Rolloofthenorm
New member
Out of curiosity since I got arrested for a misdemeanor that I didn't go to jail for and it was expunged do I still have a chance at being a pilot?
Can I still be a pilot?
- Thread starter Rolloofthenorm
- Start date
To be precise here: the question of disclosure of expunged convictions was discussed at length in another thread recently. In brief, FAA instruction is that you should disclose all convictions, even if expunged. There is no case law governing this issue explicitly and there are possibly some legal arguments that you should not have to disclose expunged convictions. Nonetheless, the law is unclear and if this were discovered, the legal fight would be a long, arduous and costly one, so the general advice is to disclose unless you are willing to be a test case.Rolloofthenorm said:
I agree with @Salty however, that even if disclosed such a misdemeanor conviction would likely not be an issue to the FAA or future employers, unless it is indicative of an ongoing issue. The FAA may well require personality testing and/or psychiatric opinions to demonstrate that is not the case if you decide to continue pilot training.
Sorry about that. If it was just an arrest and no conviction, and evidently did not involve drunk driving or drug use, you don't even have to report it on the FAA medical form. So no issues there.Rolloofthenorm said:
That is the FAA instruction. As the other thread discussed at some length, there may be grounds for a legal challenge if someone wanted to be the test case.EdFred said:
I think a good test case would be someone convicted for something that wouldn’t affect flying in any arguable way and it was expunged.EdFred said:
But good test cases tend to be rare. Also has to be someone with the means to fight it, because it would likely go at least to appellate court, and after the work in the administrative hearing, would likely cost $100k+ .
That’s true. I guess they could try to convict on the felony of lying on the form, though that might be mitigated if you had a pre-existing opinion letter on the subject, which would argue that you had good grounds to believe you did not have to disclose. I would have to check the statute, but I think this is not a strict liability crime so requires mens rea.Palmpilot said:
I imagine would definitely pull your certificates as well.
Serious risks, which is one of the reasons such test cases are rare.
I think this may reflect part of the confusion here. Note that the question on the FAA form, 18v, having to do with arrests, only has to do with arrests that are for drunk driving, drug, or traffic related.Ravioli said:
The OP’s arrest, as he stated early in this thread, was for a misdemeanor crime of harassment in a telephone call. Therefore he does NOT have to answer yes to 18(v).
Question 18 (w) asks about convictions for misdemeanors or felonies. If the OP was told he was not convicted by his lawyer or the judge, it does seem reasonable to answer no to this question.
As suggested, it might be wise to obtain a Federal background check to see how it is recorded or review the copies of the expunction paperwork to see what they actually say if one wants to cautious. Particularly because after investigation it is unlikely that the FAA would deny the medical because of a misdemeanor conviction for telephone harassment, IF the record stated that, whereas lying on the 8500-8 is a felony and FAA instruction is to report even expunged records (though there may be some basis to challenge that if one has the time, money, and is willing to take the risk).
I noticed that also. I believe he has also by and large refrained from returning that in kind. Which sort of argues against the hypothesis of his being psychologically incapable of handling stresses in the cockpit.Palmpilot said:
Certainly irrelevant to the question of the FAA medical form. Perhaps just curiosity since it is an unusual crime and Ravioli was apparently arrested at 18 for something.Rolloofthenorm said:
Oh dear. That will definitely require the full evaluation. Please search on the many other threads here regarding depression. It is a long process.Rolloofthenorm said:
Was the arrest record expunged?Ravioli said:
Only arrests related to drugs, drunk driving and traffic need to be reported. The OPs arrest was for a misdemeanor telephone harassment charge. Per instructions, it is not reported to the FAA. No to both of those.Tarheelpilot said:
The history of depression question though is another matter.
Per the instructions, you do NOT report arrests which are are not alcohol or drug or driving related. OPs arrest was for a misdemeanor phone harassment charge.EdFred said:
As I noted, the history of depression will need to be reported and will likely need extensive evaluation.
Maybe a troll, or just someone who decided that the issue with the depression, which must be reported, will will too much work.LongRoadBob said:
I wouldn't chock too much up to attitude as evidenced on PoA. People often come across here in threads much more hostile than they really are. Anonymous posting on the internet tends to do that.
Prior posts #11 and #91 go to this issue of possible convictions and expungements. It appears from what the OP said that he was not convicted, was diverted instead. But the FBI background check record seems like a good idea in any case.
I agree that if the OP honestly believes he was diverted, rather than convicted, that this should suffice to answer no regarding the convictions.Palmpilot said:
When there is a conviction on the FBI background check, the FAA normally pursues the no answer issue only if the person answering knew the answer should have been yes and answered no anyway. If his lawyer said he did not have a conviction and particularly if he has paperwork saying he was diverted, rather than convicted, that would seem to show his honesty.
Appears no. $50 charge and you have to be fingerprinted.Palmpilot said:
https://eforms.com/consent/background/fbi/
