ItsSeth

Hi everyone,

I'm 32 years old and have a past drug addiction history (opiates). I had a couple of misdemeanor arrests which were dropped to Disorderlies. I also had a felony arrest that was reduced to an "aiding and abetting possession" misdemeanor, for which I received four years of probation.

In the six years I've been clean off drugs and alcohol, I went back to school, got my law degree and am now a practicing attorney in NY (real estate). I live decently, but it's not the life I envision for myself.

I always wanted to be a pilot. My girlfriend recently got me an introductory flight and I'm hooked. I know I want to get a license and fly for fun, but was seriously wondering if I could parlay it into a career. I know my past would create a hill to climb (as it did when I was seeking admission to the bar), but I wasn't sure if it was so much a hill as an impassable mountain. With regards to my moral character, I'm trusted to cut checks from an escrow account holding $10MM of other peoples' money, so I think that looks pretty solid.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thank you!

PS: Don't go to law school.

IDIOTPILOT

Since you're the lawyer, I'll let you read the exact legal stuff. 49 CFR 1542.209 covers what automatically disqualifies you. It has "(23) Distribution of, or intent to distribute, a controlled substance."

https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/49/1542.209

You mention six years clean, but not if it was more than 10 years ago. There may be jobs as a pilot that don't require this check, but anything involving an airline certainly would. It would take years to gain the certificates and hours for a job anyway so may not mean that much.

Rama

You may be better off getting an airplane and using as a business write-off.

rickair7777

He was arrested for this but not convicted. If all his convictions are for misdemeanor possession then he has no issues with a SIDA.

The real issues here are...

1. FAA aeromedical takes a dim view of addiction. You'll probably want to talk to an aviation medicine consultant about the best way to apply for a an FAA first class medical. I strongly suggest that you do not apply for any medical before you get professional advice.

2. Regional airline perception. The good news is that you cleaned up and have been pretty successful for a number of years. Normally I think they'd prefer to see ten years of good history but given the industry situation and your personal situation I'm confident that at least some, if not most, regionals would hire you.

3. Canada. Most or all jet regionals will need you to be able to enter Canada and will not hire you if you can't. Canada has some funny border laws, even a plain-vanilla DUI will bar you from entry. You'll need to find out if your convictions will be an issue for Canada. If so, you'll have to wait five years from (I think) completion of sentence and then you can apply for "rehabilitation" which allow entry into Canada. That means you pay a bribe to the government which will then deem you worthy of entry.

4, Major airline perception. There's a good chance that no decent major will ever hire you due to that background. Has nothing to with whether they believe you're reformed but rather how your history will play out in the media (and courtroom) if you were to be involved in an accident. Dick Quest would be comparing you to Wesley Snipes on CNN. Given the likely impending pilot shortage anything is possible, but I don't think it would be prudent to bet on the majors. If you would not be satisfied staying at a regional I would not recommend the airline route.

There are of course non-airline aviation jobs, some of which are not too picky about pilot backgrounds.

Bozo the pilot

Youre young and have a good job. If you want to fly for an airline, start now with your private pilots license. If you love it, get your instrument/commercial and CFI. By then, more years of clean living and clean background checks will pad the past and anything is possible. I started very late and fly for a major- pm me if you want to talk to a late-in-life pilot who never thought he'd get here. Good luck man.

TiredSoul

Lot of things you can do in aviation that does not involve flying for an Airline.
70% of people that start a PPL training course don't finish.

Think Civil Air Patrol and Angel Flights. You'll do something satisfying with a purpose.
You're too much of a liability for an Airline.
Sorry......