Sec. 315. Aviation safety workforce assessment
477 words·~2 min read·
/bill/118/hr/3935/eh/section-315A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
The Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration shall assess, on a recurring basis, staffing levels, critical competencies, and skills gaps of safety critical positions in the Flight Standards Service and Aircraft Certification Service and within other offices of the Administration that support such services. In completing the assessment described in subsection (a), the Administrator shall— evaluate the workload at the time of the assessment, historic workload, and estimated future workload of such personnel; conduct a critical competency and skills gap analysis to determine the knowledge and skill sets needed for work at the time of the assessment and anticipated work, with an emphasis on work pertaining to— new and novel aircraft propulsion and power methods; simplified vehicle operations and human factors; and autonomy, machine learning, and artificial intelligence; compare the outcome of such analysis described in paragraph
(2)to the competency and skills of the workforce at the time of the assessment; and review opportunities for employees of the Administration to gain or enhance expertise, knowledge, skills, and abilities through cooperative training with appropriate companies and organizations; and develop hiring and recruitment plans to— address hard to fill positions; and address competency and skill gaps at various levels of experience and management within Flight Standards Service and Aircraft Certification Service. Upon completion of an assessment described in subsection (a), the Administrator shall submit to the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of the Senate a report detailing the following: The methodology and findings of the assessment described in subsection (a), including an analysis of hiring authorities of the Administration at the time of the assessment, including direct hiring authorities, by occupation series for inspector, engineer, and other safety critical positions within Flight Standards Service and Aircraft Certification Service. Action based recommendations the Administration can take to improve— the Aviation Safety Workforce Plan; the skill sets and competencies of inspectors, engineers, and other safety critical positions at the time of the assessment; competition with industry and other non-aviation sectors for candidates with identified competencies and technical skill sets; and overall hiring and retention of inspectors, engineers, and other critical positions. Actions Congress can take to improve the recruitment, hiring, upskilling, and retention of inspectors, engineers, and other safety critical positions in Flight Standards Service and Aircraft Certification Service and within other offices of the Administration that support such services. In this section, the term safety critical position means— an aviation safety inspector, an aviation safety specialist (denoted by the Administration as 1801 series), an aviation safety technician, and an operations support position in the Flight Standards Service; and a manufacturing safety inspector, a pilots, an engineer, a Chief Scientist Technical Advisor, an aviation safety specialist (denoted by the Administration as 1801 series), a safety technical specialist, and an operational support position in the Aircraft Certification Service.