that is not in fact correct. From the UCMJ:




https://www.militarydefense.com/Prac...-Charges.shtml

https://www.militarytimes.com/2016/04/11/when-a-drug-test-leads-to-other-than-honorable-discharge/

https://www.mcmilitarylaw.com/court-martial-defense/drug-offenses/innocent-ingestion/

I’ll also add, you need an Honorable Discharge to be eligible for the R-ATP minimums at 750 hours. Without that you will have to wait until 1500 hours to get on at a regional.

Really wish I could argue that, but even after self identifying I’m still in a bad situation. Again, there’s a decent chance this all goes away quickly but I’m preparing for the worst.

Somebody can correct me if I’m wrong, but there was a thread somewhere saying a general discharge under honorable conditions still counts as honorable for the r-atp.

I get what you are saying but you should probably ask the Faa for clarification.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/61.160

“1) An official Form DD-214 (Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty) indicating that the person was honorably discharged from the U.S. Armed Forces or an official U.S. Armed Forces record that shows the pilot is currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces; and
2) An official U.S. Armed Forces record that shows the persongraduated from a U.S. Armed Forcesundergraduate pilot training school and received a ratingqualification as a military pilot.”

The “or” is huge! that’s why I said if you can get a reserve or guard assignment, you are “currently” serving. Many of us hold multiple discharges from active duty, guard, reserves, etc. It doesn’t say currently serving as a pilot but that the pilot is currently serving in the armed forces.

The key is to be currently serving or to hold an honorable discharge from your latest service.

You should also consider getting hired by a Regional that has a flow through agreement with its mainline!

Tough situation, and it can happen with edibles, etc all the rage thee days.

The catch-22 for this one....


Conventional wisdom on addressing ANY sort of adverse history/black mark at an interview is this:

1. Tell them succinctly what happened.
2. Accept FULL responsibility.
3. Tell them what you learned, and how it's made you a better pilot/employee/person whatever.
4. Shut Up. Wait for them to move on to greener pastures of conversation.


For #2 it's usually best just to take responsibility even if it truly was not your fault (which can happen since life is not always fair). But just taking responsibility regardless allows the interviewers to check the "resolved" box and move on. If they have to try to adjudicate who's telling the truth (you or the proper authorities in question), they're going to vapor lock and probably move on to other candidates... they have no way of definitively resolving that case.

If you were 17 and smoked some in HS, you could just confess. But you CANNOT confess to knowingly using illicit substances while a military officer and pilot... there's no coming back from that.

But you still need to follow the formula of 1-4. One idea there might be to accept responsibility for poor SA or not taking adequate precautions to avoid the risk of edibles, etc. Admit to going to parties where questionable activities occurred, dating a girl who used drugs, etc. That way you can show contrition and learn a lesson without admitting to a show-stopping error in judgement. Just an idea. Your chain of command backing you up with references would help with that.

If you tell them you have absolutely no idea how it happened, I suspect you're going to be in the "no possible definitive resolution" category.

As most of us here “decoded” the situation, expect any employment screen to light up with a short term post-UPT. I’d guess you’d have a difficult time getting to Talking Points 1-4 because of the screening. Anyone with service experience will be skeptical.

Funny related story. A friend was retiring from 30 years as an AD and Reserve F/E. Week or two before, his family had a party for him including baked goods brought by adult children. Oops, last UTA, gets drug tested and sweats out what was in the brownies. Test passed, good to go.

In the old days yes. But today the crap is everywhere, and folks think it will liven up the party if they serve stealth edibles (not knowing or caring about the ramifications for a few professions). So it could happen, not utterly implausible.

I find it quite plausible, even likely on some situations, but a resume with only a few hundred hours post-UPT and separation might well be passed by without a phone call to interview. I’m guessing here.

ive seen resumes with similar, but not identical highlights and dismissed them fairly quickly and that’s as a corporate chief pilot. Admittedly, biased.

Yes, I see your point. Might have trouble getting a call for a turbine job from any reputable employer other than regionals. But I think there's probably a path through the regionals (going to take time and PIC though).