Reckless Endangerment on record
 

I need some help, my buddy is about to start flight training and just got charged with reckless endangerment. It's his dream to become a pilot, but he does not want to invest all the money and time if it is going to affect his chances severely of getting hired at an airline. He is 21, what is your guys opinion? Is it an automatic check mark for No in the airlines eyes?

Charged is a lot different than convicted.

If he's convicted of this crime game over! keeping your nose clean is essential no juvenile BS allowed.

If he's serious about aviation he needs a good lawyer. If he can beat this, or get it reduced to something innocuous then it should have minimal effect on his career.

If he get's convicted the long-term impact depends on the details. If this is vehicular-related but non-DUI it might be no worse than reckless driving...he'll still get hired at regionals but majors will take AT LEAST 10-15 years with a clean record and even then only if they need a lot of pilots. When airlines can be picky, there's always plenty of pilots with clean records.

If it's a DUI, that's worse and I would seriously question investing in aviation unless it can be beat (ie charges dropped or not guilty). A DUI plead down to a lesser charge is still likely to be a problem in aviation (you have to tell the FAA what the arrest was for).

If it's non-vehicular but related to violence he would need to beat the rap. Any conviction related to violence is probably game over. Yes, employers know your ex-wife probably fabricated the whole incident to get custody of the kids but they don't know that for sure and have no way of knowing so they'll just hire somebody with a clean record. Airlines are not in business to be fair to all applicants.

Hard to answer precisely without more details. Regionals will hire almost anyone but majors are very sensitive about what google will turn up about one of it's pilots.

If he's convicted of this charge his chances of ANY Aviation Related or .gov job is almost nil due to the current BI Security requirements.

He'd better use this as a Fast Track to step up into responsible adulthood.

I keep harping with students in flight training, KEEP YOUR RECORD CLEAN. No, a 10 mph over speeding ticket isn't the end of the world. But in a sea of applicants, the more serious can easily be a deal breaker.

The truth is, many charges get reduced before conviction. If that is still an option he should look into it. One of course shouldn't put themselves in situations where this sort of thing can happen.