Lear Wanna Be
Presidentin' is hard
- Joined
- Feb 11, 2006
- Posts
- 599
Hey FreeFaller,
PM me and I can give you a lot of advice on this topic. I had a presidential TFR violation that everybody told me there was no use fighting. Well, I did anyway and I learned a lot about the FAA and how it works. In the end the FAA dropped the case.
NASA letter first, good. Wait for a phone call from the local inspector, might be as long as two months. Be pleasant and cooperate, but don't say anything that can be used against you. Talk to the inspector and try to do whatever it takes to get him not to send the case to the legal department. Say things like if we screwed up I don't want the FO to be violated. Beg if you have to and tell him you fear it will end your career. Tell him you will admit to the mistake if you can get a training session at the FSDO in lieu of a violation. If he says "no", then ask for a "letter of correction". Not sure if there is a difference in a letter of correction or a letter of warning, but I have always heard of LOCs. If it goes to legal, then make sure the first letter of proposed certificate action is within the 6 months of the date of the incident. An attorney will be able to get it dropped under the "stale complaint rule". Keep dragging it out. Once they send the letter that says that you have 30 days to appeal, then get right on that, but send and fax your appeal back with just a day or two left. This continues to drag it out. At this point you will be able to ask for discovery and you will be able to find out what evidence they have against you. Decision time now, because a hearing date in front of an admistrative NTSB judge will be set. You will lose and if they have not backed down, then give up. Besides, the only thing on the line is if the violation goes on your record.
The down side to dragging it out is that the FAA expungement program time period will not begin until the violation is entered into the final record. After 5 years I think it is, you don't have to tell anybody about it because it will no longer be on your record.
If this happened in the midwest, I know a couple of good lawyers. PM and I will be happy to share more details about this.
PM me and I can give you a lot of advice on this topic. I had a presidential TFR violation that everybody told me there was no use fighting. Well, I did anyway and I learned a lot about the FAA and how it works. In the end the FAA dropped the case.
NASA letter first, good. Wait for a phone call from the local inspector, might be as long as two months. Be pleasant and cooperate, but don't say anything that can be used against you. Talk to the inspector and try to do whatever it takes to get him not to send the case to the legal department. Say things like if we screwed up I don't want the FO to be violated. Beg if you have to and tell him you fear it will end your career. Tell him you will admit to the mistake if you can get a training session at the FSDO in lieu of a violation. If he says "no", then ask for a "letter of correction". Not sure if there is a difference in a letter of correction or a letter of warning, but I have always heard of LOCs. If it goes to legal, then make sure the first letter of proposed certificate action is within the 6 months of the date of the incident. An attorney will be able to get it dropped under the "stale complaint rule". Keep dragging it out. Once they send the letter that says that you have 30 days to appeal, then get right on that, but send and fax your appeal back with just a day or two left. This continues to drag it out. At this point you will be able to ask for discovery and you will be able to find out what evidence they have against you. Decision time now, because a hearing date in front of an admistrative NTSB judge will be set. You will lose and if they have not backed down, then give up. Besides, the only thing on the line is if the violation goes on your record.
The down side to dragging it out is that the FAA expungement program time period will not begin until the violation is entered into the final record. After 5 years I think it is, you don't have to tell anybody about it because it will no longer be on your record.
If this happened in the midwest, I know a couple of good lawyers. PM and I will be happy to share more details about this.
