anima

My son just started in a Flight Sciences degree at a US university. He has wanted to be an airline pilot since he was 4, it's all he has ever talked about.

2 weeks before he went off to go to college, he was arrested for DUI. His BAC was 0.054, legal still for an adult but not a minor (anything over 0.02), they also charged him with Minor in Possession.

We have a lawyer and it is working its way through the system, they recently suspended his auto licence for 30 days and he will have to have an interlock on his car for the next year. The DUI stuff is still pending. We intend to fight the DUI, the MIP he absolutely deserves.

So my question is.... what are his prospects now? Is this a career killer before he even graduates?

How will this affect his license? (not to mention his scholarship) if we can't clear the DUI. Could he get on with a major airline? Should we also get an aviation lawyer?

I really feel bad for him, we were all 18 once, back in my day the cops would have just poured the booze out and marched us home for my dad to deal with. I can't believe his dream could be over already.

Thanks,

Jeff

satpak77

Welcome to law enforcement 21st century, in the age of car cameras, increased citizen oversight, etc, officer discretion is much reduced now. Had they poured the booze out, taken him home, and the next day, he did it again but this time crashed his car and killed a kid who was walking down the street eating an ice cream cone, Officer Jones who "did the right thing" now is being sued by the dead kid's family (as arresting your son could have served as a mechanism to detour the train he was on...) and possibly fired by the Chief for "poor judgement". Also getting sued is the department, and the city. Etc.

1. Any arrest and criminal conviction at age 18 or older is an "adult" and can be negative towards a professional pilot career. Military academy / Embry Riddle grads, with masters degrees, and multi-thousand hours of heavy jet time, and no criminal history, are not getting called to interviews yet. How do you think a guy with a DUI on his record.

2. If this is first arrest/first offense, you/your lawyer talk to the judge, in almost every case, a first time, DUI, with NO other criminal history, will be reduced to a charge of reckless driving or similar (depending on local/state laws) charge. Ideally, the charge gets dropped/reduced to a NON-TRAFFIC violation. FAA, Airline HR, etc are tuned into the driver's registry and any traffic related offense is a red flag. Joke, but for the purposes of airline records checks/FAA, an arrest for organized crime is more desirable than a DUI.

3. AVOID A DUI CONVICTION at all costs. Pay a fine, volunteer (even if judge does not mention it) for community service, mow the grass at the courthouse, ANYTHING. You need a DUI attorney on this, not the guy who handles Grandma's estate paperwork.

4. Be careful of attorney's who "we will show them" and "screw the judge, we have this in the bag" type attitude. Most successful legal / judicial transactions are the result of mature adults negotiating amongst themselves

Listen to your lawyer, not me, or APC. Good Luck

Cubdriver

Not a DUI lawyer or an airline hiring expert, but I have read a ton of these threads and the consensus is usually along the lines if a stupid youth does something stupid and that's all it is- youthful stupidity, he then learns from it and does not do it again, he may be redeemed to the airlines and be seen as a viable candidate. So there is hope for your son. The problem is that it takes years of clean driving to show the reformation took place, and a DUI will also hit the word filter. Good scores in other areas will be needed to assist, if the market swings back to a pilot surplus as it has in the past, even a parking ticket can become deal breaker. He will need some luck in the supply-demand arena. The pilot job market is and always has been pretty competitive.

RHolder1975

Not good for career.

Brokenwind

I know nothing about this issue...

However, as hard as it may be and perhaps it's a stretch, there may be mitigating circumstances surrounding remedial "treatment".
It may help in the court's view that your son volunteers for a substance abuse program and a plea deal can be negotiated by the attorney in the case of a positive outcome.

Just a suggestion and I hate to see dreams shattered for something we all are aware of can happen and could have happened to any of us at some time.

Things aren't the way they used to be and I have seen several examples of convicted DUI offenders with successful airline careers but that was days gone by...

Best of luck with your son, he must feel terrible and I wish him all the best in this case.

sourdough44

Good advice given about. Not to minimize the whole notion of driving after a few beers, but I'd do all you(he) can to get this down to the MIP level.

hemaybedid

It hasn't been mentioned yet that the FAA no longer believes in innocent until proven guilty. They require you to report any alcohol related arrest not conviction.

anima

The kicker for me is that if he had been 21, this wouldn't be a DUI. But since he's 18 it is...considered an adult for everything except alcohol.

I appreciate everyone chiming in... we'll see how it goes. No one mentioned. but should we call an aviation attorney also?

JamesNoBrakes

That's naive, think about the legal system in general, for much of it they don't just "let you go" for you to come back one day in court, they keep you locked up unless you can make bail, they do things like impound your car, seize assets/freeze accounts, and so on. It's only "innocent until proven guilty" in name only. In any case, an FAA certificate is not a right and in a safety-sensitive position you'd want to pull someone out of that position as soon as you had a reason to believe they may not be safe. If it's proven otherwise, they return, all is good. That's better than just waiting and the guy wrecks a plane while he's waiting for his trial. People are arrested for a subsequent DUI all the time while they are waiting for the first DUI trial.

I do believe that these things shouldn't be "career killers". I wish there was some way with enough hard work and record of doing the "right things" they could "erase" the bad things they've done, but unfortunately our society isn't really set up for that. These things go on records and they don't come off. That doesn't mean you can't accomplish great things, you still have a career as an airline pilot for sure, by the time he's looking seriously it's going to be way in the past. It may eventually turn into a barrier that keeps him from getting to the point he wants to or as high as he wants to go in the field, so that is something to sit down and think real hard about. It may be better to set up for a parallel aviation career (engineering, management, safety, research, etc) and do the piloting stuff ad hoc or something. Heck, if he became a career safety guy stating his reason as "well, back in 20xx I got a DUI, and I figured from that point on I had to do everything I could to make this world safer" and had a track record to back it up, he'd go far no doubt.

Brokenwind

Big mouthful James... What are you trying to say to save this young hopeful?