Aviation Safety and Compliance Inspector (Rotary Wing Operations)

Clarification from the agency

Applications will be accepted from U.S. Citizens.

At the full performance level (GS-13), as an Aviation Safety and Compliance Inspector (Rotary Wing Operations), your duties will include but are not limited to the following:

• Evaluates the capabilities of private contractors to perform point-to-point, investigation, special use and precision reconnaissance flights and issues initial qualification cards for mission specific applications, of which, requires advanced pilot skills and maneuvers.
• Provides technical aviation assistance to the Department of Interior's Bureaus and Offices for evolving or changing programs that require aircraft support.
• Maintains a program of recurring visits involving personal contacts with Bureau personnel supervising operations and aviation operators providing contractual services.
• Evaluates qualifications of employees responsible for management and technical supervision of aircraft operations, capability of management's control of aircraft operations, government and operator working relationships, and level of user-Bureau satisfaction with services provided by WFS.
• Leads or conducts surveillance and inspection of DOI's fleet aircraft and contractor maintenance facilities, to ensure compliance with department regulations, contract specifications, and quality control plans.
• Serves as the Team Member for the aircraft rental agreement renewal process for all contractor and cooperating Federal, State, and local agency aviation operations for an assigned geographical area.
• Serves as the point of contact for arranging the inspection and coordinating with WFS authorized inspectors and the Forest Service.
• The employee will serve as Pilot in Command (PIC) on DOI rotor-wing aircraft, perform flight evaluations and surveillance of contracted rotor-wing pilots, and flight evaluations and training of DOI fleet pilots.
• Duties will be developmental in nature when filled below the full performance level.

Conditions of employment

• Must be a U.S. Citizen or National.
• Suitability for Federal employment, as determined by background investigation.
• Direct Deposit Required.
• You will be required to submit to a drug test and receive a negative drug test result prior to appointment. In addition, this position is subject to random testing for illegal drug use.
• Valid first or second-class medical certificate, required. Selectees may be subject to post-employment medical examinations to determine if they are maintaining the fitness standards for this position.
• This position requires the incumbent to operate a government (or private) motor vehicle as part of their official duties. Selectee must hold and maintain a valid state driver's license throughout their employment in this position.
• A condition of employment for accepting this position, you MAY be required to serve a 1-year probationary period during which your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest will be evaluated.
• Notice of Financial Disclosure Report Requirement: This position is subject to a financial disclosure requirement, and you will be required to complete either OGE Form 278e or OGE Form 450 as applicable within 30 days of your appointment.
• Individuals assigned male at birth after 12-31-59 must be registered for the Selective Service. To verify registration, visit www.SSS.gov.
• Selectees will be expected to travel in small single-engine and multi-engine aircraft.
• You may be required to work on-call, evenings, weekends, holidays, overtime and shift work.
• You may be required to travel overnight away from home multiple times per month. You must obtain a government charge card for travel purposes.
• You may be required to complete training and obtain/maintain a government charge card with travel and/or purchase authority.
• You must be 18 years of age or older to be assigned to a hazardous position.

Qualifications

All qualifications must be met by the closing date of this announcement-09/23/2026-unless otherwise stated in this vacancy announcement.

Credit will be given for all appropriate qualifying experience. To receive credit for experience, your resume MUST clearly indicate the nature of the duties and responsibilities for each position, starting and ending dates of employment (month/year), and the resume must reflect full and/or part-time or total number of hours worked (i.e., work 40+ hours a week, rather than indicating full-time). If part-time, the hours must be annotated to be able to pro-rate the amount of qualified specialized experience.

In order to qualify for this position, you must possess the Minimum Qualification requirements listed below.

Selective Placement Factors: This position requires special qualifications that have been determined to be essential to perform the duties and will be used as a screen out element. Those who do not provide evidence they possess the following selective factor(s) will be rated not qualified. Applicants must meet ALL of the following to qualify:

1. Commercial Pilot Certificate with appropriate rotorcraft-helicopter ratings and instrument ratings
2. Flight Instructor Certificate with rotorcraft-helicopter rating
3. Valid first or second-class medical certificate

- AND -

For GS-12 EXPERIENCE:

To qualify for the GS-12, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-11 level 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.
Must meet all specialized experience defined as:
1) Operational experience flying rotor-wing aircraft in natural resource missions; AND
2) Administering flight checks in for rotor-wing aircrafts.

-OR-

For GS-13 EXPERIENCE:

To qualify for the GS-13, you must possess at least one full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-12 level 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.
Must meet all specialized experience defined as:
1) Operational experience flying rotor-wing aircraft in natural resource missions;
2) Administering flight checks in rotor-wing aircraft; AND
3) Conducting rotor-wing pilot proficiency evaluations.

Volunteer Experience: Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community, student, social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

ICTAP/CTAP Statement: Current surplus and current or former displaced Federal individuals who have special priority selection rights under the Agency Career Transition Assistance Program (CTAP) or the Interagency Career Transition Assistance Program (ICTAP) must be well qualified for the position to receive consideration for special priority selection. Well qualified means that the applicant meets the following: OPM qualification standards for the position; all selective placement factors, where applicable; special qualifying conditions that OPM has approved for the position, where applicable; is physically qualified with reasonable accommodation, where appropriate to satisfactorily perform the duties of the position upon entry; and is rated by the organization at least at the well qualified level on all competencies. Federal employees seeking CTAP/ICTAP eligibility must submit proof that they meet the requirements of 5 CFR 330.605(2) for CTAP and 5 CFR 330.704 for ICTAP. This includes a copy of the agency notice, a copy of their most recent Performance Rating, and a copy of their most recent SF-50 noting current position, grade level, and duty location. Please annotate your application to reflect that you are applying as a CTAP/ICTAP eligible. If you are selected for Federal employment, you will be required to fill out a Declaration of Federal Employment, OF-306, prior to being appointed to determine your suitability for Federal employment and to authorize a background investigation. Failing to answer all questions truthfully and completely or providing false statements on your application may be grounds for not hiring you, or for firing you after you begin work. Also, you may be punished by fine or imprisonment (U.S. Code, Title 18, section 1001).

Reemployment Priority List (RPL): The RPL is the mechanism agencies use to give reemployment consideration to their former competitive service employees separated by a RIF or who have fully recovered from a compensable injury after more than one year. If you are currently on an RPL, you may be given priority consideration.

How you will be evaluated

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

Resumes must not exceed two single-sided pages and resumes longer than two pages will not be accepted. The minimum font size is 10-point for all body text. Headers may be slightly larger but must remain legible. All resumes must maintain a minimum 0.5-inch margins on all sides to ensure readability and prevent excessive content compression. Including supplemental pages or attachments disguised as resume extensions are prohibited and will not be reviewed to determine your eligibility/qualifications.

You will be evaluated based on how your application materials reflect the qualification requirements of this position. Once the application process is complete, HR will review your application to ensure you meet eligibility and minimum qualifications. To determine if you are minimally qualified for this position, HR will complete a review of your resume, supporting documentation and responses to the online questionnaire. If an applicant's resume is incomplete or does not support the requirements for minimum qualifications or specialized experience a rating of "ineligible" or "not qualified" will be applied and no consideration for employment will be granted.

Candidates will be rated and ranked using Category Rating procedures. These procedures place candidates with veteran's preference above non-preference eligibles within each category. Veterans with a service-connected disability of at least 10 percent are listed in the highest quality category, except when the position being filled is scientific or professional at the GS-09 grade level or higher. Under Category Rating, candidates will be rated and ranked into one of three categories:

• Best Qualified - applicants possessing experience that substantially exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are highly proficient in all requirements of the job and can perform effectively in the position
• Well Qualified - applicants possessing experience that exceeds the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in most of the requirements of the job
• Qualified - applicants possessing experience that meets the minimum qualifications of the position including all selective factors and are proficient in some, but not all of the requirements of the job.

You will be evaluated on the following competencies:

• Partnering - Develops networks and builds alliances; collaborates across boundaries to build strategic relationships and achieve common goals.
• Leadership - Inspires, motivates and guides others toward goal accomplishment; coaches, mentors, and challenges subordinates; adapts leadership styles to a variety of situations; models high standards of honesty, integrity, trust, openness, and respect for the individual by applying these values to daily behaviors.
• Technical Competence - Understands and appropriately applies procedures, requirements, regulations, and policies related to specialized expertise (for example, engineering, physical science, law, or accounting); maintains credibility with others on technical matters.
• Project Management - Knowledge of the principles, methods, or tools for developing, scheduling, coordinating, and managing projects and resources, including monitoring and inspecting costs, work, and contractor performance.

** How You Will Be Evaluated continued in Required Documents...

** How You Will Be Evaluated continued:

In order to be considered for this position, you must complete all required steps in the process. In addition to the application and application questionnaire, this position requires successful completion of additional assessments, including a panel resume review. These assessments measure the critical competencies listed above that are required to successfully perform the job.

** End of How You Will Be Evaluated


You must submit a complete application package. The following documents are required and must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/23/2026:

1. Resumes must show relevant experience and other information. Your resume MUST list your education and work experience including (1) the dates (mm/yy) of each employment, along with (2) the number of hours worked per week, and (3) work experience duties listed under each job entry. In addition, Civil Service employees must provide their current OPM title, series, and grade. If experience is for a career ladder position, please ensure to clearly show how long you were working in each grade level. Your resume will be used to validate your responses to the assessment tool(s). Failure to provide required information will result in loss of eligibility. No assumptions will be made about your experience and/or education. You are welcome to submit a cover letter.

Resumes must also include name and how to best contact you, including email address and phone number.

Do not include the following types of information in your resume:

• Classified or government sensitive information

• Social Security Number (SSN)

• Photos of yourself

• Personal information, such as age, gender, religious affiliation, etc.

• Encrypted and digitally signed documents.

In describing your experience, please be clear and specific. Visit the USAJOBS Help Center for more information on What should I include in my federal resume and/or OPM Resume Writing Tips.
2. Complete All Required Assessments.
3. Documentation that you meet ALL of the Selective Factors mentioned in the Qualifications section above.
4. Other Supporting Documents, if applicable, such as:

• Veterans Preference Documentation:
• If you are a Discharged, Non-Disabled Veteran, you must submit a copy of your DD-214 showing character of discharge (Member 4 copy), or other Documentation of Service and Separation under Honorable Conditions, as listed on the SF15. If you don't have your DD-214, you may request it after discharge from the National Archives.
• If you are a veteran within 120 days of discharge, you must submit signed documentation from the Armed Forces certifying: 1) your expected release/retirement from active duty, 2) under honorable conditions, 3) your pay grade/rank/rate at time of discharge, 4) dates of active duty service, 5) any campaign or expeditionary medals received, & 6) dated within 120 days of your separation.
• If you are a Disabled Veteran, Purple Heart Recipient, or Mother or Spouse of a Disabled or Deceased Veteran, you must submit all additional proof required by the SF15, and if applicable, a completed SF15. You may request a copy of your Department of Veterans Affairs letter from www.ebenefits.va.gov or call 1-800-827-1000 to establish proof of disability.
• CTAP/ICTAP: Documentation for Interagency/Career Transition Assistance Plan consideration if you are a displaced Federal employee within the local commuting area. You must include: 1) Proof you are a displaced Federal employee, e.g., RIF Separation Notice, Notice of Proposed Removal, etc; 2) SF-50s (Notifications of Personnel Action) showing career/conditional tenure competitive status, promotion potential and duty location; and 3) your most recent performance appraisal. To exercise selection priority, displaced or surplus Federal employees must be rated well-qualified or above 85 on the rating criteria for this position.

Do not upload Adobe portfolio documents. Adobe portfolio documents are not viewable by our agency's staffing offices.

Next steps