astroavion

I am 45 years old. Six years ago I had an argument with my sister and snatched a cellphone out of her hand and she left. Nothing more happened but I was charged/found guilty with a domestic violence. I was ordered to do 50hrs community service and pay a $350 fine. I was working about 80hrs a week and completed neither requirement, and now I have a bench warrant in Virginia for this.

I haven't been back to Virginia since and it is not an extraditable offense.

I started college in 2003 and have almost finished my associate degree and I was thinking about transferring to a four-year college for a professional pilot program. I am wondering if this current VA warrant will prevent me from obtaining my Commercial/Instrument license and beyond (ATP).

I went to college for a year back in 1994 for the same but ended up short on money and did not finish after acquiring about 60 hrs. I also have an aircraft dispatcher license I obtained in July 2001, but never used it due to 9-11 and I got into another line of work for the last 12 years or so.

Would it be worth my time to try and go back to complete a professional pilot degree or will this current warrant screw me?

To add more to the pile, I also have a misdemeanor child support warrant in another state, which is why I returned to college in the first place; to get my degree to obtain a job that pays well-enough that I may address this issues and fix them. So these are my issues.

Should I go ahead and try to get this degree, or will my medical/pilot license application be denied. I have no intention of not disclosing this information, and I really do not care if I fly for the airlines. I think I would be just as happy being a CFI, flying pipelines, or maybe doing charter or corporate, or even Alaska bush flying. I just love flying, was pretty good at it and it seems the most logical career/education path for me.

Thanks.

Chperplt

To be a professional pilot you need to be of good moral character. I don't believe you fit that description.

What you did to your sister is a non event. Not completing your punishment and then also being a dead beat dad is a major issue.

JohnBurke

Neither warrant will prevent you from obtaining pilot certification.

Finding a job is another matter. Moreover, it's not just flying jobs that will be impacted.

If you need to work two jobs to cover child support, then do it; it's your obligation. Think of it from an employer point of view: does the employer want to hire someone who can't take care of his obligations? As a pilot, one is subject to a number of regulations, nearly every one of which is "written in blood," based on a loss of life and a disaster or crash somewhere. Important stuff. Life or death, really. Does an employer want to allow you to fly the company multi-million dollar aircraft with a full load of passengers and expensive cargo, as well as the reputation of the company at stake, when you can't manage your personal affairs?

Get your affairs in order. Whether you decide to fly or not, get them in order.

You seem to offer the notion that your bench warrants aren't extraditable as some kind of excuse, as if it softens the blow. It doesn't. You have warrants out for your arrest, and whether they're outstanding in your state, they exist and they have validity. By your own admission, you're guilty.

Will outstanding warrants prevent you from obtaining pilot certification? No. A history of domestic violence (hint: convictions for domestic violence don't generally result from removing a cell phone from someone's hand. Honesty is a critical trait for an aviator, too), multiple outstanding warrants in multiple states, and an apparent disregard for your legal and personal obligations suggest you're a big risk to an employer. Get your affairs straightened out first.

E2CMaster

I agree with all the points above minus the cell phone snatching not being DV.

You'd be surprised what they consider DV. They would consider that assault, and since it's a relative.. DV.

Outside of that, Astro's got issues.

Southerner

Let's assume you get the training and the job. How are you going to avoid the 2 (TWO!!) states that you have warrants in? Are you just going to assume no one will know when you do that IAD turn? The company will be ****ed when you get picked up in DCA on an overnight. You'll have to walk on egg shells to be sure you aren't caught. Even a small fender bender in the crew van could cause you to get hauled off...

Get your life straightened out, THEN start your career goals. How can you justify the expense of flight training while you are not paying child support?

TrakTrak

Dirty laundry...

Cubdriver

I think his past as it stands is too spotty for just about any type of commercial flying. We get these types occasionally, they have spotty backgrounds and yet they underestimate the seriousness of the situation. I cannot recommend that someone who has a spotty background spend a dime on pro pilot certs when they will not be competitive if they have them. Why do something you are bound to lose? Even the clean people have enough trouble and you'll go broke trying. People who have too many traffic tickets can hardly find jobs.

Astro, the only way I would consider pro flying is if your lawyer says you can find a way to expunging your entire criminal past from the record books in all states, and judging from the stuff you did it sounds like a tall order at this point. Your first order of business is to consult a lawyer about the feasibility of that task. Not everyone can be a pilot, background is taken very seriously in the industry. Nobody is going to want a former suspect flying their million dollar airplane. Some misdemeanors can be expunged with the right conditions in place, but most cannot and if you cannot clean it all up then do not spend a dime on professional pilot certs. Even if you manage to expunge all your misdeeds, many employers ask point blank have you ever had an arrest of any disposition whatsoever, and those will forever be off the table. There are a lot of them, and lying about it is no way to go.

viper548

Flying has lots of rules and regulations to follow. If you can't follow the law why would anyone hire you to fly?

Hawker Driver

Good points by all the fellas above. Something else to consider is timing though. 3,4,5 years ago, you would not have stood a chance. Now, with all the hiring going on, your chances of at least being considered for a regional or charter gig are far better....

USMCFLYR

There are segments of the aviation business that you could still work in I''m sure - especially if you network into some position and the prospective employer is willing to overlook your legal indiscretions because he knows you.
You stated that you might be happy with being a professional CFI. You could be an independent and not work for anyone - though you'd still have to use those networking skills to build a reliable client base.
For all of that - there are segments of the aviation industry that you have probably shot yourself in the foot for ever working in them - especially any that perform background checks and would screen an application (against a large stack of others) before ever considering to even granting an interview. There are just too many with clean records in and out of flying right now.
Agree with all the others though - - - you've got some house cleaning to do first. Good luck.