The Federal Aviation Administration largely follows effective
management practices for training safety inspectors and is
improving its efforts, the Government Accountability Office
has said.
Based on a survey, it estimated that only half of FAA
inspectors think they have the technical knowledge to do
their jobs, but that’s something the agency says merely
reflects the desire on the part of the inspectors to acquire
additional non-essential technical proficiencies.
However, GAO said additional actions on the part of FAA
could improve results. Only about 28 percent of inspectors
say they get the training they feel they need or want, while
the agency says it approves about 90 percent of training
requests it receives.
Still, the agency estimates that over half of inspectors
have received 75 percent of “essential” training, and GAO
said inspectors are making solid progress, though the
technical competence of FAA inspectors remains a concern
for Congress and GAO.
FAA’s management approach to technical training includes
linking training to the overall goal of improved safety,
and identifying the technical proficiencies needed to
improve inspector performance, according to GAO-05-728.
It said the agency plans to better relate training to job
tasks and is developing a set of priorities for new courses
and course revisions, to ensure the curriculum is aimed at
meeting specific performance objectives.
The agency is developing an initiative to identify specific
technical competencies and training requirements for
inspectors, and offers a wide array technical courses that
inspectors can choose from to meet job needs, according
to GAO.
Further, it said FAA continuously assesses technical
training through end-of-course evaluations and surveys,
and is developing an approach to measure the impact of
training on mission goals, such as reducing accidents,
something GAO acknowledged, “is a difficult task.”