View Single Post
Old 12-06-2017, 10:37 AM
  #24  
JohnBurke
Disinterested Third Party
 
Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 5,925
Default

Originally Posted by Koco View Post
Hello everyone! I´m a private instrument rated pilot in United States. I´m new in the aviation field, and I recently found myself 500 ft. above the floor of class B airspace without authorization. I was with my instructor practicing some commercial maneuvers. Before landing, the tower controller told me that there was a possible pilot deviation and that I needed to call a number. After landing, I called the number and the lady wrote down my name, pilot number, and phone number and told me that somebody will contact me. I called the same number next day, and they told me that they send the report to the local FSDO, and that somebody will contact me in a few days. What should I expect? What should I do? Did anybody recently have a similar experience? What did you do to solve the problem? Thank you in advance for any comment or suggestion.
The purpose of that call to the tower was singular: your information was obtained to be used against you. There is no other purpose.

Until you put yourself in that aircraft via that phone call, the FAA had no way of putting you there.

You know that thing attorneys do; tell you not to say anything until you speak to an attorney? There's a reason.

Most of the time, what the FAA has, the pilot gave them. Don't do that.

Complete the ASRS report.

JNB is correct: the ASRS does not prevent a violation; it offers you the opportunity to not serve the penalty of a violation, but the violation still stays on your record. If, for example, you're given a 90 day suspension, the FAA may not actually suspend for 90 days, but you'll still have the violation on your record.

It is not a get out of jail free card by any stretch of the imagination.

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes View Post
I work for the FAA. We don't see ASRS reports. They only come into play at the end of an enforcement or after an NTSB judge has rendered a decision against you, then it's kind of a "get out of jail free" card that can be used to waive the penalty of an enforcement. An enforcement means suspension, revocation, civil penalty, etc. The ASRS report has nothing to do with the investigation. We don't see them. I'd be curious to know where you got this understanding?
I don't see sonicflyer's posts as he's on my ignore list, but I see your post, responding to his quote. He is correct.

The FAA may not take enforcement action based on anything learned from the ASRS report. It's not sent to you, but an airman who introduced it early in the process or sends it with a response might provide it. In such a case, if submitted timely and not an intentional violation or a violation of law, the body of the report is protected and none of that information can be used as first-source for enforcement purposes. It can't be used as an admission, either.

The same is not true of the title strip, which is not protected. A pilot who identifies himself as violating a regulation as part of his title may find that the title strip of the ASRS report can be used against him. It does not enjoy the same protection or immunity, and while the ASRS doesn't send the reports to the FAA, inspectors have been known to peruse them, looking. While the FAA can't act based on the ASRS report body, revealing too much can show the inspector where to look to dig deeper, or reveal something the inspector didn't know in the first place. I have known more than a few inspectors who do this, and who are of a mind to do this...going after people for everything from a talk in church to having overheard a casual 3rd party conversation.

Hang one's hat on the new and friendlier FAA if one wants. Not wise.

JNB may not be lynching pilots, but he's an army of one. There are a lot of others out there who won't hesitate to do so.
JohnBurke is offline