Liar liar.

[Murmur 3,941]

http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle....E-PILOTS-DC.XML

[Byrna 0]

The article does not mention for which airlines these pilots flew. Isn't there any way for airlines to do a complete background check on all personnel, not just pilots, before officially hiring them? In today's insecure world, it's only logical if procedures are developed (or used if already developed) to do proper and detailed background checks.John

[rickalty 0]

It's actually very, very difficult to determine if someone has a medical condition if it's something that a) doesn't show up during an FAA medical, and :( they don't disclose. Imagine if you go to a psychiatrist and he determines that you suffer from mild schizophrenia and prescribes prozac for it. If you then apply for a pilots license and don't disclose the fact that you've been diagnosed with schizophrenia, how is even the most detailed background check going to find it out? There's no central database for every doctors appointment that every citizen ever attends - nor would the populace at large ever stand for such an intrusive violation of privacy anyway.The vast majority of the people found to have violated the rules were only PPL holders anyway - and a Class 3 is really a fairly cursory medical exam anyway. As for the few that held a CPL or ATP, well, if someone can pass an FAA Class 1 medical, I'd say they're probably fit to fly even if they did have, for example, a mild bout of childhood schizoprenia 30 years ago.As for failing to disclose prior convictions and them not being picked up on background checks, that's simply a mis-match between FAA regs and State criminal expungement rules. In CA if you get a conviction expunged it no longer shows up on a private employers background check, only on a law enforcement check. You can legally - under CA law - tell an airline that you're applying for a job with that you have no priors, and a background check will confirm that. Since the passage of the Patriot Act, however, applicants must disclose even expunged or juvenile convictions, and an FAA check will show them.I'm in the oil industry, and the same rules apply to people seeking coastguard clearances to work in tanker ports - we've had to fire one employee with over 20 years working for us without problems because when he was 16 he was convicted of having sex with his 15 yr old girlfriend (Whom he's been married to for close to 20 years now).When he was hired he claimed - legally - to have no prior criminal convictions, because juvenile convictions are sealed once you become an adult. Since the passage of the Patriot Act however, even juvenile convictions and those that have been expunged will show up in a USCG criminal records check, and a felony makes you ineligible to work in a secure facility, so we had to let him go - over 40 years old with his entire working life spent building a career in an industry that he's now banned for life from.Richard

[Byrna 0]

Hi Richard and sorry for late reply...It's a tragedy that your employee was fired for this so-called "juvenile" conviction - in fact it's alarming to say the least!But, even though I am not a doctor, my parents are and I studied Psychology. It seems to me that schizophrenia can be detected as it is a physiological (specifically, a neurophysiological) disorder. The FAA will have to expand its medical testing criteria and scope. But please, anyone in the medical field correct me if I'm wrong about schizophrenia being detectable...So, basically it may come to this: airlines will have to do very rigorous testing even if it costs lots of money because the consequences of an airline crashing with anywhere from 40-500 people on board will be disasterous, both in human terms and in money/legal action terms.When there is a will, there IS a way.John

[Guest danielwilliams]

If i were him, spending all that time and effort to become the pilot he dreamed of becoming, i would say F.OFF, im going somewhere else where these pathetic little acts cant ruin my life. *What would happen if he were a passenger on a flight, i,e with these certain officials on board (who came to the conlusion that a Professional career countryman with juvenile misdemeanors is a threat to society) and a problem happened in the cockpit and he was the only qualified person to land safely. Odds on these over paid and over powered idiots would do anything to get this guy to do his duty, and then probably get him arrested after landing for breaking the law. Thats like one of us not being allowed to go to University because i was sent out of class when i was 10 years old. What a total load of rubbish. If this guy has a good safety record and a squeeky clean record since his convictions, what is the d**n problem. The guy is married with kids, a family man, not some scum bag who cant live without thieving or taking drugs. The world today has gone mad. Its the pilots who drink alcohol before a flight that need a good kick up the a**, there are people out there dieing to be in their shoes and they treat well respected career people like criminals. Its cos they are jealous that some people have far more exciting jobs then what they have, so they got to invent these stupid rules to make them look important. Go back to the statement i made above.Sorry to hear about your friend by the way. Tragic circumstances, the dreaded government strikes again.