Aviation Inspectors

Inspect aircraft, maintenance procedures, air navigational aids, air traffic controls, and communications equipment to ensure conformance with Federal safety regulations.

tasks jobzones knowledge skills abilities work_activities work_context interests work_styles work_values

Tasks

• Recommend changes in rules, policies, standards, and regulations, based on knowledge of operating conditions, aircraft improvements, and other factors.

• Recommend replacement, repair, or modification of aircraft equipment.

• Examine maintenance records and flight logs to determine if service and maintenance checks and overhauls were performed at prescribed intervals.

• Schedule and coordinate in-flight testing programs with ground crews and air traffic control to ensure availability of ground tracking, equipment monitoring, and related services.

• Analyze training programs and conduct oral and written examinations to ensure the competency of persons operating, installing, and repairing aircraft equipment.

• Inspect new, repaired, or modified aircraft to identify damage or defects, and to assess airworthiness and conformance to standards, using checklists, hand tools, and test instruments.

• Examine landing gear, tires, and exteriors of fuselage, wings, and engines for evidence of damage or corrosion, and to determine whether repairs are needed.

• Prepare and maintain detailed repair, inspection, investigation, and certification records and reports.

• Examine aircraft access plates and doors for security.

• Approve or deny issuance of certificates of airworthiness.

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Job Zone

• Name: Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

• Experience: Previous work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is required for these occupations. For example, an electrician must have completed three or four years of apprenticeship or several years of vocational training, and often must have passed a licensing exam, in order to perform the job.

• Education: Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree. Some may require a bachelor's degree.

• Job training: Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers.

• Examples: These occupations usually involve using communication and organizational skills to coordinate, supervise, manage, or train others to accomplish goals. Examples include funeral directors, electricians, forest and conservation technicians, legal secretaries, interviewers, and insurance sales agents.

• Svp range: (6.0 to < 7.0)

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Knowledge

Browse Knowledge

• Mechanical
  Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

• Education and Training
  Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

• Customer and Personal Service
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Transportation
  Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

• Physics
  Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub- atomic structures and processes.

• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Design
  Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

• Chemistry
  Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

• Law and Government
  Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

• Public Safety and Security
  Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

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Skills

Browse Skills

• Reading Comprehension
  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Active Learning
  Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Monitoring
  Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Active Listening
  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Critical Thinking
  Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Coordination
  Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.

• Judgment and Decision Making
  Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

• Systems Analysis
  Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.

• Troubleshooting
  Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.

• Writing
  Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.

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Abilities

Browse Abilities

• Oral Comprehension
  The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

• Written Comprehension
  The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Oral Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Problem Sensitivity
  The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

• Written Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

• Inductive Reasoning
  The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

• Near Vision
  The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

• Deductive Reasoning
  The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Category Flexibility
  The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

• Perceptual Speed
  The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.

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Work Activities

Browse Work Activities

• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
  Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

• Controlling Machines and Processes
  Using either control mechanisms or direct physical activity to operate machines or processes (not including computers or vehicles).

• Evaluating Information to Determine Compliance with Standards
  Using relevant information and individual judgment to determine whether events or processes comply with laws, regulations, or standards.

• Repairing and Maintaining Mechanical Equipment
  Servicing, repairing, adjusting, and testing machines, devices, moving parts, and equipment that operate primarily on the basis of mechanical (not electronic) principles.

• Inspecting Equipment, Structures, or Material
  Inspecting equipment, structures, or materials to identify the cause of errors or other problems or defects.

• Documenting/Recording Information
  Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.

• Handling and Moving Objects
  Using hands and arms in handling, installing, positioning, and moving materials, and manipulating things.

• Analyzing Data or Information
  Identifying the underlying principles, reasons, or facts of information by breaking down information or data into separate parts.

• Operating Vehicles, Mechanized Devices, or Equipment
  Running, maneuvering, navigating, or driving vehicles or mechanized equipment, such as forklifts, passenger vehicles, aircraft, or water craft.

• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
  Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

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Work Context

• Face-to-Face Discussions
  How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?

• Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results
  How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company?

• Telephone
  How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?

• Electronic Mail
  How often do you use electronic mail in this job?

• Deal With External Customers
  How important is it to work with external customers or the public in this job?

• Frequency of Decision Making
  How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?

• Contact With Others
  How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

• Freedom to Make Decisions
  How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?

• Letters and Memos
  How often does the job require written letters and memos?

• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?

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Interests

Browse Interests

• Realistic
  Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

• Investigative
  Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

• Conventional
  Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

• Enterprising
  Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

• Social
  Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

• Artistic
  Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

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Work Styles

• Integrity
  Job requires being honest and ethical.

• Dependability
  Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

• Attention to Detail
  Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

• Persistence
  Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

• Initiative
  Job requires a willingness to take on responsibilities and challenges.

• Analytical Thinking
  Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.

• Cooperation
  Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

• Stress Tolerance
  Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

• Achievement/Effort
  Job requires establishing and maintaining personally challenging achievement goals and exerting effort toward mastering tasks.

• Self Control
  Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

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Work Values

Browse Work Values

• Supervision, Human Relations
  Workers on this job have supervisors who back up their workers with management.

• Responsibility
  Workers on this job make decisions on their own.

• Support-Mean Extent
  Occupations that satisfy this work value offer supportive management that stands behind employees. Corresponding needs are Company Policies, Supervision: Human Relations and Supervision: Technical.

• Security
  Workers on this job have steady employment.

• Company Policies and Practices
  Workers on this job are treated fairly by the company.

• Compensation
  Workers on this job are paid well in comparison with other workers.

• Supervision, Technical
  Workers on this job have supervisors who train their workers well.

• Autonomy
  Workers on this job plan their work with little supervision.

• Achievement
  Workers on this job get a feeling of accomplishment.

• Independence
  Workers on this job do their work alone.

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