Becoming a pilot with an arrest...

[SeanAucoin]

hey nyc,

for the fbi background check can I just go to the local police to get the fingerprints needed?

sean

 

[NYCPilot]

hey nyc,

for the fbi background check can I just go to the local police to get the fingerprints needed?

sean

Not sure how to obtain them, but that might be a good place to start. Give them a call and explain your intentions. They should be able to help you from there.
Good luck and don't worry too much.

 

[SeanAucoin]

I just called, they'll do it free of charge and take care of sending everything over there for me!

Yea im not going to worry to much. as long as im upfront and explain the situation, its understandable. Ive talked to pilots who couldnt get hired in the regionals and they said corporate aviation overlooks charges for the most part. plus there are many other routes of aviation. i'll get there somehow. not a big deal!

 

[Metro752]

So when is someone going to say to find an older well known lawyer who knows judges. Pay him his fees, and get it all taken care of.

You didn't do ANYTHING wrong from what you said here, nothing should have ever came of it.

Quit posting here and get a lawyer. Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Cap Gun Man

 

[soarby007]

This is sounding to me like a pre-trial diversion. Call the clerk of the court or go see the judge's clerk and ask the simple question. "have I been convicted of anything?"....or call the officer. Often times on minor offenses the judges will allow the defendant to complete some type of service and after successful completion, dismiss the charges, ergo, leaving no record of conviction. There would be a record of arrest and that doesn't go away, but that doesn't necesarilly ruin you.

Most of the time this applies to individuals of a more youthful nature, i.e. under age 26. It is a rather simple matter to check one's own criminal record at the sheriff's office or police department. By the way, did you have a lawyer during this ordeal? You could hardly be convicted of anything other than a misdemeanor without a lawyer these days. Most judges require it

You need to keep aware of what you are doing in a courtroom buddy and ask questions of the right people, not a web site.

 

[Snakum]

It is NOT a conviction. I belive that if you viloate these terms by being arrested within this period of time you will be convicted of the lesser charge agreed upon. Otherwise, if you stay clean it is technically "sealed" and you can legally state that you were never arrested.

This is directly and clearly in complete opposition to what I was told, and shown, by a Federal Agent who works for the FAA conducting background checks. I will say it one last time ... if you have ever, at any time in your life, been arrested for a felony offense, regardless of the eventual disposition of the case, the FAA will see it and they will chase down further info on the charges. And from everything I have heard from those who've been there-done that (two pilots fired in ground school, one fired after many years with Comair.), this same thing applies to the airlines. Ask Surplus1 about his friend who was told there'd "be no record". All his years of service at Comair down the drain. Ask the guys at Mesaba and at Chautauqua who were told that "the record will be sealed" and were then pulled out of groundschool and fired when the BGs came back.

The question is always "Have you ever been arrested for an offense punishable by blah blah blah ..." or something similar. There are never any stipulations. It is always, always crystal clear.

You guys do what you want, though. Who knows ... maybe you'll skate through.

Minh

 

[soarby007]

You are exactly right Snakum.

 

[A Squared]

However, to the best of my knowledge it is illegal to ask the question in the first place.

Not true, or at least not generally true. A few states have laws against asking about an arrest record. Massachusetts is one. There is no Federal law forbidding asking about arrest records. Asking about arrests could be considered racial discrimination, which is illegal. Apparently some racial groups may have higher arrest rates than others, and asking that question could be construed as discriminating against members of one of the more arrest prone groups, rather than discriminating agains people who do illegal things. Your federal court system at work. Asking about arrests is not, per se, a vioaltion of federal employment law.

 

[A Squared]

IF you complete the coumminty service and stay out of trouble for the period of time (6 months) it will be as if it never happened. It is NOT a conviction. I belive that if you viloate these terms by being arrested within this period of time you will be convicted of the lesser charge agreed upon. Otherwise, if you stay clean it is technically "sealed" and you can legally state that you were never arrested.

You're confusing conviction with arrest here. regardless of how things went after the arrest (convicted, dismissed, deferred adjudication, reduced, sealed, expunged, whatever) you were still arrested. If the question is asked, the answer is yes. Otherwise you may find yourself being booted out of groundschool like Snakeum's friends.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

Interesting thread. I was driving home from work a while back and I came up on this cop standing beside the hood of his car pointing what appeared to be a gun directly at me. At first it scared the hell out of me, then as I got a bit closer I realized it was just his radar gun. The way that he was standing there aiming it at me made it appear differently though. I thought about persuing it as it didn't seem like proper procedure, but I never did.

 

[ms6073]

Often times on minor offenses the judges will allow the defendant to complete some type of service and after successful completion, dismiss the charges, ergo, leaving no record of conviction. There would be a record of arrest and that doesn't go away, but that doesn't necesarilly ruin you.

While I understand everyones points concerning arrest records and convictions, I am confused by the advice with regards to the orginal posters situation. Since when did it become a criminal offense to be in posession of a cap gun even if it is a dead ringer it is still a non-firing replica that does nothing more than make noise?

It seems obvious to me that the orginal poster incurred some form of court supervised diversion or adjudication for an offense but I want to know why? Unless there is something we are not hearing from the orginal poster, such as unauthorized entry onto private property, I do not see how any crime has been committed (did they need permits to film maybe), and thus there should not have been a need for court interdiction or community service! Why was the case not dismissed outright and the arrest record expunged?

 

[A Squared]

Since when did it become a criminal offense to be in posession of a cap gun even if it is a dead ringer it is still a non-firing replica that does nothing more than make noise?

mere posession, no. However, I think (and some of the folks who are more up on criminal law can chime in) if you have a replica and you use it in a threatening manner, it is assault. Say you had a really real looking 1911 (glock, patterson colt, whtever) replica and you ran down the street shoving it in people's faces, tellimg them you were "going to bust a cap in thier A$$", It would be a felony assault, even though the gun wasn't real.

It seems obvious to me that the orginal poster incurred some form of court supervised diversion or adjudication for an offense but I want to know why? Unless there is something we are not hearing from the orginal poster, such as unauthorized entry onto private property, I do not see how any crime has been committed (did they need permits to film maybe), and thus there should not have been a need for court interdiction or community service! Why was the case not dismissed outright and the arrest record expunged?

Agree, I think we're not getting the whole story. If it really was a cap gun, and he really wasn't pointing it at the guy, and he really was involved in some reasonably legit activity like filming a video clip for a class project (as opposed to just hanging out on the street corner waving the cap-gun around for no apparent reason) It would be a no brainer, dismiss the charges completely, let the guy go, wipe the slate clean, to the extent that can be accomplished ... whatever extent that is. Seems like there's more to the story than is being told.

 

[mflyer]

Anything is possible!

I know guys that have been hired by the commuters for having DUI's...And a guy who stole an airplane (not the most recent idiot) that has been hired by several coporate departments!! So anything is possible, I don't want to give you false hopes but all boils down to who you know.

 

[erj-145mech]

This hasn't happened post 9-11, the TSA is involved now, so you know that its going to be fubar.

 

[SeanAucoin]

The cap gun did look like a real gun, its similar to what a squared said, its still assault with a dangerous weapon. the reason we were arrested was the guy we pointed it at was an off duty cop, So he naturally radioed it in. If I could bring you all there then you would understand that we clearly wernt pointing it at him. he just happened to drive by. He was new on the force and officers said he was probally just trying to get his name know. his response was "I felt threatened for my life, it looked like a chrome plated semi-automatic pistol" haah clearly there was a hugeee bright orange tip at the end. Anyways that is why they reduced it to just assault, cuz clearly it wasent a dangerous weapon. then after the assault reduction. I just did 30 hours of services as a disposition for the judge to learn my lesson. I called my lawyer today here is what I got...

-no felony conviction
-no midemeanor conviction
-no criminal record
-yes I did get arrested for a felony (assault with a dangerous weapon)
-the case ended on a disposition for the judge to have my learn my lesson, on the disposition of the case paper they actually put in a box next to where it says "case dismissed" and put some custom wording...

Im off to pack for florida...suppose to be leaving saturday morning to ft lauderdale. Hopefully wilma dosent kill the trip..

thanks for all the posts on this subject!