Having a DUI period, let alone one after you start your flight training shows a serious lack of judgement. I would hope Skywest or any other airline would show more sense than hiring someone like your friend.

 

I recieved a DUI in 2006. I have spoken with recruiters from virtually every regional, even interviewed at one. I can tell you that at 2900/130 hours, a bachelors degree, no checkride failures, and being a jet mechanic in the guard, I can not get anyone to hire me. Most of them do not have a problem with the DUI itself since its been 5 years, its not being able to go to Canada that they have the problem with. This must just really mess with their schedules because I've talked to recruiters, chief pilots and even a CEO's and everybodies hands are tied.
Your friends options are:
(1) apply for a temporary resident permit if it is less than 5 years old. This option however is the least likely to result in success, especially since it was recent. A single entry TRP is hard to get, a multiple entry even harder.
(2) after 5 years, apply for crimminal rehabilitation. From what I here this is much easier than the TRP, but can cost any where from 200 to 1000 dollars if you do it yourself.
(3) after 10 years you are considered rehabilitated.

The time starts after the end of your sentence, so if your friend is on probation, he'll have to wait 5 years from the end of his sentence. Keep in mind that once you are elegible to apply for these, there is a lot of leg work, ie police certificates from every city you've lived in since 18. And once you do submit the paperwork it can take them a while to process it. I just recieved a letter from the Canadian consulate in Seattle and they said their processing times are for criminal rehabilitation is 3 years.

All the information is on the Canadian government website under criminal inadmisability. Of course if you have anymore questions you can let me know.

I was fortunate to land a CFI job with a company that actually pays good in 2008 right before things went south. I've been there 3 and 1/2 years and since my 5 years won't be up until Jun 2012, I'm trying to get on with a part 135 company to build my turbine time, and getting my ATP/737 type in february. With any luck in two years I'll have the minimums to apply for the majors and the Canada issue resolved. Yes I am well aware the majors are a long shot but if they won't take me, a regional will. Anyhow my point is you might need to come up with a plan like that.

I have recieved job offers from two airlines that fly EAS routes, and at least three regionals have told me to contact them as soon as I recieve the Canada waiver. If you want it bad enough, there is a chance you can make it, but it will take a while.

 

Thanks for sharing, very interesting. I have no stake is this personally, as I am at a regional now, but it is nice to get an insightful response. Pilots helping pilots. Not trying to play down the gravity of the situation, but if a person is able to better their judgement and move on, good for them. I hate to see this world become one strike and you're out.

 

This^^^^^^^

 

BINGO! What ever happened to "live and learn"? Yes, people make mistakes. Smart people learn from them.

The way DUIs are so liberally issued these days, you can't really say, without a doubt, that it reflects poorly on one's judgment. I've heard of people getting a DUI on a bicycle! To me, riding a bicycle home from the bar actually shows good judgment as opposed to driving.

Or, how about the guy who thinks he is okay to drive home. As soon as he gets in his car, he decides it isn't a good idea, and decides to sleep it off in his car. 1 hour later, a cop shows up to find him sleeping, wakes him up, does a sobriety test, and issues a DUI under the guise of "operating" the vehicle.

Don't take this as a defense for drink and drivers, because it isn't. I'm just offering the perspective that many DUIs are bogus, for lack of a better term. First offense, depending on the severity, shouldn't be treated so harshly. Repeat offense, throw the book at them, and then some.

Just my $0.02.

OP, good luck with your situation.

 

Apply and find out. As stated many times before, the worst they can say is no.

 

100% incorrect, not a chance in hell with a recent DUI.

SKW of all places might actually be understanding, but they cannot send you to Canada with a DUI for at least 5 years.

With a seniority-based scheduling system (like all airlines) it would be totally non-feasible to accomodate the needs of a pilot who cannot fly many of their trips. They already have enough guys with that problem who were already employed when the cannucks came up with the rule.

Only shot will be with a small, non-jet commuter which does not fly to Canada.

 

You are 100% incorrect. There are guys there that can attest to that.

 

I heard the same thing - this was discussed by someone at the ASA interview center. I think there is a long process you have to go through with the canadian authorities to get cleared to enter, and that is pretty much a pre-requisite for any airlines operating into Canada. I'd advise your friend to find out what issues this poses and start working on getting access to Canada now, so that he can at least say that he's taken the initiative and it's in progress when he applies.

 

Ehaeker - I disagree. I think a DUI does show, without a doubt, a major lapse in judgement. Granted, not everyone who gets one is blackout-drunk behind the wheel. But it doesn't take blackout-drunk to kill yourself. All you have to do it be buzzed enough to not notice a red light or stop sign, and you could kill / maim / cripple a whole family or worse.

In your example of a cop waking up someone sleeping behind the wheel to give them a DUI, I don't think that's even possible (assuming the COP isn't breaking the law). Sitting in a parked car isn't "operating" a motor vehicle. The crime is "driving" while intoxicated, not sitting in a stationary object. Even if this was the case, he/she could have made better arrangements that wouldn't have put him/her in that situation in the first place. How about just having good enough judgement not to get so drunk you would need to sit in your parked car to sleep it off?

You are going to have a really hard time coming up with any scenario in which getting a DUI was the result of good judgement or decision-making. Now, whether it's possible to change your attitude, atone for your mistake, and be reliably professional in the future is much more debatable. But if you are going to try to argue that getting a DUI doesn't always indicate poor judgement and decision making at the time it happened, I just don't think you have a case.

These facts are always (or so nearly always that there is no distinction) true:

1) You got behind the wheel of something that can kill people, knowing you could put someone's life at risk
2) You did it knowing it was illegal to do so
3) You did it knowing the huge risk to your career aspirations
4) In spite of the above, you did it anyway.

If you are someone hiring at an airline, you'd have to think the following:

1) Someone with a DUI is much more likely to have problems with alcohol abuse or dependency than someone without.
2) Someone with a DUI is much more likely to exhibit poor judgement, risk management, attitude towards risk-taking, etc than someone without.
3) Someone with a DUI made a decision that put his/her immediate desire to drive somewhere ahead of the elevated risk of killing/injuring himself or others.

That doesn't sound like someone you want in your cockpit. No?