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Aviation Inspectors

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

What you’d do

  • Inspect work of aircraft mechanics performing maintenance, modification, or repair and overhaul of aircraft and aircraft mechanical systems to ensure adherence to standards and procedures.
  • Examine maintenance records and flight logs to determine if service and maintenance checks and overhauls were performed at prescribed intervals.
  • 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.
  • Approve or deny issuance of certificates of airworthiness.
  • Prepare and maintain detailed repair, inspection, investigation, and certification records and reports.
  • Examine landing gear, tires, and exteriors of fuselage, wings, and engines for evidence of damage or corrosion and the need for repairs.
  • Recommend replacement, repair, or modification of aircraft equipment.
  • Start aircraft and observe gauges, meters, and other instruments to detect evidence of malfunctions.

Skills that matter

  • Critical Thinking
  • Active Listening
  • Reading Comprehension
  • Speaking
  • Operations Monitoring
  • Quality Control Analysis

How to get there

Medium preparation: usually vocational school, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree

Also called

  • Aircraft Inspector
  • Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI)
  • Inspector
  • Quality Inspector
  • Aircraft Quality Control Inspector (Aircraft QC Inspector)
  • Airworthiness Safety Inspector

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