FAA Faces Pressure to Publicly Report Safety Research Spending as Mandated by Congress

A new report from the Government Accountability Office finds that while the Federal Aviation Administration has largely met a legal requirement to dedicate most of its research budget to safety-related projects, the agency has failed to clearly and publicly report those efforts—raising concerns about transparency and accountability for taxpayer-funded aviation research.

Between fiscal years 2019 and 2024, the FAA received more than $1.3 billion through its Research, Engineering, and Development (RE&D) budget. Under the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018, the agency is required to allocate at least 70% of this funding to safety-related research and development, such as work on aircraft fuel systems, fire safety, and anti-icing technology. Although FAA officials say they used expert judgment to ensure compliance, the agency did not provide regular public reporting on how much of its funding met this mandate.

In 2024, for instance, the FAA reported that 22 out of 24 programs funded under the RE&D account were devoted entirely to safety research. Even one of the two exceptions had 25% of its funding dedicated to safety efforts. Based on this internal assessment, the FAA believes it met the 70% requirement across all six years reviewed. However, the lack of a formal process for defining or documenting what qualifies as a safety project until early 2025 has complicated external evaluation.

The FAA recently updated its internal guidance to better define criteria for safety-related research, but these new standards will not influence planning until the fiscal year 2027 budget cycle. In the meantime, the GAO warns that the FAA’s annual reports to Congress remain insufficient, failing to include specific program-level breakdowns of safety funding. This omission makes it difficult for lawmakers and the public to assess how well the agency is prioritizing aviation safety as intended.

To address the gap, the GAO recommended that the Secretary of Transportation require the FAA to include detailed information in its annual reports on what percentage of appropriated funds are used for safety R&D and which programs those funds support. The Department of Transportation has agreed with the recommendation but has not yet implemented changes.

Article by multiple contributors, based upon information from the Government Accountability Office press release and report GAO-25-107697.

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