You found an FAA job on USAJOBS. The pay says FV-G. Not GS-11. Not GS-12. FV-G.

And the salary range looks wide. Like, weirdly wide. Forty-something thousand on the bottom. Almost seventy on the top. No steps listed. No locality column you recognize.

That is the FAA pay system. It does not work like the rest of the federal government. It looks like GS at a glance, but the rules underneath are different.

This article fixes the confusion. We will cover what FV pay bands are, why the FAA broke from GS back in 1995, how the bands roughly compare to GS grades, and how veterans should actually apply. By the end you will be able to read an FAA job posting and know what the pay really means for you.

When I run SkillBridge cohorts, the FAA pay question comes up every single time a service member sees an FV-level aviation safety or engineering posting. The bands look nothing like GS, and that throws people off. So I wrote this for them, and for you.

What is the FAA FV Pay Scale?

FV is the FAA's main pay plan for most professional and technical employees. The official name is the FAA Core Compensation Plan. People just call it the FV scale.

FV uses pay bands, not grades and steps. A band has a wide salary range. Where you land in that range depends on the job, the location, and what you bring to the table.

The bands run from FV-A at the bottom. For most professional and technical positions, postings range up to FV-J. Senior management and executive roles use higher bands. FV-J is the working ceiling for the jobs most transitioning veterans will see. Aviation safety inspector jobs often post at FV-G or FV-H. Engineering positions can run FV-H or FV-I. Senior technical or supervisory roles hit FV-J.

Compare that to GS. GS-9 has 10 steps. So does GS-12. Each step is a fixed dollar amount. You move up a step every one to three years just for staying employed. That is not how FV works.

At FAA, you can sit inside the same band for years. You get raises based on performance. The salary range inside one band can span twenty or thirty thousand dollars. Two people in FV-G can earn very different paychecks. That is by design.

Why Did the FAA Break From GS?

Congress passed the FAA personnel reform law in 1995. The new system went live April 1, 1996. The law is codified at 49 USC § 40122. It gave the FAA its own personnel system, separate from most Title 5 GS rules.

The reason was simple. Air traffic and aviation safety move fast. The FAA could not hire fast enough under standard GS rules. It could not pay enough to keep skilled controllers and engineers from leaving for the private sector.

So Congress let the FAA build its own system. Faster hiring. Pay bands instead of grades. Performance-based raises. More room to match what private aviation pays.

What the FAA kept from Title 5 matters for vets:

• Veterans preference still applies. Your DD-214 counts.
• Whistleblower protections are still in place.
• MSPB appeals still cover FAA employees.
• Anti-discrimination rules still apply.
• FERS retirement and federal health benefits still apply.

So FAA is still a federal job. You still get the federal benefits. The only thing that really changed was how they pay you and how they classify the work.

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How Do FV Pay Bands Compare to GS Grades?

This is the question every transitioning service member asks. The honest answer is: there is no official conversion table.

The FAA does not publish a "FV-G equals GS-11" chart. Why? Because the bands are wide. A single FV band can cover the work that GS might split across two or three grades.

That said, you can ballpark it. Below is a rough, directional guide. Treat it as a starting point, not gospel. Real pay depends on the specific job, location, and your starting offer.

For current salary numbers, pull them straight from the source. The FAA publishes Core Compensation pay tables with the active ranges for each band. Numbers shift every year.

For GS comparison, the OPM GS pay tables show what each GS grade pays right now. Pull both sources and compare against the specific job you are eyeing.

If you want a deeper GS breakdown first, our federal GS pay scale guide walks through every grade and what each pays.

Why Are FAA Pay Bands So Wide?

This is what surprises most vets. A single FV band can have a $25,000 or $30,000 range. That is wider than three full GS grades stacked together.

The bands are wide on purpose. The FAA wanted room to pay more for hot skills. Air traffic controllers are scarce. Aviation safety inspectors with specific aircraft experience are scarce. The wide band lets HR offer real money to the right person without rewriting the position.

Three things decide where you land in the band:

• Your experience. Five years of military aviation maintenance gets you higher in the band than zero.
• The local market. FAA facilities in high-cost areas pay higher inside the band.
• What you negotiate. This is the one most vets skip.

A retiring Senior Chief applying for an FV-H safety inspector slot can ask for the top half of the band. A separating E-5 with three years of avionics applying for the same FV-H lands lower. Same band. Different paychecks.

How Do FV Within-Band Raises Work?

This is the biggest mental shift from GS. Inside a GS grade you have 10 steps. You move up a step every one to three years. The raise is automatic if you do not get fired.

FAA does not have steps. Inside an FV band, raises come from two places:

• OSI (Organizational Success Increase). The FAA hits its annual performance goals as an agency. You get a percentage bump. Everyone meeting their performance plan gets it. Think of it as the FAA's version of the annual federal raise.
• SCI (Superior Contribution Increase). You personally rated fully successful or higher on your performance plan. You get a base salary bump on top of OSI. The exact percentage depends on your band and your rating.

Both raises are baked into your base salary. They compound year over year. Strong performers can climb the band fast. Average performers move slower.

This is the trade. GS gives you predictable step raises. FV gives you bigger raises if you perform, smaller raises if you do not. For high performers it is better. For people who just want autopilot, GS is friendlier.

Do Air Traffic Controllers Use FV Pay?

No. Controllers are on a different pay plan called ATSPP — the Air Traffic Specialized Pay Plan. Do not confuse ATSPP with the ATCS job title abbreviation (Air Traffic Control Specialist). Same agency. Whole different pay system. Same agency. Whole different system.

ATCS pay is tied to facility level and traffic complexity. A controller at a busy Class B tower like Atlanta or Chicago O'Hare earns more than a controller at a regional Class C tower. The agency also pays Controller Incentive Pay (CIP) at certain high-volume facilities.

If you are targeting air traffic control, the math is different. Look up the FAA Aviation Careers page for ATCS pay scales. Do not use FV bands to estimate ATC pay.

Flight Service Specialists have their own scale (FSS). FAA executives use a separate Executive Compensation plan. The FV bands cover everyone else.

Does FAA Have Locality Pay?

Yes, but it works a little differently from GS.

GS locality pay is a percentage on top of base pay. The percentage is set by region. San Francisco gets one rate. Cleveland gets another. Rest-of-US gets a base rate. The OPM publishes the table every year.

FAA built its own locality system into the FV bands. Your offer letter for an FV-G job in Los Angeles is going to be a different number than the same FV-G job in Oklahoma City. The FAA salary tables show both base and locality-adjusted ranges for each band.

This matters for veterans who are picking where to live. Two FV-H positions can have a $20,000 swing depending on the duty station. If you have flexibility on location, check what the high-locality areas pay before you commit.

For more on how location changes federal pay generally, our GS locality pay guide breaks down how OPM sets the GS version. The FAA version follows similar logic but uses its own numbers.

How Do Veterans Apply for FAA Jobs?

The same way you apply for any other federal job. Through USAJOBS.

FAA postings show up on USAJOBS just like Defense or VA. Look for the FAA as the hiring agency. The announcement states the FV band, the location, the duties, and the qualifications.

Veterans preference applies. Upload your DD-214 Member 4 copy. If you are 30% or more disabled, upload your VA rating letter and the SF-15. FAA preference rules track standard federal preference, not a separate FAA-only version.

The FAA also runs a separate hiring path for Aviation Safety Inspectors called the Operations ASI hiring process. It is targeted at qualified pilots and mechanics. Same FV band system, faster path in.

Your federal resume still needs OPM-style documentation: hours per week on every job, supervisor contact info, and duties that map to the qualifications listed in the announcement. One important difference from standard GS applications: FAA is excepted service under 49 U.S.C. § 40122, so OPM's two-page resume cap does not apply. Check the specific FAA job announcement for its resume length guidance. Many FAA postings accept the traditional longer federal resume format. Our military to federal transition roadmap walks through the full federal resume rules.

Which FAA Jobs Do Veterans Typically Land?

The FAA hires a lot of veterans. Especially Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps aviation. The agency posts openings for these roles consistently.

Common FV positions that pull from the military:

• Aviation Safety Inspector (FV-G, FV-H). Former pilots, flight engineers, and aircraft maintainers move here.
• Engineering Technician (FV-F, FV-G, FV-H). Air Force avionics, Navy ET, Army aviation maintenance ratings transfer directly.
• Program Manager (FV-I, FV-J). Senior military project officers and acquisition professionals. The FAA runs large modernization programs.
• Logistics Specialist (FV-G, FV-H). Aviation supply chiefs and fleet readiness experience map to FAA logistics centers.
• Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS plan). Former military controllers can apply through the FAA's veteran ATC hiring path.

For aviation-specific transition planning, our guides on military pilot civilian aviation careers and 8852 aircraft mechanic civilian careers cover the broader civilian aviation landscape too.

How Do You Negotiate Your Starting FV Band Pay?

Most vets skip this step. They take the first number the FAA offers. Big mistake.

The wide FV band is the FAA's negotiating room. They can offer you anywhere inside the range. The bottom, the middle, or the top. What you bring to the table changes their answer.

Things that pull your offer higher:

• Years of directly relevant experience
• Industry certifications (A&P, IA, FCC GROL, PMP, IT certs)
• Specialized aircraft platform experience
• An advanced degree if the position values it
• A competing offer from another agency or the private sector

When the HR specialist makes you an offer, do not say yes that day. Ask for it in writing. Then ask if there is room based on your experience. Have one or two specific things you can point to that justify a higher number.

The agency will not always say yes. But they will not punish you for asking.

How Do You Read an FAA Job Announcement?

FAA postings on USAJOBS look a little different from standard GS postings. A few things to watch for.

The pay band is in the salary line. You will see "FV-G $XX,XXX to $XX,XXX per year." That is the full band range for that location. Your offer will land somewhere inside it.

Locality is baked in. The salary range shown is for that specific duty station. You do not need to add a locality percentage on top.

"Promotion potential" can list two bands. An FV-G posting with FV-H promotion potential means you can move up to the next band without a new application. Watch for this. It is similar to a GS career ladder.

If you want to compare what a similar GS job would pay, run the numbers in our GS pay scale calculator guide.

How Does FV Compare to Other Pay-Band Systems?

FAA is not the only federal agency that broke from GS. DoD runs an acquisition pay-band system called AcqDemo. Several intelligence agencies have their own pay plans.

The mechanics are similar across these systems. Wide bands. Performance-based raises. Room to pay for hot skills. Still federal benefits, retirement, and veterans preference.

If you are weighing FAA against DoD acquisition work, our AcqDemo pay scale guide covers the DoD version of pay banding. The thinking translates.

Where Do You Go From Here?

If you are considering FAA, here is what to do next.

Pull current pay numbers from the source. The FAA pay tables show what each FV band pays this year, by location. Numbers change every year.

Cross-reference against GS. The OPM pay tables let you compare what a GS-12 or GS-13 in the same location would earn. If the FV offer is lower than the GS equivalent for similar work, push back.

Build a tight 2-page federal resume that maps your military experience to the FAA qualifications language. This is where most veterans get sunk. The work is there, but the resume is not speaking the FAA hiring manager's language.

BMR's federal resume builder handles the OPM formatting and the military-to-civilian translation. Free tier includes 2 tailored resumes. Paste the FAA job announcement, get a federal resume back that matches the qualifications language.

The FAA pays well if you understand the system. Pay bands beat GS steps for strong performers in skilled aviation roles. The system rewards people who know how it works. Now you do.