviation Administration has long said it doesn't have the authority to apply regulations to other government agencies.

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