It seems more and more it's about the other A....

Unless you are lucky enough to get Hangar 6 or FlightCheck, the future ASI jobs will see less and less hands on flying.

The future of SMS and SAS appears to be leaning towards non-technical GS-9's overseeing ODA's ("middle men"; paid contractors doing work that ASI's previously performed). ODA= Organizational Designation Authorization. Already happening on the Manufacturing side I believe..

Get onboard ASAP and get promoted before its too late!

A big storm is brewing IMHO...

I heard that some designees, who didn't have regular flying jobs, had their examining authority revoked due to them not doing enough flying outside of administering exams. Supposedly the FAA wants their designees to be involved in other flying [being at least somewhat proficient] that amounted to at least 60 Hrs a year. If this is true it even adds to any hypocrisy and makes this situation seem even more bizarre.

My recollection, don't quote me - DPE's have always supposed to have been doing 300 hours a year, but the local office could waive it down to 60 hours. We just had a guy that applied, with only 210 the last year, and the DPE focal point was not willing to apply for a waiver.

XL, To the Designee issue, that seems fair enough. The line/bar needs to be set somewhere. To the other issue, it seems you guys are about to get outsourced. This could end up quite bizarre down the road, when there's nobody left at the FAA that knows how to fly a plane!

Is it just me or did the tone of this thread go from "it's a great job" to "doom 'n gloom?"

It is a great job IF YOU KNOW what it entails.

That use to be an opportunity to do a fair amount of flying - - and even that was on the low side of *actual flying* was an important part of the job.

If flying isn't necessary in your job description requirement, the job definitely gives you some of the benefits of a good job. 40 hr work week, no weekends, no holidays, good leave policies, GS pay scales. It can certainly give you the means and opportunity to fly on the outside if that is important to you and many would say that type of flying is preferable to work related flying in any case.

It still has its pluses and minuses. If you really need to fly, this isn't the job for you. Mostly, any flying you do will be evaluating others. In a typical initial CFI ride, I might fly .1 or .2 out of 1.6-1.7.

I don't fly on 135 checks, medical check rides, 44709 rides, etc. I'm a passenger.

Got the call from HR in Irving to come out or do video conference. I went to ATL and did that last week- it was exactly like previous posts have said. Seemed to go okay although it's difficult to say since there is no back and forth - they read a question, you answer, they read the next question. Waiting and wondering now. Anyone know if KRBD still has PA44 to do a brush up flight if I get to that step?

It's for ASI - GA by the way