Clarification from the agency

All U.S. Citizens

This position is located within the Department of the Interior, Office of Aviation Services (OAS), Alaska Region, in Anchorage, Alaska. The incumbent will lead or conduct surveillance and inspection of diverse types of rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft and ancillary equipment to ensure maintenance and safety compliance with departmental and federal regulations.

At the Supervisor's discretion, and if qualified, the incumbent may perform the duties of Aviation Safety Inspector (Operations) and/or Aviation Safety Inspector, Equipment Specialist (Avionics and Fuel Service Units).

The Organizational title for this position is Aviation Safety Inspector, Equipment.

Note: A recruitment and/or relocation incentive may be offered at the discretion of the selecting official.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

At the full performance level (GS-13) the major duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

1. Independently conducts periodic scheduled and unscheduled inspections to determine the contractor's continued compliance with the requirements of the contract. The employee may unilaterally withdraw authorization cards for any aircraft or ancillary equipment if in their professional judgment the contract requirements are not met or safety deficiencies are found. Prepares a written report of findings and recommendations. Independently follows-up to assure that all deficiencies are properly corrected before reissuing authorization cards that are withdrawn.
2. Serves as a member of the Aviation Safety Compliance Team assisting in, planning, supervising and coordinating a team of inspectors to evaluate the DOI fleet aircraft, contractor aircraft and cooperating federal, state, and local agency aviation operations, in an assigned geographical area for use on DOI missions. Prior to inspection, coordinates review of in-house records and reports of pilots, aircraft and ancillary equipment and facilities scheduled to be reviewed.
3. Leads or conducts surveillance and inspections of diverse types of fixed and rotary wing aircraft and ancillary equipment to ensure maintenance and safety compliance with contract requirements and OAS, Federal Aviation Regulations and Federal Acquisition Regulations (FARs) and other Federal regulations.
4. Evaluates new and existing procedures/operations for safety and cost effectiveness that relate to the selection, maintenance and use of aircraft based on the operations in which the aircraft will be used.
5. Provides OAS management and our customers with expert technical guidance and advice in the development, implementation and resolution of a wide range of aviation maintenance management issues related to safety, operational practices, potential contractor capability, contract modifications, policy and procedure development, and special use operations for both DOI fleet and contracted fixed-wing or helicopter aircraft.
6. Provides expert guidance and advisory services in the development and technical evaluation of proposed modifications to aircraft to assure compliance with safety standards and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification requirements.
7. Conducts in-house aircraft maintenance and equipment technical training for the purpose of standardizing procedures to DOI aviation employees and inspectors when adequate training sources are unavailable either from the manufacturer or other sources.

OS has determined that the duties of this position are suitable for telework and the selectee may be allowed to telework with supervisor approval.

*Note: The telework referred to above is considered "occasional" and is allowed only with prior supervisor approval. This is not a remote position; the selectee will be required to report to and work from the Anchorage, AK duty location.

Salary Information
GS-12: $85,799 - $111,543 per annum. GS-13: $102,026- $132,637 per annum. First time hires to the Federal government normally start at the lower salary range of the grade level.

This vacancy may be used to fill additional positions as vacancies become available.

This vacancy is also announced as OS-6054-20-EG-092(MP) for those applicants who wish to apply and be considered under Merit Promotion procedures.

Conditions of employment

• You will be subject to a background/suitability investigation/determination
• You will be required to have federal payments made by Direct Deposit.
• You must submit ALL required documents and a completed questionnaire.
• You must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Selective Service: If you are a male applicant born after December 31, 1959, you must certify that you have registered with the Selective Service system, or are exempt from having to do so under the Selective Service Law. See http://www.sss.gov/.

Qualifications

Position Requirements:
1. Position is subject to medical requirements and incumbent must maintain medical requirements.
2. This position is subject to pre-employment and future drug testing.
3. Valid State driver's license
4. At least a high school diploma or equivalent.

To qualify for this position you must meet the General Requirements, Medical Requirements, General Aviation Requirements and the Specialized Experience and Selective Placement Factor for the grade(s) to which you are applying.

General Requirements:
1. Not more than two separate incidents involving Federal Aviation Regulations violations in the last 5 years;
2. Valid State driver's license;
3. Fluency in the English language;
4. No chemical dependencies or drug abuse that could interfere with job performance; and
5. At least a high school diploma or equivalent.

Medical Requirements:
Applicants must be physically able to perform the duties of the Aviation Safety Inspector position in a safe and efficient manner, and must meet all of the following requirements:

1. Have good distant vision in each eye and be able to read printed materials the size of typewritten characters (glasses and contact lenses permitted) without strain;
2. Have the ability to hear the conversational voice (hearing aid permitted);
3. Not have any physical condition that would cause them to be a hazard to themselves or others or that would interfere with their ability to fly as passengers in a variety of aircraft.

General Aviation Maintenance Requirements:
In addition to the above, applicants must also possess the general aviation maintenance minimum qualification requirements:

1. Experience performing the inspection, maintenance and repair of airframes, powerplants and aircraft systems with responsibility of certifying airworthiness.
2. Maintenance experience with aircraft 12,500 pounds or less maximum certificated takeoff weight.
3. General aviation aircraft maintenance work experience in a FAA certified repair station within the last 3 years.
4. FAA Mechanic Certificate with Airframe and Power Plant Ratings (A&P)
5. Must either currently possess an FAA Inspection Authorization (IA); or, possess the qualifications per 14 CFR 65.91 to obtain an FAA IA. Documentation of valid FAA Inspection Authorization must be provided by Entry on Duty date or within 30 days of job offer, whichever comes first.

Specialized Experience GS-12:
Note: At the GS-12 level you may not substitute education for experience.
To qualify for the GS-12, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level or higher in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as: (1) performing the inspection, maintenance and repair of airframes, powerplants and aircraft systems with responsibility of certifying airworthiness; (2) lead or provide oversight of maintenance inspections of diverse types of rotary wing and/or fixed wing aircraft and ancillary equipment to ensure quality of maintenance and safety compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations.
Note: Applicants must meet all specialized experience statements.

Specialized Experience GS-13:
Note: At the GS-13 level you may not substitute education for experience.
To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level or higher in the Federal service, or comparable experience not gained through Federal service. Specialized experience is experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to work of the position to be filled. Specialized experience is defined as (1) performing the inspection, maintenance and repair of airframes, powerplants and aircraft systems with responsibility of certifying airworthiness; (2) lead or provide oversight of maintenance inspections of diverse types of rotary wing and/or fixed wing aircraft and ancillary equipment to ensure quality of maintenance and safety compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations; and (3) at least 3 seasons experience maintaining and inspecting aircraft in a field environment (Field environment is defined as: On-site aircraft maintenance conducted away from main base of operations in terrain such as mountainous, desert, forest, rural, remote or other unimproved areas, in support of resource aircraft operations).
Note: Applicants must meet all specialized experience statements.

Selective Placement Factor
All applicants must currently hold, or possess the qualifications to hold, a position of Director of Maintenance as defined in 14 CFR 119.71 (e) (1&2) (three years of experience within the last 6 years maintaining aircraft as a certificated mechanic OR, have 3 years of experience within the last 6 years repairing aircraft in a certificated airframe repair station including 1 year in the capacity of approving aircraft for return to service.)
-OR- Documented experience serving as an authorized aircraft inspector for a state or federal government agency responsible for issuing approval or disapproval documentation (carding) for FAA certificated small aircraft (12,500 lbs or below).
Note: You are required to provide documentation in your resume that you meet all of the requirements outlined above and experience claimed in your application. Failure to provide support in your resume that you meet the requirements outlined above and claimed experience may result in disqualification from consideration for this position.

Conditions of Employment
Driver's License: You will be required to operate a government motor vehicle as part of your official duties. Please indicate in your application whether you possess a valid U.S. driver's license.
Physical Demands: The employee spends a significant amount of time in the field conducting aircraft and ancillary equipment maintenance inspections, performing spot investigations, and providing technical support in accident/ incident investigations, inspection work requires considerable standing, bending, stopping, and reaching into confined spaces. The employee must be physically capable of performing all aspects of the duties of the position to include climbing on, in, around and under aircraft and aviation support equipment, often utilizing ladders and work stands, for the purposes of conducting inspections.

Working Conditions: Position requires long periods of work confined to a desk with numerous contacts to be made by telephone, interpretative review of significant amounts of manually written technical data and constant scheduling and rescheduling of work activities. Position also requires performing field aircraft inspector reviews including actual inspections for intermediate periods of time on aircraft and facilities, sometimes in periods of darkness and/or in inclement weather. May be required to be outside for periods of time in extreme of heat, cold, and other weather phenomena. The overall work environment involves occasional periods of stress.

Additional information on the qualification requirements is outlined in the OPM Qualification Standards Handbook of General Schedule Positions and is available at OPM's website: https://www.opm.gov/qualifications/standards/indexes/num-ndx.asp

All qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of the vacancy announcement.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

Once the application process is complete, we will review your application to ensure you meet the job requirements. To determine if you are qualified for this job, a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire will be made. Your responses to the online assessment will be used to measure the degree to which your background matches the requirements for this position. You are being evaluated under the Category Rating method, which means, if you are determined to be qualified you will be placed in one of three pre-defined categories. These categories are "Platinum", "Gold", and "Silver". However, your resume must support your responses to the scored occupational questionnaire, or your score may be lowered. Candidates placed in the "Platinum" category will be identified for referral to the hiring manager and may be invited for an interview. Veterans' preference rules for category rating will be applied.

Your answers to the on-line assessment will be used to evaluate your competencies in the following areas:
Compliance Inspection - Knowledge of rotary wing and fixed wing maintenance and equipment inspection processes and procedures. Ability to perform inspections of rotary wing and fixed wing aircraft and support equipment to ensure compliance with DOI aviation contracts.
Requirements Analysis - Knowledge of current FAA Federal Regulations approved FAA maintenance practices and industry standards in order to provide the agency and its stakeholders timely and accurate aircraft maintenance and technical collaboration in the creation and implementation of policy and contract specifications.
Decision Making - Ablility to breakdown raw information and undefined problems into specific, workable components that, in turn clearly identify the issues at hand. Makes logical conclusions, anticipates obstacles, and considers different approaches that are relevant to the decision- making process.
Interpersonal Skills: Ability to meet and deal effectively with people of various backgrounds, occupations, government levels (federal, state, and local) to accomplish the overall mission of the organization.
Technology Application - Integrates technology into the workplace; develops strategies using new technology to manage and improve program effectiveness; understands the impact of technological changes on the organization.

If you are a status applicant (current career or career-conditional Federal employee or former permanent Federal employee with reinstatement eligibility in the competitive service), or are eligible under a special appointing authority and you are selected under this vacancy, you may be subject to serving a new one-year probationary period.

To preview the assessment questionnaire click: https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/10801525