How to become Aviation Inspector in 2024

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

Aviation Inspector is Also Know as

In different settings, Aviation Inspector is titled as

  • Aircraft Inspector
  • Aircraft Quality Control Inspector (Aircraft QC Inspector)
  • Airworthiness Safety Inspector
  • Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI)
  • Avionics Safety Inspector
  • Inspector
  • Manufacturing Aviation Safety Inspector (Manufacturing ASI)
  • Quality Control Inspector (QC Inspector)
  • Quality Inspector
  • RTS Inspector (Return to Service Inspector)

Education and Training of Aviation Inspector

Aviation Inspector is categorized in Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed

Experience Required for Aviation Inspector

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 Required for Aviation Inspector

Most occupations in this zone require training in vocational schools, related on-the-job experience, or an associate's degree.

Degrees Related to Aviation Inspector

Training Required for Aviation Inspector

Employees in these occupations usually need one or two years of training involving both on-the-job experience and informal training with experienced workers. A recognized apprenticeship program may be associated with these occupations.

Related Ocuupations

Some Ocuupations related to Aviation Inspector in different industries are

What Do Aviation Inspector 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.
  • Start aircraft and observe gauges, meters, and other instruments to detect evidence of malfunctions.
  • Examine aircraft access plates and doors for security.
  • Examine landing gear, tires, and exteriors of fuselage, wings, and engines for evidence of damage or corrosion and the need for repairs.
  • Prepare and maintain detailed repair, inspection, investigation, and certification records and reports.
  • 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 maintenance records and flight logs to determine if service and maintenance checks and overhauls were performed at prescribed intervals.
  • Recommend replacement, repair, or modification of aircraft equipment.
  • Recommend changes in rules, policies, standards, and regulations, based on knowledge of operating conditions, aircraft improvements, and other factors.
  • Investigate air accidents and complaints to determine causes.
  • Observe flight activities of pilots to assess flying skills and to ensure conformance to flight and safety regulations.
  • Conduct flight test programs to test equipment, instruments, and systems under a variety of conditions, using both manual and automatic controls.
  • Approve or deny issuance of certificates of airworthiness.
  • Analyze training programs and conduct oral and written examinations to ensure the competency of persons operating, installing, and repairing aircraft equipment.
  • 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.

Qualities of Good Aviation Inspector

  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • 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 that there is a problem.
  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
  • 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.
  • Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
  • Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
  • Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
  • Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
  • Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
  • Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
  • Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
  • Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
  • Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
  • Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
  • Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
  • Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
  • Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
  • Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
  • Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
  • Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
  • Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
  • Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
  • Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
  • Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
  • Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
  • Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
  • Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
  • Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
  • Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
  • Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
  • Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
  • Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

Tools Used by Aviation Inspector

  • Aircraft Technical Publishers ATP Maintenance Planner
  • Angled feeler gauges
  • Borescopes
  • Coordinate measuring machines CMM
  • Desktop computers
  • Dial gauges
  • Eddy current inspection equipment
  • Eddy current pencil probes
  • Fluorescent penetrant testers
  • Hand held magnifiers
  • Handheld computers
  • Inspection mirrors
  • Ladders
  • Laptop computers
  • Magnetic particle inspection equipment
  • Maintenance tracking software
  • Micrometers
  • Non-destructive inspection NDI robots
  • Ohmmeters
  • Oscilloscopes
  • Output meters
  • Personal computers
  • Precision rulers
  • Pressure gauges
  • Protractors
  • Scaffolding
  • Shearographic equipment
  • Tachometers
  • Thermographic equipment
  • Thread gauges
  • Torque wrenches
  • Ultrasonic inspection devices
  • Vernier calipers
  • Wearable computers
  • X ray inspection equipment

Technology Skills required for Aviation Inspector

  • Adobe InDesign
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Aircraft regulation databases
  • Computer aided manufacturing CAM software
  • Dassault Systemes CATIA
  • Enterprise resource planning ERP software
  • Microsoft Access
  • Microsoft Active Server Pages ASP
  • Microsoft Excel
  • Microsoft Office software
  • Microsoft Outlook
  • Microsoft PowerPoint
  • Microsoft Word
  • Robotic workstation software
  • SAP software
  • SAS
  • Technical Data Management System TDMS