The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has not regularly addressed the “competency gaps” that hinder its inspector and engineering workforces in their monitoring of the aviation industry, according to a new report by a government oversight agency.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said, in a report released this month, that the FAA Office of Aviation Safety (AVS) has begun identifying critical competencies – skills, knowledge, abilities and behaviors – that inspectors and engineers need to do their jobs. As an example, the report cited data analytics, systems thinking and risk-based decision making as competencies that engineers need to perform safety oversight.
However, the report said, “AVS officials told GAO that managers in offices located across the country individually assess whether their respective employees have the skills needed to carry out their responsibilities. This approach does not provide AVS an organization-wide view of competency gaps…
