The FAA Flight Inspection Operations Group, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, ensures the integrity of instrument approaches and airway procedures that constitute our National Airspace System infrastructure and the FAA’s international commitments. This task is accomplished through the airborne inspection of all space and ground-based instrument flight procedures and the validation of electronic signals in space that are transmitted from approximately 13,500 various navigation systems. Airborne inspection of navigational aids is a two-part operation, requiring the skills of highly trained flight crews. The first part is an evaluation of the "signal in space" - the radiation pattern of the navigational aid much like that of a radio station. The second part is to certify the instrument approach procedures that are designed to allow pilots to safely use airport runways in adverse weather. These flight inspection crews, consisting usually of two pilots and one technician, inspect more than 5,500 facilities throughout the world, averaging 20,000 flight-hours annually. A fleet of approximately 32 aircraft of 5 different types supports the flight inspection program: Challenger 601, Challenger 604, Challenger 605, Lear 60 and Beechcraft BE-300.

This print depicts the Challenger N86.