JamesNoBrakes

I answered above, because everything moves at the speed of government.

The position is set and going back and revamping it requires money and time, with finite resources, it's just not something they can just change on a whim, it would require significant reclassification with the office of personnel management. It's rare, ultra-rare, for an inspector to act as a required crewmember, except maybe as a one-off type ride where there are very few people world-wide typed in that particular aircraft or an aircraft that has no observer seat, but then the inspector would have to be typed in said aircraft. Some air carrier inspectors DO stay current and qualified in aircraft, but again, I can't think of normal situations for an air carrier inspector where a medical is required.

One reason that it would be good is if they were current and qualified in the flight program as a GA inspector, then they could be used as a resource for conducting checkrides (135 and check airman observations). The manning is so short that many people are pulled from different offices to conduct checkrides, so the more resources that we have on that end the better. But just like having to conduct a checkride where you are a required pilot, it's also ultra-rare to find an air carrier inspector that is kept current in the GA flying program. There are a few, but it's rare. Most air carrier inspectors are hired as "shared resources" for their office, meaning they often have no specific responsibility to a specific carrier, rather they are assigned inspections from multiple carrier's POIs. There has been a significant movement to "break down" walls and barriers to getting offices to work together and share resources, to use them most effectively.

This tells you how an inspector has to be current and qualified for the different tasks they perform: http://fsims.faa.gov/PICDetail.aspx?...Vol.1,Ch3,Sec6