rickair7777

Nope.

HIPAA probably prevents federal agencies from sharing or searching health records willy-nilly with no probable cause.

But there's no such proscription for FINANCIAL records.

So the FAA has arranged cross-checks with VA and SSA to match pilots who are getting federal disability payments. Then the FAA simply reviews your medical application to verify that you reported disability income. Box 18(y) was added to the form in the recent past, and there's a reason for that.

If you check "no" on 18(y) but are in receipt of disability income they now have probable cause for DOJ to investigate you for falsifying your 8500... they (DOJ) can get all your medical records at that point. Easy-peasy. They bagged a bunch of SSA disability recipients as well as some vets recently.

They could presumably do the same with state disability.

If you have an incident/accident then they would also be able to access health records as part of the investigation.

It's kind of like cheating on your taxes, "no big deal, everybody does it"... until you get on their radar and then it is a big deal.

galaxy flyer

Government does NOT like being lied to, across the spectrum from signing paperwork to be interviewed by a Federal officer, even not under oath. They’ll tolerate a lot, like illegals, but not fraud on the state. Look at the new rule about shutting orf ADS-B or transponder in efforts to hide an error, even if their wasn’t a violation.

Earthboundmsfit

All the while they lie to us constantly day in and day out. SMDH.....

dera

Not too bad I guess, Delta just hired a pilot who had an emergency revocation a few years ago for falsifying information.

Excargodog

Well, that would be one example out of 15,000. Do you like those odds?

TransWorld

I always say do you want to come through a narrow window or a wide open door?

LeakyStrut

Regardless of you having it successfully expunged and may not show up on a local Walmart job application process, you can be sure any employment had by the FAA are running federal background checks and yes it will show there even if it is expunged. That said, there are pilots flying that have had a DUI previously. Have you attended any sort of AA counseling, therapy that may have been court ordered or other things that can show good standard since the arrest? If so that may help you.

LampCommander

Having sorted everything out I would like to update my thread in case it will be of use to anyone in the future. I filled out my original 8500 when I was a student pilot and should have been more thorough. I mistook the form to say arrested AND convicted, not either or. Since there was no conviction, I checked no. Recently I was reapplying and read the form more carefully. Realizing my mistake I immediately sent in the admission form to the FAA and spoke to my AME. He issued me a new first class medical, we updated the 8500 to reflect my circumstances, and about two weeks later I got a letter from the FAA saying next time read the form more carefully. The FAA made the point of saying the DUI happened before I was certificated, which may have something to do with how lightly they responded. Moving forward I plan to hire a professional interview coach and beef up my resume with some community related events to try and minimize the impact this is going to have on hiring.

rickair7777

Glad to hear they were reasonable about it. It is a known fact that they tend to be less stringent with issues which occur *before* you became a pilot.

A certificated and active pilot might have gotten into some hot water in your situation, although it is a pretty easy mistake to make the way the form is written.