Chief Inspector

Air Tractor Inc.; Olney (TX); On-site; USD 110,000 - 160,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401K with company match

Medical, dental, vision insurance

Life insurance

Short-term disability

Job summary

Air Tractor Inc. in Olney, Texas seeks a Chief Inspector to act as the final customer proxy for airworthiness and quality before delivery. You will establish the final quality gate, identify defects, and drive continuous improvement while reducing CCRs and assuring compliance with FAA and AS9100 standards.

Lead inspections, trend defects, and provide data to support regulatory audits and process improvements. Prior experience in aerospace inspection and leadership is essential.

Qualifications

• FAA A&P License required; IA preferred.
• 10+ years aerospace manufacturing, maintenance, or inspection experience.
• Extensive knowledge of FAA regulations and aircraft inspection practices.
• Understanding of AS9100 quality requirements preferred.
• Leadership and decision-making skills.

Responsibilities

• Perform final aircraft inspections prior to customer delivery.
• Ensure compliance with FAA, customer, and company requirements.
• Serve as the final authority for aircraft quality acceptance.
• Identify, document, and trend aircraft defects and escapes.
• Maintain aircraft delivery quality metrics.
• Partner with Quality Engineering to investigate recurring defects.
• Support root cause and corrective action activities.
• Provide actionable quality data to drive process improvements.
• Support regulatory and customer audits.

Skills

Leadership

Decision making

Quality inspection

Regulatory knowledge

Education

FAA A&P License

IA certification preferred

AS9100 knowledge desired

Job description

Position Summary

The Chief Inspector serves as the final customer proxy and is responsible for verifying airworthiness, conformance, and overall aircraft quality prior to delivery. This role establishes and manages the final quality gate following Flightline operations, ensuring defects are identified, documented, and prevented from reaching the customer. The Chief Inspector is a key contributor to reducing Customer Concern Reports (CCRs) and driving continuous quality improvement throughout the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Perform final aircraft inspections prior to customer delivery.
• Ensure compliance with FAA, customer, and company requirements.
• Serve as the final authority for aircraft quality acceptance.
• Identify, document, and trend aircraft defects and escapes.
• Maintain aircraft delivery quality metrics.
• Partner with Quality Engineering to investigate recurring defects.
• Support root cause and corrective action activities.
• Provide actionable quality data to drive process improvements.
• Support regulatory and customer audits.

Qualifications

• FAA A&P License required; IA preferred.
• 10+ years aerospace manufacturing, maintenance, or inspection experience.
• Extensive knowledge of FAA regulations and aircraft inspection practices.
• Understanding of AS9100 quality requirements preferred.
• Leadership and decision-making skills.

Our Company fully subscribes to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity. It is our policy to provide employment, compensation and other benefits related to employment based on qualifications, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or any other basis prohibited by federal, state or local law. In accordance with requirements of the American's with Disabilities Act and applicable state laws, it is our policy to provide reasonable accommodation upon request during the application process to eligible applicants in order that they may be given a full and fair opportunity to be considered for employment. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we intend to comply fully with applicable federal and State employment laws and the information requested on this application will only be used for purposes consistent with those laws.

Air Tractor is an employee-owned company. We offer multiple benefits including 401K with company match, optional medical, dental, vision, catastrophic, accident, life, and LTD. Air Tractor provides a small amount of life insurance for employees, spouse, and children. Air Tractor also provides STD.