I'm not an expert on criminal law, and have never claimed to be. As someone who spent a fair amount of my career on the hiring side of the table, I have some valid insight. Read my statement carefully....what I said and stand by...is that if you are asked a question on the employment application, and you LIE, you've demonstrated at least one basic charactor trait that makes you undesirable for employment. Further more, that lie may be found out, and the company then has the right to discharge that employee, no matter how long after the employment began. There are many ways such information comes to the attention of the company, not simply from law enforcement data bases. For example, many airlines prefer internal recommendations from pilots that know the applicant and can vouch for his or her character. Rather than encouraging applicants on this site to LIE, you should encourage them to be honest and open, and assuming that their background checks support the idea that they've learned their lesson and have avoided repetitive contacts with the law, they will likely be hirable.

In my experience, it's unfortuneately not unusual for someone who has "maturity issues" and run ins with the law, to continue that behavior beyond age 18, so those individuals tend to be identified in data bases with more than one offense. To anyone that is concerned about these things, you should not plan on any narrow legal standing prior to age 18 to rescue you from the consequences of poor behaviours on your part.

The overarching point to be made here to those individuals contemplating a career as an airline pilot: keep your career goal in mind when making choices in your everyday life from high school on.