Work the landing gear checklist
Work through a landing gear checklist, spotting damage, rust or worn tires that deserve a closer look.
Career profile
Aviation Inspector
Aviation inspectors check aircraft, their repairs and their maintenance plans against flight safety rules.
A repair can look finished while its paperwork still leaves questions. Inspectors examine both, then name what needs to be dealt with.
A day in the life
Match flight logs to maintenance records
Set flight logs beside maintenance records, and when an entry is missing, see whether the required check happened.
Compare a repair to its instructions
Judge a finished repair against its technical instructions, then note if the work and paperwork meet the rules.
Review a repair shop's setup
As a federal overseer, review a shop's tools, staff qualifications and maintenance plan to judge if it's safe.
Quick facts
Build aviation experience first
United States
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A national median specific to aviation inspectors is unavailable.
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A national growth estimate specific to aviation inspectors is unavailable.
Quick orientation
Preparation, pay & outlook
Preparation
Build aviation experience firstMaintenance and aircraft-electronics experience lead toward different inspection specialties.
Pay
Not displayedA national median specific to aviation inspectors is unavailable.
Outlook
Not displayedA national growth estimate specific to aviation inspectors is unavailable.
Fit, tradeoffs & changing tools
You might like this if…
- You enjoy comparing what a record says with what you can actually observe.
- You can explain a problem clearly to someone whose work you are checking.
- You stay attentive when a familiar check needs doing again.
Things to weigh
- Errors can have serious consequences, and careful recordkeeping takes a substantial place beside aircraft inspection.
- Some maintenance-inspection jobs include weekend shifts, climbing work stands and entering cramped spaces.
Where AI may help
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) uses its Safety Assurance System to collect inspection data and help inspectors focus on higher risks.
What people still lead
You interpret the evidence, investigate concerns and decide how the requirements apply to the operation you are examining.
What we can’t predict yet
How much record review can become automatic—and which unusual cases still need a closer human look—will shape the balance between screen work and inspection.
Pay in context
Earnings
Pay depends on the employer, location and responsibility level. These advertised ranges show two specific settings; they are not national averages or a guaranteed progression.
Business-aircraft maintenance inspection
In Westfield, Massachusetts, weekend-day inspection work carries base pay of $35.41–$46.47 an hour. This role requires six years of aviation maintenance experience and a mechanic certificate with Airframe and Powerplant (A&P) ratings.
Senior federal maintenance oversight
An FAA principal maintenance inspector role in Albuquerque carries $127,141–$165,288 a year, including locality pay. It is a senior federal grade 14 position open to current permanent FAA employees.
Getting started
Build from aircraft maintenance
- What the route involves
- For both A&P ratings, complete an FAA-approved mechanic school program or gain 30 months of qualifying combined experience. Meet the age-18 and English requirements, then pass the knowledge, oral and practical tests.
- What it can lead to
- The certificate and subsequent maintenance experience can build eligibility for FAA maintenance-inspector positions.
- What to check
- Both ratings are required for this FAA specialty, but the certificate alone is insufficient. Relevant maintenance experience, including work within the last three years and responsibility for certifying airworthiness, is also required. Aircraft experience must match the air-carrier or general-aviation specialty.
Build from aircraft electronics
- What the route involves
- Gain experience maintaining, repairing and troubleshooting installed avionics in an aircraft repair facility, military facility or government aviation operation.
- What it can lead to
- That experience can build eligibility for FAA avionics-inspector work evaluating technicians, repair facilities and aircraft electronics.
- What to check
- FAA avionics-inspector requirements include experience within the last three years and aircraft experience suited to the specialty. During preparation, workers without an appropriate mechanic or repairman certificate need certificated supervision and cannot approve return to service. Check the inspector vacancy’s full hiring requirements.
Plan to learn an aviation specialty before moving into inspection. Two routes are maintenance and avionics—the electronic systems installed in aircraft.
After entry
Career paths
This starts where the entry routes leave off: early work, growing capability, and advancement or specialization.
Get established
In a federal inspector role, start with familiar aircraft and procedures. Learn how experienced inspectors handle unfamiliar findings and document their reasoning.
Evaluate whole programs
Develop from checking individual aircraft to assessing a repair station’s or operator’s maintenance program and how its staff carry it out.
Handle complex oversight
With deeper experience, pursue principal maintenance inspector work: oversee complex organizations and help other inspectors resolve difficult technical or policy questions.
Where you can work
Business-aircraft service facilities
Work beside mechanics and the quality team as aircraft undergo maintenance. The job combines access to aircraft components with checking the records needed before return to service.
- Indoors
- Physical demands
- Safety-sensitive
Federal aviation inspection offices
Combine visits to repair stations and operators with reviewing their programs. Your responsibility can extend across organizations, and some positions require travel.
- Office
- Field work
- Travel
- Safety-sensitive
Try it
See whether the job clicks before you commit to the path.
Try a fictional aircraft-log check: a made-up rule requires an inspection every 100 flight hours. The last inspection was at 420 hours; the aircraft now has 535 hours, with no later inspection entry. Write what the records establish, what remains unknown and what evidence you would request. Notice whether you enjoy separating a finding from an assumption.
Stay safe: This is a paper exercise with an invented interval, not a real aircraft maintenance rule.
Sources
- O*NET OnLine. 53-6051.01 — Aviation Inspectors. Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation Safety Inspector (Maintenance). Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation Safety Inspector (Avionics). Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Become an Aviation Mechanic. Accessed 2026-10-05.
- U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Position Classification Standard for Aviation Safety Series, GS-1825. Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Federal Aviation Administration. Safety Assurance System (SAS). Accessed 2026-10-05.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational projections and worker characteristics. Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. Inspector A&P (Weekend Day Shift), Westfield, requisition 236375. Accessed 2026-10-05.
- Federal Aviation Administration / USAJOBS. Principal Maintenance Inspector, Albuquerque, announcement ASW-FS-26-DC246-100685. Accessed 2026-10-05.