Going Missed

A pilot I was flying with was driving distracted and struck another vehicle resulting in being charged with Careless Driving Resulting in Injury. One of the injured later passed away so the charges were upped to Careless driving resulting in death. The max charge includes 1 year of jail time and a 1 year license suspension. What do they need to report to the FAA/their airline? FAR 61.15 seems to only necessitate reporting of drugs/alcohol were involved, which they were not.

What is the Precident for keeping their part 121 employment if they need to serve jail time?

Myfingershurt

He’s lucky he wasn’t charged with vehicular manslaughter. Some states put distracted driving on the same shelf as DUI. Either way, he’ll have to report any charges/convictions on his next medical app. Could preclude him from a class 1.

JamesNoBrakes

61.15 is "Offenses involving drugs and alcohol". This does not sound like an offense involving drugs and alcohol. (e) of this regulation is what pertains to the motor vehicle actions, but again, the context is offenses involving drugs and alcohol.

This seems pretty clear to me:
https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ash/ash_programs/investigations/airmen_duidwi/

If you wanted to be absolutely sure, you could contact this office:

They aren't out to do secret stuff like wiretap people or do phone tracing. They would answer a question just as CAMI or the Regional Flight Surgeon would. I had a question about required paperwork for asthma stuff (which I don't suffer from, but gotta go through the paperwork loop) and they were absolutely helpful. I can't imagine anything different here. You would, err your friend would just be an airman calling and asking a question about whether an action is reportable.

JamesNoBrakes

Yes, it would need to be reported on the next medical. I'm not seeing anything in Part 67 though that would preclude them from meeting the 1st class medical standards.

rickair7777

18(v) requires that you report arrests or convictions. But this does not sound like any of those items unless driving privileges are suspended. Has that happened yet?

18(w) requires that you report non-traffic misdemeanor/felony convictions (but not arrests. Seems like a traffic offense so maybe 18(w) doesn't apply? Ask a lawyer to be safe.

Reading the 18(v) & (w) literally, you could be convicted of a felony non-substance driving offense, go to jail, but still not have to report it. If your license is suspended, you would need to report it under 18(v)

18(v) focuses on substance-influenced driving, and DL suspension/revocation. 18(w) focuses on non-traffic offenses.

Better ask an aviation lawyer though.

As far as jail time....

1) Not likely for a regular citizen with a clean record who made a careless (vice premeditated) mistake. Jails are too full as it is, they don't have room for guys like you.

2) If it did happen, 121 employment would terminate for sure... at my age I've learned not to be to sure of too many things in life but I am highly confident that no airline offers a LOA to serve prison time... they don't even like letting military take time off to serve the nation FFS.

Silver lining... it's probably better to be unemployed when the lawsuits arrive.

JamesNoBrakes

18v(2) would look to be applicable. (1) looks to be specific to drugs and alcohol, (2) looks to be general in nature in regards to driving privileges. The 18w non-traffic conviction would not.

But just because you are entering something there doesn't mean that you are being denied a medical, it's just asking for that to verify the information. Unless it's one of the actual "flags", a drug/alcohol related offense, it shouldn't have any bearing on getting the medical. Lying about it though when checked against the NDR might be a flag.

EMAW

I had a suspension in college which amounted to a points suspension, no tickets over the threshold to be deemed reckless. Added it to my medical application, and since it’s been on every application as “previously reported”. Never had any problems.

AirBear

Serving jail time is unlikely. As for the job, a lot depends on if you have a union on the property. A plea bargain not involving jail or travel restrictions might allow the job to be kept.

I once flew with a pilot at NetJets who was accused of a sex offense against a 16 yr old girl. He was off work for 2 years but was kept on the payroll until the trial was over and he was found not guilty. Totally bogus case though. Near the end of the trial the prosecutor was trying to plea bargain down to a minor misdemeanor because their case had fallen apart. But the pilot still got stuck with a $200K bill for his defense.