The Good Morale Character For the ATP
 

Question for everyone out there. My wife is a teacher, one of the new teachers hired with her was recently terminated after having her teacher's certificate revoked for lack of good morale character. What would it take to have an ATP revoked under that?

Lying to the FAA.

There was a thread about this six months or a year ago. One case mentioned was a pilot that had his ATP revoked after his conviction for child sexual abuse.

Joe

Not to put too fine of a point on it
 

Moral, not morale, right? Unless she was the Cheerleaders Coach, then yeah, morale...

Does one lack good moral character if they listen to heavy metal and shave their head into a mohawk during big blocks of days off? I say unless its illegal, an employer doesn't have a leg to stand on.

To my knowledge, there is no background check associated with an ATP checkride.

I also know that there is no recurrent background check for people who already hold an ATP.

Where they get you is on the medical renewal. They ask about criminal convictions and arrests, and they will deny a first class medical if you have a significant conviction.

I would assume that the FAA would not dare to withhold a medical (or ATP cert) on moral character grounds without a conviction for something serious.

For example, these sort of things would probably not be an issue with the FAA

- Cheating on your spouse
- Hanging out with known criminals
- Radical political views
- Failure to attend church, or attending the wrong church

But watch out for the TSA, they can pull your tickets for national security reasons...which means whatever they want it to mean.

In the 70's a jump pilot, DC 3, mooned the jumpers as the plane went by on the taxi way. A lady, den mother, was there with cub scout troop.
She reported this and he lost his ATP.
The judge made a big deal about the fact that if he only had a commercial licenses this would not happen.

So much for due process and the Constitution....silly me.

Would not hold up today. The FAA would not be allowed to arbitrarily judge "moral character" based on regulatory language from another era. They know this, and will likely only go for the slam-dunk cases...where a criminal court has already made the determination for them, using copious due process.

It's really a flexible term. There have been various pronouncements though the years, but they tend to be couched in terms of "factors" to consider rather than black and white litmus tests.

From an FAA Chief Counsel opinion, 1979 – "A criminal conviction is not, in and of itself, grounds for denying a certificate on the basis of moral character. In determining whether a certificate may be issued, all relevant factors are considered. These include the nature of the felony for which the applicant was convicted, the number and frequency of the incidents involved, and the relationship of the incident or incidents to his responsibilities as a certificate holder. A conviction alone does not demonstrate a lack of capacity to display the required degree of care, judgement, and responsibility."

If you really want to do a survey of cases where the question came up, just go here: NTSB Opinions and Orders

Leave everything the way it is except put the words good moral character in the Words & Phrases box