I want to know if I should purse a career in to being a pilot, the only issue I have is that 3 years ago I was charged with “attempted felony theft”. I was “20”. I’m very embarrassed but The story is that me and someone else were working in a warehouse and our boss at the time told us that a company left a bunch of bikes that he is gonna just get rid of, so we being stupid and young thought it wouldn’t matter if we took a bike for ourself’s and we put them in a corner for later. They never left the warehouse but got caught and I am glad I was caught because it could have been much worse. I’m very embarrassed, and disappointed in myself for this, of this and this is not who I am.
I wasn’t convicted, never entered any plea never admitted to anything in court, judge had me do a pre-trial Diverson, where I live it states a Diverson is not a conviction, and will be treated as the charge has never been filed. My case was dismissed and closed. I was never arrested just court ordered to do fingerprint. And in the process of having it expunged.
Would I have a chance at being and airlines pilot, this is the only thing I have on my record and I for sure learned from this as it was a scary, sad and Anxious situation I was in and was blessed with the second chance of not being convicted.
My goal is to attend aviation school and after that become a CFI, gain 1500hrs then move to the regionals and gain a bunch of experience then moving to the majors. Is it possible for me to purse my goals.
Welcome to the forum, my recommended steps you should take are below:
Step 1: Apply for a 1st Class FAA Medical and provide them with the documentation they need. The FAA takes criminal offenses seriously. Would you want someone that breaks the law to be in charge of passengers and multi-million jets?
If you can get a medical, then proceed as following:
Step 2: Reach out to recruiters and inquire based on the posting you posted here. Be honest, don’t sugarcoat things and maybe you’ll get answers you want, or didn’t want to hear.
Step 3: Take introductory flight to see if this is something you truly could see yourself doing.
Step 4: Do your flight school research, find financing, and tackle your dream.
Hey Brady, for question 18w it says any non traffic convictions on medexpress and I was never convicted. So I would be answering that question truthfully correct. Also in your experience do you think I would have a chance, if this was the only thing I’ve ever done, and I wasn’t convinced. In your opinion could I still be hired?
The airlines will ask if you’ve EVER been arrested of any crimes. They’re required to do a very thorough background check on all employees and it’s a Federal background check so there is no expunged. If in fact you’ve never been arrested, convicted etc you’ll be fine. If you haven’t you will have lied on your application and you’ll be fired immediately. There is no “I didn’t know, I thought it was OK, etc etc etc”. It’s really that simple.
Hey Adam, I was booked on a court order and just said to go to the jail for fingerprints but not arrested. Even if this was to come up would I have a hard time getting a job even tho not being convicted?
Typically airlines like to see at least 10 years of a clean record. By the time you complete training you’d be about 5 years since the incident. It also depends on how strong the rest of your application is in terms of how many checkride failures, quality of flight time and if you have a degree. If you can check as many boxes as possible, that will help increase your chances of getting hired.
Just keep in mind that it all depends on the hiring climate. If there are a lot of jobs and not a lot of pilots, they cant be too picky. However with less jobs and more pilots, airlines can be picky with who they hire.
I will disagree with my colleagues a bit here, I do not see this being as big of an issue for you. It does not sound like you will need to report it to the FAA and I think some of the airlines ask more targeted questions about convictions. I wold contact the recruiting departments of a few airlines and ask them directly.
I wasn’t convinced so even if I brought it up and told them it was dismissed and come forward telling how it’s changed my character for the good, and how this isn’t who I am nor want to be perceived as, and I’ve learned a tough but valuable lesson on think before your actions so I can be a good human to society and strive to reach my goals. As I know I’m a good person at heart and want everyone one around me to feel the same. That’s just something along the lines of how I’ve changed. Me not being convinced you don’t think they hold this against me in the hiring process when the time comes. Also my plan is to attend college and get a bachelors as well as getting all my licenses in aviation to make it to the airlines. And lesson learned never getting into a bad situation ever again. I also want to to thank you all for your feedback and your amazing services on this website.