Originally Posted by avi8orco

It’s very unlikely the FAA knew, or hell, even knows about this guy’s history.

When you fill out the 8710, paper or via IACRA, the only thing it asks about legal trouble is if you’ve been convicted of a drug offense. The form 8500-8, the medical application filled out via Medexpress, asks if you’ve been convicted of a DUI or an offense that revokes your driving privledge. He likely has nothing that checks those boxes, therefore the FAA knows nothing of his convictions.

The bottom line is they don’t run a background check to get a pilot certificate, including an ATP. The only way you get your background looked at with respect to training or getting a certificate is by the DHS, but that’s if you are a foreigner getting training for a private, a multi engine, or a type rating. That’s on the CFI or training organization. If you’re a US citizen, which he is, that doesn’t apply.

61.153(c) is a formality in the regulations. The only barrier to that would really be an examiner. If you go show up for an ATP ride and you’re clearly a lunatic with no morals the examiner can, and I’d hope would, deny you the certificate on that basis, but he’s not going to, nor has to, run a criminal background check.

The only thing I see in this situation as a blatant disregard of moral and legal obligation is by the company. Our op specs allow the company to act as representatives of the FAA with respect to pilot certification. The type rating he is getting is basically an extension of an ATP certificate. The company ran a background check as they are required to do and know full well this guy’s history. Therefore the company has hard information that shows a requirement of the ATP certificate for this guy is clearly not met. They are walking into a liability disaster by allowing him through the training pipeline and into one of our flight decks. If an incident occurs involving him, God help them.