Inspection Authorization: How to Get an FAA IA and Keep It

What an Inspection Authorization Lets You Do

Your mechanic certificate already lets you do a lot. With an airframe rating you can approve an airframe for return to service after maintenance and perform the Part 91 100-hour inspection, and the powerplant rating does the same for engines and propellers. What you can't do is sign off major repairs and major alterations, or perform the annual inspection. That's the gap the inspection authorization fills.

14 CFR 65.95 gives an IA holder two privileges. You can inspect and approve for return to service any aircraft, part, or appliance after a major repair or major alteration, if the work followed FAA-approved technical data. And you can perform an annual inspection, or perform or supervise a progressive inspection.

Two limits matter. The IA's return-to-service privilege doesn't cover aircraft maintained under a Part 121 continuous airworthiness program, the maintenance program Part 121 airlines run. And you can't hand the job off. FAA's Inspection Authorization Information Guide says the IA holder must personally perform the inspection, because the regulations don't provide for delegating it.

IA Requirements: Who Can Apply for an Inspection Authorization

The IA requirements sit in Section 65.91(c), last amended in 1985. There are five, and you have to meet all of them:

• Both ratings, three years. A currently effective mechanic certificate with airframe and powerplant ratings, each in effect for a total of at least 3 years.
• Two years of active work. Actively engaged in maintaining aircraft for at least the 2 years before the date you apply.
• A fixed base. A place where you can be reached in person or by phone during a normal working week. It doesn't have to be where you do the inspections.
• Equipment and data. Access to the equipment, facilities, and inspection data needed to properly inspect airframes, powerplants, propellers, and their parts.
• A written test. A pass on your ability to inspect to safety standards after major repairs and alterations and during annual and progressive inspections.

"Actively engaged" is the requirement FAA has had to clarify. Its guidance in Order 8900.1 defines it as exercising the privileges of your mechanic certificate in the maintenance of civil aircraft, and the policy gives inspectors examples that separate full-time, part-time, and occasional work, according to the July 2026 proposed rule. If your hours are irregular, ask your local Flight Standards District Office before you apply.

How to Get an IA, Step by Step

There is no inspection authorization school, and no FAA-approved (Part 147) aircraft mechanic school grants an IA. It is earned on top of an A&P license, through time on the job and a test. This is the route.

FAA built the test to check that you can locate, read, interpret, and apply data, which is why you get the reference supplement. You apply on FAA Form 8610-1, Mechanic's Application for Inspection Authorization.

Inspection Authorization Renewal

Every inspection authorization expires on March 31 of each odd-numbered year. To renew, you show during March of that year that you still meet the first four 65.91 requirements, plus one qualifying activity for each year of the two-year period. FAA counts a year as April 1 through March 31, so the current period runs April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2027.

The annual-inspection option works out like this. One annual per 90 days is four in a year, and FAA's guide puts it at eight annuals across the two years. You can't mix annuals and major repairs to fill one year, but you can use one activity in year one and a different one in year two. A 91.409(e) inspection program, or phase inspections spread across several aircraft, doesn't count.

Miss the first-year activity by March 31 and you can't use the IA after that date until you pass an oral test from an FAA inspector. That oral test needs 70 percent to pass, and failing it means nonrenewal. You file the renewal on Form 8610-1 through IACRA or at a FSDO or International Field Office.

FAA's Proposed Inspection Rating

On July 1, 2026, FAA published a proposed rule to replace the FAA inspection authorization with an inspection rating on the mechanic certificate. The rating would carry the same privileges and limits as today's IA, but it wouldn't expire. Comments closed August 31, 2026. It's a proposal, so the current rules above still apply.

Instead of renewing each odd-numbered March, you'd need one of the same five activities within the previous 12 calendar months and would keep records covering 24 calendar months. If you fell behind, 8 hours of acceptable training or an oral test would restore the privileges, without a new application or written test.

Where the IA Fits in an Aircraft Mechanic Career

The IA comes late in the route. You start with an FAA-approved school or documented experience, and our guide on how long aircraft mechanic school takes covers that part. Then the certificate, then at least three more years before an IA is possible. You can compare programs in the directory of FAA-approved schools.

The IA does its work in general aviation, where Part 91 aircraft need an annual inspection every 12 calendar months under 14 CFR 91.409. Airline fleets under a Part 121 continuous airworthiness program sit outside the IA's return-to-service privilege. If your path runs toward airline or avionics work, compare the avionics certifications that sit alongside the mechanic certificate.

For pay context, BLS reports that aircraft mechanics and service technicians, the occupation that covers certificated mechanics, earned a median of $79,870 in May 2025. The top 10 percent earned more than $128,890. See the full aircraft mechanic salary breakdown by state and industry, or the aircraft mechanic career profile.

Want to see who holds an IA near you? The FAA runs an online lookup of current IA holders.