That is exactly what they are doing, but there is nothing shady about it really. FAR's are administrative law, which is not held to the same standards as criminal or civil law. The FAA can get away with things which would get them laughed out of a real courtroom.

The flip side to that is that all they can do to penalize you under admin law is to pull your tickets. For those few offenses which result in substantial penalties or jail time, they have to fall back on the FBI and the regular federal justice system...in which case all of the normal rules apply.

Bottom line: flying is a privilege, not a right and you don't get the same protections you would in other situations.

Here in California, it's outright illegal. And a recent Executive Order bans employees of the Federal government operating a Federal vehicle on official business from doing so.

The feds don't have the right to regulate texting while driving on a nationwide level. I guess you could make an argument about interstate highways and commerce...hmm...

I see..

Good explanation, thanks

According to the FAA website nothing has changed. Can someone point me in the right direction as to where the specifics of the changes are spelled out. This applies to several professional pilots that I know who have had past convictions, all more than ten years ago.

On the old medical form you only had to report convictions for DUI, or other admin actions.

On the new medical form you have to report convictions and arrests. This means there folks who had an arrest in the past which did not result in conviction will now have to report it. Presumably it won't be a big deal if it was a one time thing and happened a long time ago.

Maybe not, or maybe... You MAY have to get an assessment by an addiction specialist to ascertain whether or not you have a problem.

ALSO, if someone had a conviction in the past and DID NOT report it, they could be subject to certificate action.

That's always been true, nothing new. If you're in that boat, better talk to a lawyer before it catches up to you.

I don't think it is really fair to say because you get arrested for OVWI, means you have a problem. Having a problem are the people who are repeat offenders, new OVWI every couple amount of years. Those kind of people won't last in aviation anyways.