Transportation and Material Moving · Holland code CRI
Aviation Inspectors
Inspect aircraft, maintenance procedures, air navigational aids, air traffic controls, and communications equipment to ensure conformance with Federal safety regulations.
Also called: Aircraft Inspector, Aviation Safety Inspector (ASI), Inspector, Quality Inspector, Aircraft Quality Control Inspector (Aircraft QC Inspector), Airworthiness Safety Inspector, Avionics Safety Inspector, Manufacturing Aviation Safety Inspector (Manufacturing ASI).
O*NET 53-6051.01
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $92,100
- Middle half earn $58,780 to $108,890. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree
- 34% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 3 of 5
- Medium preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Inspect work of aircraft mechanics performing maintenance, modification, or repair and overhaul of aircraft and aircraft mechanical systems to ensure adherence to standards and procedures.
- Investigate air accidents and complaints to determine causes.
- Examine maintenance records and flight logs to determine if service and maintenance checks and overhauls were performed at prescribed intervals.
- Inspect new, repaired, or modified aircraft to identify damage or defects and to assess airworthiness and conformance to standards, using checklists, hand tools, and test instruments.
- Approve or deny issuance of certificates of airworthiness.
- Prepare and maintain detailed repair, inspection, investigation, and certification records and reports.
- Examine landing gear, tires, and exteriors of fuselage, wings, and engines for evidence of damage or corrosion and the need for repairs.
- Recommend replacement, repair, or modification of aircraft equipment.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Critical Thinking4.0 / 5
- Reading Comprehension3.9 / 5
- Active Listening3.9 / 5
- Speaking3.9 / 5
- Writing3.6 / 5
- Monitoring3.4 / 5
Knowledge areas
- English Language4.6 / 5
- Mechanical4.6 / 5
- Public Safety and Security4.5 / 5
- Customer and Personal Service4.4 / 5
- Transportation4.4 / 5
- Education and Training4.1 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic76
- Investigative52
- Artistic0
- Social7
- Enterprising26
- Conventional79
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- aviation safety officer · DE Sicherheitsbeauftragter Luftverkehr/Sicherheitsbeauftragte Luftverkehr · FR agent de sûreté aérienne/agente de sûreté aérienne
- aviation inspector · DE Flugverkehrskontrolleur/Flugverkehrskontrolleurin · FR inspecteur de l’aéronautique/inspectrice de l’aéronautique
- aircraft assembly inspector · DE Prüfer von Luftfahrtgerät/Prüferin von Luftfahrtgerät · FR contrôleur assemblage aéronautique/contrôleuse assemblage aéronautique
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Quality assurance technicians (3115)36,100 employed
- Routine inspectors and testers (8143)54,800 employed
- Science, engineering and production technicians n.e.c. (3119)38,000 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Technicians and associate professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €50,992 |
| Austria | €46,986 |
| Germany | €44,473 |
| Netherlands | €42,448 |
| Ireland | €41,613 |
| Sweden | €41,155 |
| Italy | €34,882 |
| France | €34,816 |
| Spain | €29,757 |
| Portugal | €18,080 |
| Poland | €12,108 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the middle third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of -0.18. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (53-6051).
Related careers
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