FocusFAA article detailing some generally information about FAA Flight Inspection:
https://my.faa.gov/focus/articles/20...ection_10.html
I don't know if you have to be behind the firewall to get that link to open up.
If you do - let me know and I'll copy and paste the information.
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Flight Program Operations (AJF) may still be the newest service unit in the Air Traffic Organization (ATO), but our core business — safe flight operations and efficient execution of our missions — is integral to the safety of the national airspace system (NAS). AJF is responsible for development and maintenance of flight inspection policy, national directives related to conducting the flight inspection mission, and compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization Annex 10 requirements related to flight inspection. Our flight inspection mission supports the safe and efficient movement of air traffic, and we work closely with service units within ATO, as well as across lines of business/staff offices to achieve agency strategic objectives related to operations in the NAS.
What is flight inspection?
Flight inspection ensures the integrity of instrument approaches and airway procedures that make up the NAS and the agency’s international commitments. AJF completes the inspection of all space- and ground-based instrument flight procedures, and validates the space-based electronic signals transmitted from ground navigation systems from the air. This includes essential domestic and foreign Department of Defense navigational facilities. These flight checks can be either “periodic,” as defined in Order 8200.1D, US Standard Flight Inspection Manual, to ensure that navigation systems remain consistent and safe, or “special,” which are conducted as needed instead of cyclically and include inspections such as those that happen after an accident.
The AJF operations directorate is the last line of quality assurance — responsible for conducting flight check — before procedures go live (or stay live) for their intended end users in the NAS, including military, commercial, and general aviation operators and pilots. Each crew, usually comprised of two airspace system inspection pilots and one mission specialist who sits at a special station, actually fly the procedures in specially equipped FAA aircraft to make sure everything is operating smoothly, including the human factors of flying the procedure. Of course, in order to keep the aircraft operational, there are teams on the ground supporting the mission. Our maintenance directorate is responsible for airworthiness of the aircraft, as well as engineering support for the flight inspection equipment. Our safety directorate administers the safety management system, and our flight program administration directorate ensures the mission continues uninterrupted by executing business support functions.
Who answers the call?
The most important component of AJF success is, of course, our people. AJF crewmembers come from diverse aviation backgrounds. There is no typical crewmember. All of our pilots join the organization with thousands of hours of flight experience in the military, as well as commercial and general aviation sectors. They come directly from the military, airlines, and charter operators, as well as internally from the ranks of the agency’s controllers in Air Traffic Services (AJT) and aviation safety inspectors from the Flight Standards Service in Aviation Safety. Our mission specialists have an avionics background, and come from the military, as well as internally from within AJF and Technical Operations Services (AJW).
Flight Program Operations conducts flight checks from all eight of our facilities. Crewmembers are located across the country in: Atlanta, Georgia; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Battle Creek, Michigan; Fort Worth, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Sacramento, California; and Washington, D.C. We also stage crews at our Anchorage, Alaska, maintenance facility for one- to three-week tours of duty throughout the year in order to support flight checks in Alaska. From there, our crewmembers operate around the world at military airfields, in Alaska, Greenland, Antarctica, the Netherlands, South Korea, Japan, Nepal (you may remember our story about Flight Check at the Top of the World), and across Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific, and the Caribbean. It’s a lot of ground to cover, but this highly professional team is up to the challenge!
How do you decide what comes next?
Because flight inspection is so critical to the safety mission of the agency, balancing all of the priorities for the team can be challenging. There are 10 different priority levels for flight inspections – ranging from 1a (the highest priority and including circumstances such as after-accident investigations) to 3d. In addition to prioritizing the work, the team considers factors like weather, impact to air traffic, proximity to other flight inspection work, and airport criticality (e.g., Focus 40 airports are weighted more heavily because of the impact that their heavy traffic volume has on NAS efficiency).
All of this means that coordination across service units is incredibly important in order to ensure that everybody knows what is going to happen and when. When special inspections are required, pre-coordination is critical. The flight inspection team coordinates with AJT and AJW before they arrive to conduct flight checks. Crewmembers develop run sheets for special (or complicated) inspections, and provide them to our ATO partners. Run sheets specify the location and sequence of required maneuvers. This tool is vital to enhanced situational awareness between the air traffic controllers and the Flight Program Operations crew. When time permits, they are provided for routine inspections in high traffic areas, too.
What can you expect when working with the flight inspection team?
AJF has a philosophy for their work with partners in other areas of the agency, which includes:
Teamwork
Collaboration
Pre-coordination
Being conscious of the effects of their presence on other traffic in the airspace
Appreciation for controllers “watching their backs” by pointing out obstacles, traffic, and airspace
Staying on station until the work is finished or they have to leave (due to weather, fuel state, or air traffic conditions)
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