Summary Incumbent serves as an 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. Responsibilities Tasks are performed following prescribed or established procedures to assist inspectors, investigators, and Flight Standards program officials in their fact-finding or program administration responsibilities and requires basic evaluative judgment. The work performed falls primarily in one of the following categories: (1) Inspections where determinations are based on visual or other specific inspection techniques and are made based on relatively clear-cut considerations such as the presence or absence of required documents or the obvious physical condition of an item or premises. These inspections are governed by specific procedures and serve as bases for action by compliance program officials. Typically, such work includes both initial and follow-up inspections including obtaining samples and performing well-established field tests, if appropriate. (2) Technical support to inspections or investigations such as searching for, gathering, screening, and providing factual information or explanations related to the subject of an inspection or investigation or to the compliance program itself. These tasks are performed following prescribed or established procedures to assist compliance inspectors, investigators, and program officials in their fact finding or program administration responsibilities. The work includes activities such as obtaining background information on subjects of inspections or investigations by means of record searches, structured interviews, automated information retrieval, telephone inquiries, or correspondence; providing information to authorized persons concerning the status of particular investigations; explaining licensing or other requirements, including exceptions or exemptions, to persons or organizations subject to regulations; compiling final investigative reports with necessary exhibits; and maintaining required administrative reports on topics such as manpower, case load, and case status. 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 include, but are not limited to: Certification Support • Provides technical support to ASl'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 AS I's with surveillance of aviation events. • Assists in drafting and issuing waivers and authorizations. Investigation Support • Drafts Enforcement Investigative Reports (ETR) 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. Requirements Conditions of Employment We are not accepting applications from noncitizens. Qualifications 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 experience gathering and compiling aviation safety data; experience analyzing aviation safety information for the purpose of identifying trends; experience preparing technical reports and documents; and experience conducting or 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. Qualification requirements must be met by the closing date of this vacancy announcement. 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 Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (KSA) listed in the announcement. Based on this evaluation, applicants will be placed in one of the following categories: score order, category grouping, or priority grouping and referred to the selecting official for consideration. Education Education may not be substituted for experience at this grade level. 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 U.S. Department of Transportation strives to ensure that equity, transparency, accountability, collaboration, and communication permeate all that we do for the betterment of the Department, the traveling public, and our nation. As such, DOT values a highly diverse workforce of persons who promote a culture of belonging by respecting the personal dignity and worth of each individual and fostering a positive environment where all feel safe and welcome. If these commitments coincide with your personal ideals and professional aspirations, please consider joining the DOT family. Full promotion potential to the FG-9 Level: Identification of promotion in the vacancy announcement does not constitute a commitment or an obligation on the part of management to promote the employee selected at some future date. Promotion will depend upon the selectee meeting training, qualification requirements, and recommendation by the supervisor. Interviews: If the Agency decides to interview any qualified employee on the selection list, then all on the list who are qualified must be interviewed. Salary: Salary will be set in accordance with PASS/AVS collective bargaining unit contract. INCOMPLETE APPLICATIONS: Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect your rating. Your application/resume MUST have your official title, grade and series on your work history. Links to Important Information: Locality Pay, COLA