During the interview/application process, what is the recommended course of action to take regarding possible “deviations”?

The FAA apparently has a new attitude toward PDs, i.e. they say if you have a “compliance attitude” and you fill out a report, take some FAAST courses and express a willingness to learn from your mistake, that it won’t go in your file as an official deviation. In fact they go so far as to assure that future employers won’t be able to see anything about it.

If the FAA doesn’t treat it as a dreaded “deviation”, should I?

 

It is natural human nature not to want to draw attention to one’s self with regard to such things as pilot deviations. I would never hesitate to fill out an ASAP or ASRS/NASA form when necessary. Not all pilot deviations are investigated by FAA. Filing a report voluntarily does provide many benefits. Be honest and realize that we as humans (ATC and Pilots) make inadvertent mistakes. Airline interviewers know this and FAA also knows this too. The purpose of voluntary reporting is to study and analyze why things happen out there in the NAS. The reports are analyzed to identify trends and perhaps create actionable items such as improving ATC procedures/phraseology, FAA publications (such as the AIM and IPH or other guidance to pilots).

 

Oh, I completely agree with you with regards to voluntary reporting. We can all learn from mistakes, and the more we share experience the better we all get. But perhaps I should provide more specifics on what advice I’m asking for.

I’ll try to make a long story short.

A couple of years ago as a low time CFI, I flew my bosses’ acquaintance up to Atlanta Hartsfield for a business conference. I should have insisted on landing at PDK instead of ATL, but I digress. Going into Atlanta everything was fine. Leaving the FBO began the nightmare. I was asked to expedite my taxi in the unfamiliar and highly complex environment. I complied, and thankfully avoided any incursions along the way. My cockpit check was interrupted multiple times by ground control asking me to recycle my transponder since they weren’t getting mode c. I complied, and kept going back to my checklists. By the time I switched to tower they were pressuring me to be ready, as I was surely the slowest gear in their well oiled machine. I should have said no and taken 60 seconds to double check everything, but I wanted OUT of there and so I accepted a LUAW. In all the rush and interrupted checklist procedures, I never slaved my HSI. It had to be about 60 degrees off compass. On climbout I turned way past my assigned heading. ATL tower was quite frustrated with me at that point, but I didn’t get a number to call until I was switched over to approach.

The FAA did in fact follow up. I did everything they asked of me and was told “this is the new approach, it’s not an official deviation OR a violation if you have a compliance attitude and take these remedial training courses.” According to the FAA rep I worked with, it’s not in my file at all.

My question is, how should I report this to prospective employers? Should I bring it up at all? I don’t mind discussing it, I fully own the mistake chain I committed, and I really did learn from the experience. I tend to think I should just be up front about it, but don’t want to blow my chances on an application by reporting a deviation that apparently doesn’t exist in my file.

 

First off do a FOIA request and get a copy of your ENTIRE FAA file. Instructions are on the FAA website somewhere. YOU need to verify what is and is not in your file.

If it's not in your file as a violation (entirely possible since an investigation could occur at the FSDO level with only formally adjudicated violations getting into your file), then you can so "no" to a question about violations.

They may also ask (on the app or in the interview} whether you have ever been the subject of an FAA investigation. It sounds to me like the answer is yes.

So it may depend on how they word the question.

Even if there's nothing at all in your file, the conventional wisdom is don't lie to an employer... there will be hell to pay if they ever find out somehow. But if there's nothing in your file, then they'll appreciate the honesty. Also this is a good interview story in that (as an inexperienced pilot) you made a minor mistake, nothing bad happened, and you learned some valuable lessons.

JamesNoBrakes may have more insight on the FAA side.

 

I would also suggest carefully chosen words when explaning the nature of the flight’s intended purpose. Was it a Part 61/91 instructional flight or a Part 91 corporate flight, transporting company personnel or acquaintences for business purposes?

 

rickair7777, thanks very much for your advice, I appreciate the wisdom.

Mmm, neither? It was a part 91 flight, private carriage of the plane’s owner and his sons to a non-aviation business related conference. If I recall correctly, the plane’s owner (my boss’ friend) was a rated private pilot with an expired medical and a long time away from the stick. He needed a current and legal PIC, and I flew left seat, providing no instruction whatsoever unless you count answering the questions of their curiosities along the way as dual given.

 

Good point. If it came our or even appeared you were doing an unlicensed charter, that would be the end of the interview.

If you're not already, need to get smart on holding out, 91 vs. 135, and understand exactly how it applies to what you were doing.

 

Good grief. I cannot express adequately how much I love the code of federal regulations. I have always believed the flight to ATL was legal. In any case the flight where the quasi-deviation occurred would be categorized as a ferry flight, since when I left Atlanta I was the sole occupant after having dropped the plane’s owner and his sons in ATL for the weekend conference. I hung around long enough to bid them goodbye, then filed a new flight plan and took his plane back to the home field.

 

OK, I would try to avoid a discussion of what you were doing at ATL in the first place, unless you're sure it was legal and you can articulate why. Flight school owner having one of his CFI's fly a buddy somewhere is certainly not unheard of, but might or might not be legal under the circumstances. May have qualified for private carriage.

 

Flying the owner is private carriage so he’s good.
Can’t say I’ve never forgotten the HSI.
Find a way to make it a story you learned from without getting too caught up in de details.
Inexperienced with ATL, smallest airplane, felt rushed to help out ATC and flew the wrong heading.
That’s it.
You’re good bro, we’ve all made misstakes like that.

Since it’s story time, one day time building I got my bearings wrong and turned final RWY 36 thinking it was 18 and went eyeballs to testicles with a C310 that took off from the correct RWY18 at a non towered field.
There, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.