Can a felon fly passenger planes?
 

Im not sure if this is the right place to post this. But i would like if someone who is more familiar with this question to be able to answer it. My question is, Can a non violent offender fly small passenger aircraft? This has been my dream since i was a child. And unfortunately i was convicted of felony 3 due to my immature conduct as a young adult. I have grown past the immaturity stages of my life and i have learned to think through decisions and instead of acting on impulse. And i would hope that not every dream i have in store for myself is shattered. Anyways, enough of the excuses.
Is it possible for me to be licensed and or certified to fly a twin piston aircraft for passenger transportation, tourism, banner flying, toe lifts, or skydiving?

Several hurdles here...

There are no limitations related to the Private Pilot and Commercial certificates. However, you also need a medical certificate to acquire and use these pilot certs. The FAA can and will review your criminal history and may choose to not issue a medical cert, or limit you to a lower class medical. They can also make you jump through a lot of expensive hoops on the way:

Class III: Required for non-commercial, recreational flying (ie private pilot)
Class II: Required for commercial flight operations, including airline co-pilots.
Class I: Required for airline captains and also to get hired by an airline (they generally don't hire people who are not eligible to be a captain someday).

Also, there is a regulatory requirement that holders of the Airline Transport Pilot certificate (required to be an airline captain and to get hired by many airlines) be of "Good Moral Character". This wording leaves the interpretation up to the FAA.

Additionally, all airlines and some other commercial operators who need access to secure areas of larger airports must pass a background list. There is a list of disqualifying crimes, which goes back 7 years:

TSA: Disqualifiers

Last, the Canadian government has recently tightened up on their entry requirements, basically banning entry for anyone with a felony conviction (which includes all DUIs in their minds). You can wait 5 years, and then pay a bribe to be allowed access if they think your crime was minor but no airline which serves Canada (the vast majority of them) will hire a pilot who does not possess an exemption to enter Canada.

Given one minor felony I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the FAA will allow you to have at least a commercial pilot/second class medical. I would contact an aviation lawyer BEFORE you fill out any FAA forms.

You might also contact these guys regarding the medical issue: http://aviationmedicine.com/

You can also get a Sport Pilot certificate which allows you to fly around in light single-engine airplanes for fun. There is no medical required and I doubt they would look too closely at one criminal conviction for that. Sport pilots cannot do commercial work.

But for commercial ops you need to find out how the FAA is going to treat your history. Then consider whether employers will be willing to hire you. That all depends on the crime in question...if it was child molestation, attempted murder, drug dealing, or something really bad then you will have trouble since this is a conservative industry. As far as airlines, that felony will make it very hard or impossible to get a job although if it's a minor felony (that most people would not think of as a serious crime) then you you might even be able to get an airline job after enough time has passed. It's good that you were young, hopefully under 20.

I am sure many can answer this better than I can, but as a Flight Operations Manager for a 135 outfit and also a Charter pilot, I will weigh in with my OPINION. The 121 world, I believe may be out of the picture, but not so much the 135 world. The catch all for you will be the ATP certificate. It requires the applicant to be of Good Moral Character, and I think a Felony conviction may stop you from ever holding that certificate, hence the jobs requiring it (Airline PIC) would be an no go. Now flying a light piston twin as a single pilot on a 135 certificate only requires a CMEL so you might indeed be able to do this if you can convince the "interviewer" someday that your mistakes are truely in the past. Of course you also have background checks to pass and these will vary. You may have to prove yourself, but with perserverance I am sure someone might take a chance on you someday. Remember the 135 industry is all about the contacts you make so keep your nose clean and make lots of them. Anyone else have thoughts???

To the both of you. I cannot thank you enough for your time and dedicated answers. I really appreciate your time in helping me. This gives me some hope. And through hope; gives me faith. However FAR 61.15 has me extremely concerned, Ill be honest here, my charge was a felony 3 manufacture possession with intent to deliver. And thats what will show on an extensive background check regardless of the fact that it was anabolic steroids :(
My next step will be to call the Flight standards division in regards to policy and regulations, which was referred to my by the FAA. And further more, an FAA medical adviser.

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This should be your next step for sure. You definately need to know if the FAA will even approve a medical before you invest money in flight training. Good luck to you and keep us informed, I suspect you have a very long very hard road ahead, but I dont think your dream of flying is totally impossible with some perserverance. Your honesty and openess shows you have taken ownership of your mistakes which is the first step. Also keep in mind that if you are turned down, it may eventually become a situation that after some time staying out of legal trouble, you may petition the State to have your record expunged. Again nothing is impossible but this may take a lot of time, I think your dedication to your dream will be tested.

I believe on the application for your pilot certificate there is a question along the lines of "have you ever been convicted of manufacturing or dealing of a controlled substance or schedule I, II, or III substance..." so that may also hinder you...for the love of god make sure everyone you get advice from knows it is steroids and not cocaine, meth, heroine, etc. That may weigh in your favor.

Honestly, better rule out airlines now. Who knows, maybe someday anything might be possible but you will have more than a few grey hairs before there is a remote chance with the airlines.


Do this first, BEFORE you fill out any FAA forms.

"..no airline which serves Canada (the vast majority of them) will hire a pilot who does possess an exemption to enter Canada."

Does or does NOT?

Does NOT is what I meant of course. Thanks.

Airlines possible
 

There are convicted felons flying for airlines. Most airlines will work out deal with Canada for their pilots to be allowed there. Although since you have more than one I am pretty sure you are disqualified from ever holding a ATP certificate if it was only once you could have a chance. There is no one that flys within my airline that has more than 1 felony. Although there are a lot of small carriers as stated above not needing an ATP start doing job searches the money isn't all that great but you get to still get payed to fly!