FSDO Inspector Gave Illegal Check Rides

ljg said:
Some Feds act with impunity and they are very difficult to fire. A good lawyer and a small bit of luck and this guy will end up with a promotion to some job that involves desk-only work.
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This is more likely to be the outcome. See it on a regular basis, the more you screw up the higher you get promoted.
 
The FAA "can" reexamine any certificate at any time. The amount of time the certificate has been held is irrelevant. Whether they do that or not is completely a different matter.

Going back to the Florida case around 1985, the FAA reexamined as statistically significant group who had received their certificates improperly. The finding was that the reexamined group was on a par with mechanics who had been working for a while. Based on that data, the FAA elected not to reexamine all of the people who had received their certificate improperly. While there were people who failed the reexamination, that is the same sort of thing that would happen if every pilot were to be retested on the certificates they hold. There would be some failures.
 
I did a little research on the case. The only charge was accepting gratuities. Bishop pleaded guilty to a 1-count "information." An "information" is a Federal criminal charging document. The difference between an "information" and an "indictment" is that an indictment is issued by a Grand Jury; an information by the US Attorney. It's generally used when there has already been a plea agreement reached.

For those interested, I posted a pdf that contains the plea agreement, the information and the minutes of Bishop's guilty plea.
http://tinyurl.com/6c8y22w
 
MidlifeFlyer said:
I did a little research on the case. The only charge was accepting gratuities. Bishop pleaded guilty to a 1-count "information." An "information" is a Federal criminal charging document. The difference between an "information" and an "indictment" is that an indictment is issued by a Grand Jury; an information by the US Attorney. It's generally used when there has already been a plea agreement reached.

For those interested, I posted a pdf that contains the plea agreement, the information and the minutes of Bishop's guilty plea.
http://tinyurl.com/6c8y22w
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Well he plead guilty at least. Very interesting read Midlife, I am still shocked he got that deeply involved in this nonsense. $30-$70 thousand in illegal gratuity over the course of seven years, I wonder if he even knew how much he'd taken, what a disgrace.
 
So I take it you guys think that it is highly immoral what the guy did... as do I to an extent, but I will say what I kinda sorta think in my question below:

Say the guy was doing the rides for free during his "work time", whenever he was on the clock there was no charge if he went out to the airport for an appointment and did his job...
Ok, now say the guy would "clock out" at 5pm or whatever/whenever, you know... "off the clock"..., and then gets a phonecall on a Sunday from a kid who needs to get his PPL checkride done ASAP on that Sunday afternoon. The Inspector isn't on the clock, it's his weekend/vacation, and he agrees to do it in exchange for a fee of $300. IS THAT SCENARIO WRONG? I would like to see what his actual examining authority is... I wonder if it specifically says that he is not authorized to charge applicants.

And lastly, either the figures quoted in the article are a few years old, or the guy was giving people a good deal under the table, but in this day and age $300 for a checkride is pretty good price. I haven't had to take one aside from my CFI Renewal Ride, but I think around OK a checkride nowadays will run you around $400!
 
jwp_145 said:
I wonder if it specifically says that he is not authorized to charge applicants.
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18 U.S.C. §201

==============================
Sec. 201. Bribery of public officials and witnesses

(c) Whoever--
(1) otherwise than as provided by law for the proper discharge
of official duty--
***
(B) being a public official, former public official, or
person selected to be a public official, otherwise than as
provided by law for the proper discharge of official duty,
directly or indirectly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or
agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally for or
because of any official act performed or to be performed by such
official or person;
***
shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than
two years, or both.
==============================

No. It's not an FAA statute or rule. It applies to everyone who acts in a official federal capacity. Most states too. Or are you suggesting that a health inspector who accepts bribes to issue good reports to restaurants and hotels ok also...so long as it's after he "clocks out"? Or is it that you don't consider issuance of a pilot certificate or rating "an official act"?


btw, "morality" is for editorials and personal belief systems. I don't know whether some of what he did might be excusable based on his or someone else's moral compass. Based on the information in the official documents I've seen, what he did was criminal..
 
jynxyjoe said:
Yeah I worked at Skyblue a little and did my CFI at Am Flyers. With Jean Luc or whatever his name was (brit who got in a fist fight with student in traffic pattern :) )
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I'd like to see what that NASA report looked like. "Was flying along, student messing everything up. I punched him in larynx."
 
RDoug said:
I'll take that bet. This guy is toast, and not only will he lose his job . . . permanently . . . he will be going to federal prison if these charges are indeed accurate. Additionally, he will probably lose any monies he had saved in his TSP account (fed version of a 401K) if there's a fine involved.

It's not nearly as hard to fire a federal employee as some would lead you to believe. Happens all the time (yes, I've personally seen examples), and pretty darned quickly when there's even a hint of a corrupt practice involved.
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Toast is accurate.
http://midlifeflight.us/posted/BishopPleaAgreement.pdf
 
Itchy said:
Wow. He really screwed the pooch but good.
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Indeed he did. So much so that I'm surprised anyone thought he wouldn't face termination, prison time, and forfeiture of his TSP.

As I said, it's not nearly as hard to fire a federal employee as some would have you believe. Happens all the time.
 
Bandit_Driver said:
Not true. The FAA doesn't charge for check rides. I have taken few with them over the years. Only DPE's charge for check rides.
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Thats what I said, examiners.. ie DPEs. I was responding to SIU who said that the same logic should be applied to DPEs. I was saying it shouldn't because the situation is different -- examiners are allowed to charge, inspectors are not. I think we're saying the same thing, I may have just been a little unclear.
 
IIRC, there are specific rules restricting ASI's who retire from immediately getting DPE authorization. If that is the case, then there was definitely a problem even if he was doing it on his off time. Additionally, ASI's have a badge, with enforcement powers, and a government official. Are they every 100% "off duty?"
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
Thats what I said, examiners.. ie DPEs. I was responding to SIU who said that the same logic should be applied to DPEs. I was saying it shouldn't because the situation is different -- examiners are allowed to charge, inspectors are not. I think we're saying the same thing, I may have just been a little unclear.
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Gotcha,,,no worries
 
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