roverk190

So I'm curious, lets just say that I've heard of a guy who was caught flying on revoked certificates for a non-passanger commercial operation. He never reported it to the company after being hired clean and the FAA just caught him after a few years of illegally working. I've never heard of anything like it so I'm trying to be vague. I'm just curious, does prison sound like a possibility for this pilot?

rickair7777

Maybe, maybe not.

The FAR requirement to hold a pilot license is admin law, not criminal law.

People go to jail for lying on their medical app, but there is a specific federal criminal offense for lying to the government and it even says so at the bottom of the form.

They'll definitely be interested in throwing the book at this guy, and will go looking for any excuse. If he acquired a medical and indicated on the form that he has a pilot's license, that would be jail material.

But just flying without a license might not be criminal at the federal level, but would certainly be subject to civil penalties. There may even be a specific criminal law (separate from the FARs) which addresses that, but I don't think you can go to jail for just violating the FAR's. Aside from the Fed, there may even be local laws which forbid flying without a license, and could carry prison as a penalty.

I think the prison question may come down to whether or not he lied on ANY federal forms...cuz they are going to go looking pretty hard.

Somebody obviously needs a lawyer...

NoyGonnaDoIt

There is also a potential criminal penalty under under 49 U.S.C. §46306(b)(7):

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Except as provided by subsection (c) of this section, a person shall be fined under title 18, imprisoned for not more than 3 years, or both, if the person—
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(7) knowingly and willfully serves or attempts to serve in any capacity as an airman without an airman's certificate authorizing the individual to serve in that capacity;
==============================

JamesNoBrakes

There can also be state statutes that apply.

Duckdude

There is a pilot in the Richmond, VA area that owns a small aviation business, flew jets in the military, and was an F/E for one of the freight operators many pilots want to work for. He lost his civilian license, so went full time in the military then lost his military license (whatever the proper term is for a military license) too. He went back to civilian flying with a suspended or revoked license and got caught. He was sentenced to jail time, but I believe he only had to serve on the weekends so he could keep working.

rickair7777

In some cases these can be limited by existing federal law, due to federal preeminence, particularly in anything related to the regulation of interstate commerce. A state law requiring that an airline pilot hold say an "Illinois ATP" requiring 3000 TT in order to fly airliners in and out of that state would not hold up.

I'm not sure about state "double jeopardy" for things which also carry federal criminal sanctions for the same exact same crime. NGD?

rickair7777

There you have it. Glad to see that there are some teeth where it counts.

Pavedickey

So he got to serve his time on weekends....sounds like a great way to get out of doing honey-do's and yard work. He might have been onto something.��

NoyGonnaDoIt

Double jeopardy doesn't apply to criminal prosecution on both the state and federal level. Look for example at some of the federal prosecutions for police misconduct after a state jury acquitted. Or the prosecution of the OK City bombers under both federal and Oklahoma state law (pretty likely in the Boston Marathon bombing as wel).

It's a bit more complicated but essentially the general analysis is that (1) the double jeopardy prohibition doesn't prohibit successive prosecution for different crimes (2) even if they allege the same set of facts, a state crime is different from a federal one.

On the federal pre-emption, agree that an "Illinois ATP" and a state-specific time requirement would likely be found to be precluded. But state laws that require compliance with federal requirements might not. There are a variety of state laws dealing with aviation activities. Some have been upheld, others knocked down and still others not tested.

galaxy flyer

Double jeopardy doesn't apply because the Feds and any state are two different soveriegns, think "kings".

GF