WASHINGTON, March 21 (Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an initiative to more closely monitor maintenance and operations of aircraft it certifies as a way to improve safety, the agency said on Thursday. The initiative was a response to a study ordered by aviation regulators after the crash of Alaska Airlines (ALK) Flight 261 in January 2000 that concluded the FAA, the industry and safety interests should work more closely to share data and boost oversight. While investigators have not determined what caused the crash in the Pacific off California that killed all 88 aboard the MD-83 aircraft, the probe has focused on a catastrophic mechanical failure as well as maintenance practices at Alaska. Questions about FAA maintenance oversight have factored prominently in the investigation. The safety report was critical of regulators, airlines and manufacturers. It faulted the government and the industry for failing to learn enough from airline crashes, and criticized policies it said did not adequately address factors like the role of human error in aviation accidents. The study also noted how different parts of the industry failed to understand each other. For instance, designers or regulators might not completely grasp how planes are used by commercial airlines or how that use affects their performance. "Certification standards might not reflect the actual operating environment," the study found. The researchers, who included regulatory, industry and safety experts, said there was no widely accepted process for analyzing maintenance data or identifying problems that might lead to accidents. "There are constraints present in the aviation industry that have an inhibiting effect on the complete sharing of safety information," the report found. The FAA has been working to correct this in recent years, and has established a team to analyze the study's findings and make changes. ©2002 Reuters Limited.