Becoming a FAA inspector

[Occam's Razor]

You apparently do very little observing. It's best done with the eyes open.

Actually, it is true. That broad statement is quite accurate.

Now I don't like to generalize, and I hate to jump to conclusions...certainly not from the two inspectors who showed up one morning demanding to see my airplane at a remote location...demanding to see two items that were airworthiness issues, both hidden, both inside a locked aircraft...both things they couldn't have known about unless someone had entered the aircraft and removed the items...and who clearly had an agenda in mind before arriving on site. Certainly not from the inspector who was so hot to trot about busting me that he jumped out of a twin engine airplane with an applicant on board during a practical test, and ran to my aircraft, waving his form 110A and baning on the fuselage before my engine was shut down. Certainly not from the inspector who called me at ten at night saying he would drop everything, but that my report implicated him, and he was going to "nail me to the wall." Certainly not from the inspector who brought enforcement action, then told me he had done so to force me to obtain incriminating evidence for his investigation against my employer...and who told me he'd drop the matter if I helped violate my employer...and who let the paperwork go through after I refused. Certainly not the inspector who screamed and yelled on the ramp during a patient drop in an air ambulance, who siezed and went through the patients medical records, stomped his feet, turned purple and yelled and spat, and used language that few sailors know. Certainly not the FSDO manager who threatened to revoke my certificates for failure to be polite to the front desk secretary, but who dropped the issue when I agreed to buy her flowers.

Not those folks...I'm sure they are the exceptions to the rule. As is the gentleman who was in the cubicle next to me during a practical test, whom I overheard discussing a private pilot who had accepted money in reimbursement for carrying a friend from A to B. I'm sure he was just kidding when he said "I want to ruin this man's life. I want to make him an example. But not just an example. I want to crucify him. I want him miserable. I want to pull his beating heart out of his chest and hold it up, beating and bleeding for the world to see. I'm going to destroy him." Folks like that give the FAA a GOOD name, and engender feelings of warmth and brotherhood in the flying community.

I walked into a hangar years ago to see two classic aircraft on the floor. The shop manager, apparently thinking I was FAA because I was dressed and had an ID, quickly turned off his office lights, locked his records office, and disappeared for lunch. I'm sure he normally waits with baited breath for the FAA to come calling, hoping for a hug and friendly conversation...this was just something out of the blue. He was probably having a bad day.

And then there was the strawberries!

(rolls ball bearings between fingers)

And "Yellowstain"...they called me "Yellowstain"!

 

[Russ]

The story about destroying the pilots life being overheard..

Sorry but I 've heard that same story from a handful of pilots. Nice if whomever generates these stories could come up a few new ones.

 

[avbug]

I don't know about generating anything; I was there, in person, and I knew all the individuals involved. The inspector who made the statement was not kidding. I know him and his character from his previous employment. His reputation preceeded him, and was well deserved.

That same character approached an individual I knew following a church service, once. The individual had used his private pilot flying as an example of a point he was making in a talk, about helping others. The inspector caught him as they were departing the church; he happened to have been in the congregation. The inspector told this individual he had just heard the man make an admission to violating the regulation before the congregation, and that he would see the individuals pilot certificate revoked for it.

I don't know about any rumors or stories...my own accounts are first hand, my ears, my eyes, my person that was threatened. I was there...save your pandering to the rumor control crowd for someone else.

 

[Occam's Razor]

So the logical conclusion is that most Feds are jerks because this guy is/was a jerk?

Are there any pilots you may know that are over-zealous jerks?

Any doctors?

lawyers?

Cops?

Military officers?

Politicians?

Teachers?

 

[psysicx]

Do pilot inspectors have to fly with a certain amount of crews?

 

[avbug]

Are there any pilots you may know that are over-zealous jerks?

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=74300

So the logical conclusion is that most Feds are jerks because this guy is/was a jerk?

No, of course not. I'm quite certain that he, and the scores of others just like him, are the exceptions to the rule.

Sorta derails the rule when there are more exceptions, than rule. Go figure.

You can't always tell them coming by the mismatched socks...sometimes accidents happen and they really do match.

It's the eyes. They're too close together.

 

[I'veGot2Words]

IM assuming we are talking strictly FSDO and not ATC man.

Yes... Most ATC guys I know are great. However every group has its bad apple, pilots included. Its the inspectors I have the problem with as a whole. They are the same guys who were hall monitor in high school and gave out detention slips to everyone without a bathroom pass. Why would anyone want to become one of the fuzz in the aviatoin world? Some of the Inspectors I know harrass good pilots for the smallest things and look for ways to viloate them.
I agree that some Inspectors are good. But they seem to be in the minority. The majority of ones that I have come across seem to be bitter towards successful pilots. Leave us alone and go reorgonize your pocket protector.

 

[Junkflyer]

The inspectors go to Ok City every year to get reprogrammed. A few friends have gone over and yes, they are different people now.

 

[PastFastMover]

When I first got into this biz the Feds were almost exclusively ex World War II types. What a great bunch of people. They really knew what was important and what was not. Now it seems most of the Feds are just people that could not get hired by an airline for whatever reason. They have a completely different perspective, and at least for me not the correct one. But as usual, everyone has their own opinion. I just preferred the older highly experienced types that had walked the walk for real.

 

[transpac]

The inspectors go to Ok City every year to get reprogrammed. A few friends have gone over and yes, they are different people now.

Yeah, OKC is a grim and foreboding place to those of us who would never stoop to accept their 100G salary plus fancy bennies and retirement. I've heard they've all burned their logbooks and spend their days plotting to kill aviation. I read somewhere that they've moved the torture chambers from Iraq and are putting one in each FSDO.

 

[GravityHater]

The last one I saw was at an airshow last summer.
He was going up and down the rows of GA airplanes in a golf cart. He had stopped at my friends and was pawing it, so I came by and introduced myself - asked him if there was a problem ("GA-Secure", you know). He flipped his Dick Tracy badge in my face, and said he was inspecting each of the 30 or 40 airplanes there and was going to send a letter to each and every one, listing all their defects and probably going to ground a half dozen. The action by itself was not objectionable...it was his tone: He was determined that he would find a reportable defect on each airplane and he wanted to extract some blood from each of owner/operator.
That is not a positive productive attitude. That is a sick mind.

ATC guys are a pilot's pal. These guys are law-enforcment wannabees. He REALLY wanted to have a gun and cuffs, you could tell. Slap the pilot up against the machine and read im his rights while he cranks arms behind the back and applies cuffs.

That is the same attitude I have seen in all but one FSDO guy I have run across. I know I haven't seen em all, but why does my experience coincide with the same story I hear time and time again from other pilots?

If we cannot use our experiences (you may choose to call the "unsubstantiated stories" if you wish) to judge someone, how can we judge them?

Oh well I guess I can live with you thinking I am wrong.

 

[transpac]

GravityHater

I'm guessing the person in question was an Airworthiness Inspector rather than Operations since he was primarily concerned with aircraft condition. But, that shouldn't make any difference in professionalism. However, some of the terms you use tend to lessen the impact of your story: "Pawing" your friend's airplane? "Flipping his Dick Tracy badge" in your face? Makes one wonder if personal animosity might color your perceptions. If you've experienced much the same from every Inspector you've dealt with except one, it sure makes one wonder. I've dealt with a couple of hundred or so over the years and and have found all except one or two to be friendly and competent.

 

[avbug]

I read somewhere that they've moved the torture chambers from Iraq and are putting one in each FSDO.

Don't be ridiculous.

Those have been in place for some time. The recent effort at modernizing them by making improvements gleaned fromobserving the chambers in Iraq may be what you're thinking about. Easy mistake.

 

[AA717driver]

Know a guy from my old airline that fell to the dark side, pretty good pay and working conditions, he never gets to fly anymore except in the sim, Last time I spoke with him he was starting to look for something else. Don't know if he left or not. Anyhow, he had not logged a real hour in over two years last time I saw him, apparantly they hardly do any flying at the Federal Aviation Administration.

My company interviewed an FAA inspector who was trying to escape the drudgery. He NEVER gets to fly. He can't even go out to the airport and rent an airplane because he needs to get permission from the head of the office and they rarely allow it.

This is nothing more than another paper-shuffling, budget swilling bureaucracy. The ONLY reason it keeps functioning at all is that they hire enough retired guys with lots of experience who can deflect a little of the B.S.

I fell for the seduction of "job security" back in the early '90's and applied. I had a friend but not enough experience. There were too many ex-EAL and military guys around so I didn't get hired. Thank God!!!

If you don't want to fly, get into management. If you DO want to fly, stay the He!! out of the FAA. JMO.