Should I pursue a flight career with a DUI

[elmo22]

I have wanted to become an airline pilot for as long as I can remember, its the only thing I feel extremely passionate about. I made a terribly stupid mistake five years ago when I was convicted of a misdemeanor DUI. I served probation and took a few classes and haven't had any issues since. I wont even drink the wine at church and drive afterward anymore. I received a bachelors degree and graduated suma cum laude with a 4.0 GPA. My question is, will my DUI hinder my chance of someday flying with a major airline? Should I give up on my dream or go for it?

 

[Jim Logajan]

I've discussed this with several airline hiring offices, and while for legal reasons it isn't written policy anywhere, they simply don't hire anyone with one DUI in their record -- too many folks with the right quals but no DUI's out there so your resume goes to the bottom of the stack and stays there.

I'm having a hard time understanding why these hiring offices would so easily shove a candidate's resume to the bottom who graduated summa cum laude. Is everyone from Lake Wobegon applying for jobs at the airlines?

Edit: By the way, congrats to the OP. Nicely done.

 

[Jim Logajan]

Well you are quite a liability with even a single DUI on your record. Not to mention if you wanted to fly in to Canada you have to wait another 5 years because they will actually deport you back to the U.S. and make someone else take the flight home if they find out you have had a DUI in the last 10 years and have been flying in Canada. This happened to a buddy of mine who had one just like this 6 years ago... When they did a background check on him... They pulled him in and told the agency to call in another pilot and they put him on an airliner as a passenger back to the U.S.

So that's what I have seen so far

They are so hard-*** up there that they make people like that mayor of Toronto....

On a different note, there are options outside the major airlines - this web site is one resource:

http://oddballpilot.com/