Letter in Company File
 

Hello,

I had an incident a few years ago as an FO that resulted in nothing from the FAA (nothing in file or FOIA). However, I pulled my PRIA a few months ago out of curiosity and saw that the Letter of Instruction (LOI) I was given by my chief was in there. I was under the impression that it would just be kept internal, however that doesn't appear to be the case. Do these letters "go away" like some of the FAA ones do or are they permanent? If so, is this a career progression killer? I'm a captain now with 1,000+ PIC without any issues and I was just trying get get my ducks in a row before all this mess happened. I probably won't be moving on anytime soon, but a little clarity and peace of mind would help until I do.

Appreciate any help and thank you in advance.

If it's a company letter, it's up to the company how long they keep it. My guess would be it's permanent, employers need a paper trail to get rid of someone and would be loathe to ever give up that kind of leverage (just in case they ever need it).

As to how long it is subject to a PRIA inquiry, that should have a time limit for past employers, google the PRIA AC and read up on it.

But did you report the incident to airlines you've applied to?

Thanks Rick.

I found the AC and under 3.11(1)(2) it talks about it. In summary, I believe it says that a company can keep whatever records it wants forever, however, for PRIA reporting purposes it can only go back 5 years from the date of request.

I haven't applied to anybody since this happened and I wanted to get this sorted out before I did. Looks like now, due to unfortunate circumstances, I might be able to wait it out before applying. Lets say I did apply beforehand, would it be a big deal for legacies?

1. Think carefully before you apply... once you check a box like that you can never uncheck it (they may look at every change you ever make to your app}.

2. Just because PRIA stops reporting it doesn't mean it didn't happen. If you disclose it on an app, you can never take that back.

Even if you wait five years, there's still some risk if you lie about something like that... if they somehow find out. PRIA errors happen, I experienced that personally (my record included a bust that never happened, apparently a typo).

As to the impact... that depends on the circumstances of the event (and how you address it).