Aviation Safety Inspector (AW-General Aviation Avionics )

About the role

The duty station for this position is Ankeny, IA. The Principal Avionics Inspector (PAI) serves as the primary operations interface between assigned air carriers, air operators, air agencies, airmen, designees. and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

What you will do

• The Principal Avionics Inspector (PAI) receives administrative direction from management in terms of broadly defined missions or functions.
• The PAI, mostly independently plans, designs, and carries out programs, projects, studies, or other work.
• The PAI provides policy assistance to Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASIs) on difficult or complex policy interpretations.
• The work is normally accepted without change.
• Completed work may be reviewed for adherence to FAA policy and for assurance that project requirements have been fulfilled.
• Some FG-14 assignments involve service wide responsibility for application of expert knowledge of flight avionics for an advanced multiengine turbojet aircraft.
• Such employees are concerned with all aspects of the operational capabilities and limitations of the aircraft.
• ASIs at the FG-14 level establish technical procedures and performance indexes and review complete flight operations programs for leaders in the aviation industry, or organizations of comparable scope and complexity, or a uniquely complex group of general aviation organizations.
• Assignments at this level are of great scope and unusual complexity.
• The following assignments are illustrative: 1.
• As a Service wide expert on a particular type of aircraft: Advises other inspectors of major changes; Evaluates new training methods and equipment; Serves on boards that evaluate incidents, accidents, complaints, and other serious problems relating to the aircraft.
• As the principal representative in regulatory surveillance of general aviation activities, exercises certificate authority; or evaluates maintenance activities and complete aircraft overhaul facilities.
• Exercises certificate authority and safety responsibility over a complex of broad and varied general aviation organizations such as air taxis, executive and/or industrial operators, repair stations, and flight and mechanic schools when the activities monitored equate collectively to a major air carrier in terms of size and complexity of aircraft fleet employed, scope and technical complexity of operations, management sophistication, industry leadership, and public impact.
• The magnitude, intensity, and scope of program responsibility are typically such as to require significant and regular assistance of lower graded inspectors.
• Decisions typically have broad impact on the operation, maintenance of a particular type of advanced aircraft, or a geographic area containing a variety of novel and/or complex aviation operations.
• Decisions also have a significant effect on the safety of the flying public.
• FG-14 employees have critically important and frequently controversial contacts with key officials of major manufacturers and general aviation organizations.
• Contacts are made to resolve issues which affect the initial certification or operations programs, and their effect on safety and compliance with regulations.
• The PAI provides guidance to field level staff to solve difficult technical issues.
• Resolves all but unique problems, with the intervention of management or a more experienced technical specialist.
• Develop plans, techniques, and policies to address current and anticipated problems and issues.
• Works with management to solve problems.
• The PAI is expected to follow established laws, orders, policies, and regulations that provide general guidance for completing work objectives but is allowed considerable discretion to develop new or innovative approaches.
• The PAI uses resourcefulness, initiative, and judgement based on experience to develop and implement evaluation procedures to address problems where precedents are not applicable.
• Methods, practices, or decisions may be used as guidance in similar problem areas.
• Performs other duties as required.

Requirements

• We are not accepting applications from noncitizens.

Education

Education is not qualifying for this position and may not be substituted for experience.

How you will be evaluated

IMPORTANT: Applicants may be rated on the extent and quality of experience, education, and training relevant to the duties of the position(s). All answers provided in the on-line process must be substantiated. Ensure that your application package/resume supports your responses.

Documents you must provide

• If you need to submit additional documents to supplement your online application, e.g. transcripts, SF-50, or veterans' documentation, you may upload these documents with your application in USAJOBS.
• Supplemental documentation can also be faxed to *** on or before the closing date of this announcement.
• Please include your name and the vacancy announcement number on each of your faxed pages and redact all Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as social security number and date of birth.
• If you are an FAA employee, you MUST provide a copy of your SF-50 (Notification of Personnel Action) containing information in Blocks 15, 17, 18, 19, 22, and 24 so it can be used to verify your position title, series, grade, tenure, and organization of record by the closing date of the announcement.
• You may fax your SF-50 or upload it into the on-line application.
• If faxing the SF-50, please ensure you include the vacancy announcement number on the faxed copy.
• If you are an FAA employee, you can access and print your SF-50 from the eOPF system ***

What to expect next

Once we receive your complete application, the Human Resources Office will conduct an evaluation of your qualifications. Eligible and qualified candidates will be referred to the hiring manager for consideration. You will be contacted directly if selected for an interview.

For instructions on how to check the status of your application, please go to: USAJOBS Help Guide. Important - If you make any changes to your application, you must resubmit it. If you make changes to your application and do not resubmit it, your changes will not be considered part of your application package, and only your previously submitted application will be evaluated.

All qualified applicants will be considered regardless of political affiliation, race, color, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, age, disability, or other non-merit factors. DOT provides reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities.

If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process, please notify the agency contact listed in the Agency Contact Information section of this announcement or the hiring manager. An employee with a disability must notify the decision-maker of the accommodation request.

Job applicants and employees are required to follow up oral requests in writing. Decisions on granting reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. Additional information on reasonable accommodations procedures or on EEO Programs is available on Office of Civil Rights (ACR) or by contacting the local FAA Civil Rights Office.

Additional information

We may use this vacancy to fill other similar vacant positions. Position may be subject to a background investigation. A one-year probationary period may be required.

The person selected for this position may be required to file a financial disclosure statement within 30 days of entry on duty.

FAA policy limits certain outside employment and financial investments in aviation-related companies. *** As a part of the Federal-Wide Hiring Reform Initiative (streamlining the hiring process), the FAA is committed to eliminating the use of the Knowledge, Skills and Ability (KSA) narratives from the initial application in the hiring process for all announcements.

Therefore, as an applicant for this announcement, you are NOT required to provide a narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA. In lieu of providing a KSA narrative response in the text box listed below each KSA, in your work history, please include information that provides specific examples of how you meet the response level or answer you chose for each KSA.

Your work history examples should be specific and clearly reflect the highest level of ability. Your KSA answers will be evaluated further to validate whether the level that you selected is appropriate based on the work history and experience you provided. Your answers may be adjusted by a Human Resource Specialist as appropriate.

Eligible applicants meeting the minimum qualification requirements may be further evaluated on the Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs) listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: score order, category grouping, or alphabetical and referred to the selecting official for consideration.

In-grade/downgrade applications will be accepted. If the Agency decides to interview any qualified employee on the selection list, then all on the list who are qualified must be interviewed. If the selection list is shortened to a best qualified list through a comparative process, then the best qualified list shall be considered to be the selection list.

Links to Important Information: Locality Pay, COLA