Originally Posted by
eaglefly
Interesting thread. According to my AME, it does not matter what the outcome of any alcohol related driving offense (charge) is. To the FAA they are all the same in that they exist and MUST be reported. He did tell me something important and that is if you SHOULD ever end up in the unfortunate position of being stopped and given sobriety tests, NEVER refuse the request for a blood alcohol test. The FAA considers this a very serious infraction and elevates the situation to a whole different level in their eyes and will make it MUCH harder to jump through certification hoops in the future.
Just FYI.
The FAA just wants to know if you have a substance problem. They know that convictions/acquittals/charges dropped/diverted/plead down really have more to do with the vagaries of the legal system (and how much you spend on lawyers) than whether or how drunk you were. The fact that you got arrested indicates that you almost certainly drank (at least a little) and drove, so the fact of the arrest is going to trigger their need to dig deeper into the situation. The only legal finding that might help with FAA aeromedical is if a court makes a formal (and very rare) finding of "innocent", which is to say the court determined that a big mistake was made (or you were framed, etc) and that you never should have been arrested/charged/hassled at all.