I would suggest you might want to look at the thread in Pre Interview that covers this topic. The facts:

1. No employee decides, and no applicant's opinion determines what standards will be used by his / her potential employer to decide whether employment is offered. You will have to live by their standards, not by what you feel is fair.

2. The FAA medical certificate requirements are very specific in terms of reporting requirements. BS these and you can go to jail. The TSA also has stringent requirements as to what offenses will preclude the issuance of a securtity clearance incident to operating as a flight crew member. Look these up online before you spend lots of money on training or obtaining ratings. You might eventually qualify after an intervening time period as required by TSA regulations has elapsed following the offense, and assuming no other subsequent offense.

3. The employer may also have their own corporate standard, that must at least equal federal requirements but which may be more stringent. Should an incident or accident occur, they're not going to want some journalist to point out that one of the crewmembers has a history of x type of offense(s). Airline pilots are held to a higher standard than many occupations for obvious reasons.

4. Background checks may include information from a variety of sources, and most offenses in the last 10 years are available in at least one electronic data base. It is true that older offenses on paper systems are harder to track.

If you're hired, but hide something, and the background check uncovers it, you will probably be uncerimoniously shown the door, and you will now have a termination on your record to deal with. Remember, you're signing an application that says you agree that supplying inaccurate or false information is grounds for termination...NO MATTER WHEN THE COMPANY discovers the issue.

That said, if you have one incident years ago, and a clean record since then, and no other yellow flags like failed checkrides, you are still in the game. Apply...but be truthful in the application and interview process.