Hey Nick, I told you the paperwork better be right or else!
Thread Starter
Hey Nick, I told you the paperwork better be right or else!
I have been telling Nick our FAA being a vast federal bureaucracy thrives on paperwork and that as long as the paperwork was all in order you were in roses. I ran across this article this morning which confirms my position.
Ever Consider Lying To The FAA?
Student Pilot Gets Five Months In Prison
Whatever your reason may be ... A man who lied on his FAA application for a Student Pilot certificate was sentenced to five months in prison by a U.S. District Court in Winston Salem, N.C., earlier this month. Tony Cox, 45, of Burlington, N.C., was sentenced on a felony count of falsifying the application by failing to disclose a prior drug conviction for possession of cocaine. The Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated the case. The FAA assisted and provided key testimony in the trial and sentencing phase on implications for aviation safety from the offenses, the OIG said in a news release. Cox was also ordered to pay fines and assessments of $600 and to serve five months of home confinement following his prison term and a three-year term of supervised release.
...Despite Conventional Wisdom...
While it might be expected that felons can go to prison for aviation-related crimes such as selling bogus aircraft parts, many aviators presume that the penalty for lying on an FAA application would be the revocation of the certificate. However, Harry Hobgood, assistant U.S. attorney in the North Carolina case, said that pilots shouldn't be surprised that a lie could result in criminal charges. "Drug usage is a big deal to the FAA," he told AVweb. He said that Cox's omission was found in standard cross-checking of the application. "This was not a minor omission. This was about as egregious as it gets," he said. He said Cox had been in jail twice before on drug charges. "I think you can expect a lot more of this," Hobgood added, citing security concerns. "9/11 was a wake-up call."
...Prosecutors Will Prosecute
Since 1998, the OIG has won convictions in more than 150 cases related to aviation safety, with total fines assessed of more than $27 million. Those investigations generally fall into four categories: the illegal manufacture or distribution of aircraft parts that do not meet FAA standards; charges of falsifying airman or mechanic certificates; false statements regarding the condition of aircraft or filing false aircraft certifications; and shipping or allowing the shipping of hazardous materials by air without proper certification. The OIG lists a digest of its convictions online. Some examples from that list: A Texas pilot got three months in jail in February 2003 for lying about a past DUI charge on his airman medical application. A Florida man was sentenced to a 15-month prison term in April 2004 for piloting a plane without a legitimate airman certificate and flying a plane with an unapproved modification to its fuel system. Another Florida man received 13 months in prison in January 2004 for making and using forged documents to get a job as a flight instructor under an assumed name. Yet not all convictions result in prison time. In March 2004, a Florida man who lied about his previous criminal convictions on an FAA application was ordered to spend four months in a halfway house and was prohibited from participating in aviation activities for two years. In September 2003, a man whose FAA certificate had been revoked in 1998 after a federal conviction for drug trafficking was fined $500 in a Wyoming federal court for operating an aircraft without a pilot's certificate.
Ever Consider Lying To The FAA?
Student Pilot Gets Five Months In Prison
Whatever your reason may be ... A man who lied on his FAA application for a Student Pilot certificate was sentenced to five months in prison by a U.S. District Court in Winston Salem, N.C., earlier this month. Tony Cox, 45, of Burlington, N.C., was sentenced on a felony count of falsifying the application by failing to disclose a prior drug conviction for possession of cocaine. The Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated the case. The FAA assisted and provided key testimony in the trial and sentencing phase on implications for aviation safety from the offenses, the OIG said in a news release. Cox was also ordered to pay fines and assessments of $600 and to serve five months of home confinement following his prison term and a three-year term of supervised release.
...Despite Conventional Wisdom...
While it might be expected that felons can go to prison for aviation-related crimes such as selling bogus aircraft parts, many aviators presume that the penalty for lying on an FAA application would be the revocation of the certificate. However, Harry Hobgood, assistant U.S. attorney in the North Carolina case, said that pilots shouldn't be surprised that a lie could result in criminal charges. "Drug usage is a big deal to the FAA," he told AVweb. He said that Cox's omission was found in standard cross-checking of the application. "This was not a minor omission. This was about as egregious as it gets," he said. He said Cox had been in jail twice before on drug charges. "I think you can expect a lot more of this," Hobgood added, citing security concerns. "9/11 was a wake-up call."
...Prosecutors Will Prosecute
Since 1998, the OIG has won convictions in more than 150 cases related to aviation safety, with total fines assessed of more than $27 million. Those investigations generally fall into four categories: the illegal manufacture or distribution of aircraft parts that do not meet FAA standards; charges of falsifying airman or mechanic certificates; false statements regarding the condition of aircraft or filing false aircraft certifications; and shipping or allowing the shipping of hazardous materials by air without proper certification. The OIG lists a digest of its convictions online. Some examples from that list: A Texas pilot got three months in jail in February 2003 for lying about a past DUI charge on his airman medical application. A Florida man was sentenced to a 15-month prison term in April 2004 for piloting a plane without a legitimate airman certificate and flying a plane with an unapproved modification to its fuel system. Another Florida man received 13 months in prison in January 2004 for making and using forged documents to get a job as a flight instructor under an assumed name. Yet not all convictions result in prison time. In March 2004, a Florida man who lied about his previous criminal convictions on an FAA application was ordered to spend four months in a halfway house and was prohibited from participating in aviation activities for two years. In September 2003, a man whose FAA certificate had been revoked in 1998 after a federal conviction for drug trafficking was fined $500 in a Wyoming federal court for operating an aircraft without a pilot's certificate.
Thread Starter
Hey now Nick....is this not a "Don't ask...Don't Tell" Society we live in nowadays?
Me dear Mum thinks I play piano in a bawdy house....if she knew I flew helicopters for a living...why that would break the Old Dear's heart!
Besides....it was a Gorilla wearing a Tu-Tu, Clare-a-Bell the clown, and a 6'5" Pink Bunny Rabbit.....get the story right if you are going to tell it. I am the one that looks like a donkey.....in some respects.
Me dear Mum thinks I play piano in a bawdy house....if she knew I flew helicopters for a living...why that would break the Old Dear's heart!
Besides....it was a Gorilla wearing a Tu-Tu, Clare-a-Bell the clown, and a 6'5" Pink Bunny Rabbit.....get the story right if you are going to tell it. I am the one that looks like a donkey.....in some respects.
