Aviation Safety Technician

Summary

Incumbent serves as developmental Aviation Safety Technician (AST) in a Flight Standards Office providing technical support to Aviation Safety Inspectors (ASI's) and the public. Performs or assists with a wide range of certification, surveillance, and investigation duties requiring research and evaluation in accordance with current FAA safety directives/orders.

Duties

Technical Administration Provides technical knowledge and support to aviation safety inspectors, the general public, stakeholders, and airmen regarding a wide variety of aviation-related topics. Extracts safety data and information from FAA records to identify trends for items that affect aviation safety and enters technical findings in agency approved databases. This individual will provide technical assistance and/or support with certification, surveillance, investigation, and/or enforcement, examples includes: Provides technical support to ASI's during certification of operators and air agencies. Reviews airmen certification files, submitted by designees for accuracy. Reviews inspection authorization files for renewal eligibility. Conducts Operational Color Vision Tests. Reviews designee management system to determine renewal eligibility. Compiles data for technical reports. Surveillance Support Assists ASI's with surveillance of aviation events. Assists in drafting and issuing waivers and authorizations. Investigation Support Drafts Enforcement Investigative Reports (EIR) for review and final approval by an ASI. Acts as the Point of Contact (POC) for safety assets (PPE) related to accident investigations. Enforcement Support Incumbent will be responsible for enforcement functions including: conducting violations, voluntary disclosure, suspect illegal charters, incidents, navigation and altitude deviation investigations. Other Provides technical support for special inspections, including a variety of the functions described in the previous paragraphs. May conduct meetings or portions of meetings in support of technical work functions. Prepares technical correspondence in support of assigned work functions. Provides administrative support and project tracking utilizing required computer software.

Qualifications

To qualify at the FG-8 grade level, you must demonstrate in your application that you possess at least one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the (FG/GS-7) level. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been at least equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes demonstrated accomplishment in practical technical aviation operations, experience with common software applications, extracting data, gathering information, assisting in investigative type work and drafting documents. Typically preferred candidates will show technical training and/or certification experience applicable to a regulatory aviation environment. To qualify at the FG-9 grade level, you must demonstrate in your application that you possess at least one year (52 weeks) of specialized experience equivalent to the (FG/GS-8) level. Specialized experience is experience that has equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position and is typically in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been at least equivalent to the next lower level in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Specialized experience includes demonstrated accomplishment in practical technical aviation operations; computer skills and knowledge of common software applications; analytical skill; interpersonal skills; and communication skills; experience in gathering and compiling aviation safety data; experience in analyzing aviation safety information for the purpose of identifying trends; experience in preparing technical reports and documents; and experience in assisting in aviation investigations such as complaints, occurrences, incidents, accidents and/or violations. Typically preferred candidates will show technical training and/or certification experience applicable to a regulatory aviation environment. Qualifications must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement. Special Note Concerning Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSAs): 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 and selective factor(s), if applicable, may be further evaluated on the Leadership and Management Dimensions 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.

Education

Education may not be substituted for experience at these grade levels.