LowSlowT2

I saw this on the alt dev thread (alt deviation

Can anyone elaborate?

The reason for my question: almost 17 years ago, my PPL was suspended for 30 days for failure to report my driving license suspension w/in 60 days.

The 60-day reporting rule went into effect Jan '91, my DL suspension occurred Apr '91, the FAA sent out those old yellow card 'NOTAMs' informing airmen in Oct '91 and it didn't make it into the AIM until the '92 version - prior to that it was only in the Federal Register. I was not actively flying then, so was blissfully unaware.

Fast-forward three years and when I decided to start GA flying again and saw the question, "has your driving license every been suspended or revoked" on my FAA medical questionnaire and I answered honestly, provided the details, and got my medical.

Several months later, the FAA sent letters to my dad's house (address on record) which he did not forward to me and I got them all at once when visiting a couple months later. My time to appeal had passed and I called the FAA and after arguing with their lawyer on a conference call for about 45 minutes about being punished for being honest (they admitted they'd have never known if I hadn't self-reported), I conceded and mailed in my certificate with a letter of protest. It was returned to me less than 30 days later.

Fast forward 17 years and as I prepare to leave the military and seek civilian employment, I requested a copy of my FAA record on file, any enforcement/suspension/revocation actions, and even my FAA medical information. When I received the info in the mail from the FAA, there was not only no record of the suspension (or any correspondence), there was an actual cover letter stating categorically that there was no certificate action on file against my license.

Was this an example of the 5-year expunction rule noted above?? Is it as if it never happened?

Because...

Now, as I begin to fill out applications, I notice a common question is, "has your FAA license ever been suspended?". If there is no record of it, should I report it? I realize it would be easy to explain in an interview, and while I'm not trying to hide anything, I don't want to offer any extra info that might preclude my application getting into the "interview" pile...

Thoughts??

NoyGonnaDoIt

Yes.

I'll leave that one for folks more knowledgeable about the specifics of hiring practices and whether any employer can ask about legal actions that are no longer formally on the record.