Inverted25
Well-Known Member
The dad of the girl I dated in high school had lost his license for his previous three DUI. DUI number four was on a lawn tractor he tried to drive drunk to the bar with.
DUI effect on current employment
- Thread starter jrh
- Start date
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Losing your license doesn't seem to be the sin it used to be. People get pulled over all the time on a suspended/revoked license, with no insurance and it seems to matter little.
The big thing now is fake temp tags. Since the state no longer produces them, scammers and neer-do-wells simply fake them or go without. I know some departments have tag readers, but I literally followed a car with NO tag for miles, past several cops, and no one cares. You'd think the state would care more, since they're missing out on tag revenue, but oh well.
The big thing now is fake temp tags. Since the state no longer produces them, scammers and neer-do-wells simply fake them or go without. I know some departments have tag readers, but I literally followed a car with NO tag for miles, past several cops, and no one cares. You'd think the state would care more, since they're missing out on tag revenue, but oh well.
bbmikej
Well-Known Member
We used to play a game to see the oldest temp tag on a car. It was something like 4 years expired.
ERfly
Well-Known Member
When were you in Memphis?
CFI A&P
Exploring the world one toilet at a time.
There’s a car I see in my airport employee/ commuter lot with tags that expired in 2020. The car looks like it has been abandoned, but the tires still have air in them. I fear the owner also expired during the pandemic.
Richman
JC’s Resident Curmudgeon
Way back in the PPW days, there was a young lady who had a pretty bad story. Trying to CFI it, and got hit by someone who was unlicensed & uninsured. Took a major financial hit because the person who hit her evaporated, and her own insurance was way insufficient.
Obviously a bad situation, but what most people fail to understand is auto insurance, even at its best, basically sucks as a product. At the state minimum, it's meant to cover fender benders or running over someone's herbaceous borders, and that's about it. Get into a major deal, and you'll exhaust the benefits almost instantly.
To really protect yourself, you need something WAY above the minimum, an umbrella policy on top, and good health care. You're not just paying for the financial coverage, but for the insurance company's legal team to sue the crap out of everyone (which they will do). Many carriers offer (or are required to offer in some states), uninsured/underinsured motorist riders, but typically the default is a trivial amount.
Given the general level of asshattery in cars these days, a really good look at your policies and exposure should be something everyone does. It should be noted that increasing coverage limits is not something that people generally do, so your ordinary "level 1" rep will understand or website isn't really designed to do. If you have more than a couple nickels to rub together, you really need someone who isn't a troll to put together your insurance package.
Obviously a bad situation, but what most people fail to understand is auto insurance, even at its best, basically sucks as a product. At the state minimum, it's meant to cover fender benders or running over someone's herbaceous borders, and that's about it. Get into a major deal, and you'll exhaust the benefits almost instantly.
To really protect yourself, you need something WAY above the minimum, an umbrella policy on top, and good health care. You're not just paying for the financial coverage, but for the insurance company's legal team to sue the crap out of everyone (which they will do). Many carriers offer (or are required to offer in some states), uninsured/underinsured motorist riders, but typically the default is a trivial amount.
Given the general level of asshattery in cars these days, a really good look at your policies and exposure should be something everyone does. It should be noted that increasing coverage limits is not something that people generally do, so your ordinary "level 1" rep will understand or website isn't really designed to do. If you have more than a couple nickels to rub together, you really need someone who isn't a troll to put together your insurance package.
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DPApilot
GUYSH! GUYSH! GUYSH!
For anything, not just driving related. A hospital visit with a blood draw above .15 is an automatic deferral.
So this is where I’m conflicted: if you get a single DUI, that’s it flying the paying public as far as I’ve concerned. You’ve demonstrated a lack of responsibility operating a motor vehicle and have no business flying a plane imho. That said, the FAA does a crappy job of regulating the stuff that’s their job. They need to get their noses out of the legal system. Reporting arrests for the FAA to revisit is double jeopardy. A conviction should be game over and an arrest is innocent until proven guilty (based on my strong legal knowledge gained from sleeping through almost every episode of SVU next to my wife on the couch). My issues with the legal system are separate and unrelated, but TL;dr the FAA has no business with the criminal justice system.
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Inverted25
Well-Known Member
The reason the FAA changed the form and now asks for arrests on medical is because they know a lot of DUI get plead down to lesser offenses and they want to catch those instances as well
Bluntly, that’s none of their damn business. They can regulate airplanes and let the criminal justice system sort out crimes.
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
In cases of adverse adjudication, the FAA should certainly have an interest in the details of a case.
Unless there is an unconditional dismissal, acquittal, or dropping of charges, the FAA should investigate.
Here’s the thing…it’s keeping with the theme of why OKC is as effed up as it is. The FAA “doctors” not only think they know more than your doctor, they think they know more than the criminal justice system. Oh, and they take months to (more likely) years to resolve medicals because of the backlog they’ve created for themselves. So yeah. Not backing down on this. If the criminal justice system has decided it’s not a DUI, then OKC should stay in their lane and worry about if Larry Ambulancechaser can fly after a triple bypass (or maybe they shouldn’t because if he’s cleared to drive his car he should be able to cause chaos in his Cirrus, but I digress).
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
I was charged with dui in 2014. It was dismissed before it ever went to trial. The FAA was informed within 48 hours of the dui, and later of its dismissal and my ATC medical was reinstated. In 2019 I got my pilot medical. Informed them of being charged with dui and its dismissal as I have on every medical since. In 2023 they suspended my pilot medical pending I resend all the info i had sent them already in 2014. Arrest report, court documents, driving records going back 10 years etc. it’s still suspended because I never sent them anything. Told them they have everything already and they can walk down the hall to their ATC medical people and get everything.
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
The FAA is bad at so many things.
I reported a DUI arrest for decades only to learn that I was never arrested, only detained.
Virginia used to have a sane law/procedure (1980’s) in which you weren’t arrested until bloodwork was completed and you were found to be intoxicated. If bloodwork showed intoxication, you were arrested at your first court appearance.
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
I'm sympathetic to those who have to close one eye to be sympathetic to DUIs when it comes to aviation-appliance-operation. Just don't do it. Basic common sense. Etc. etc.
That said, I've seen at least two people absolutely rat-screwed by supposedly having (other, non-aviation, to be clear) crimes "expunged" and then discovering that while their plea said "expunged", they weren't *reallllllly* expunged. Like, that was just to get them to sign on the dotted plea-line. And as a question separate (and I would argue greater) than/from one's driving record, that's monstrously nasty, sneaky, and unfair.
That said, I've seen at least two people absolutely rat-screwed by supposedly having (other, non-aviation, to be clear) crimes "expunged" and then discovering that while their plea said "expunged", they weren't *reallllllly* expunged. Like, that was just to get them to sign on the dotted plea-line. And as a question separate (and I would argue greater) than/from one's driving record, that's monstrously nasty, sneaky, and unfair.
Pilot Fighter
Well-Known Member
Words have meaning, except when it comes to expungement.
Laws differ from state to state and it doesn’t appear that the federal government is legally bound to respect expungement law at all, at least in the areas of military, transportation, or security clearances.
Private sector does a bit better but many companies are using private background check companies that have archived government records, immune to expungement. So, expungement is of little utility. In some states, companies can’t legally use expunged convictions against an applicant or employee but they certainly do.
I’m not sure what the answer is but I haven’t heard any acquaintance tell me that an expungement has helped them.
For pilots in the USA, it appears that arrests are as problematic as convictions with the FAA being inconsistent with both.
Boris Badenov
Fortis Leader
These are the circumstances I was referring to. The one person I'm thinking of in particular has had his career deleted by believing that "expunged" meant "no longer of concern". And it was a case he could have fought and almost certainly won, had he not believed the (deliberate and unconscionable) lie from the DA. Round and round we go.
tlove482
Well-Known Member
I don't think it's as simple as "just don't do it". You're telling a person on a substance that impairs judgement to exercise good judgement.
NovemberEcho
Dergs favorite member
Not to mention it takes far less alcohol to blow over a .08 than most people realize. You can feel dead cold sober and blow over. I blew a .09 and I’d had 2 beers.
I think that’s more of a “don’t drink and drive” tale than a “the FAA sucks” tale
