You may be able to expunge federal criminal records, in the same manner that you can expunge stae/local records.

But you cannot expunge the FBI records, ever, to the best of my knowledge. Reason being that the FBI records are used for criminal investigations and national security/intelligence purposes and therefor must be complete.

Also, unlike court records (which you can expunge) FB records are NOT accessible by the public, employers, etc. This means that an embezzler who got his record expunged could get a job as an accountant, since his employer would not have visibility on the FBI records.

But airline pilots are in a unusual situation...our employer do have access to the FBI records. This was not done to allow them to circumvent normal legal procedures, but rather for national security reasons. Cops, military, and many other government or contractor employees who have sensitive jobs or security clearances are subject to the same thing...either their employers have direct access to FBI records, or they need a security clearance which they won't get if they have significant history.

I think the intent was for airlines to verify that you meet TSA requirements, but nobody limited them to strictly those requirements...once they see your record, they are free to deny employment...even if you would be OK per the TSA and had expunged the matter in question. Kind of a weird loophole, but nobody really cares because we would rather err on the conservative side when it comes to airline pilots.