Definition
An FAA regional office staffed by flight inspection personnel and aircraft responsible for checking the accuracy and performance of navigation aids, instrument approach procedures, and air traffic control facilities within a defined geographic area.
Plain English
A local FAA office whose crews fly specially equipped aircraft to test and verify that ground-based navigation equipment and instrument approaches are working correctly and safe to use.
Context Anchor
Seen in FAA acronym lists, NOTAM-related material, and references to FAA flight inspection activity for airport or navigation systems.
Why Pilots Care
Awareness of FIFO activity helps pilots understand temporary restrictions or testing that may affect navigation signal reliability during inspections.
Grounding Statement
Picture an FAA inspection aircraft flying a route or approach to confirm that the guidance a pilot would rely on is giving the correct information.
Intuition Check
Do not read FIFO here as “first in, first out,” the common scheduling or computer meaning. In this FAA context, FIFO means Flight Inspection Field Office.
Example Sentence 1
After maintenance was completed on the ILS, the local Flight Inspection Field Office scheduled a check flight before the approach could be returned to service.
Example Sentence 2
Pilots were advised to contact the FIFO before planning low approaches near the inspected runway.