Expungement is a state court notion. The FEDS never expunge anything. They can find it. I'll bet that attorney does NOT practice in Federal Court.
So your advise is to lie on an affidavit?
Sure, in the exact same way that Feds delete your NICS info.
No you don't. There are innumberable private databases out there and Any ONE of them can have the offense in it. And FAA can use any one as evidence.
The above is complete bull. Most states don't have such an expunction of convictions. At most you get sealing, which is an agreement not to disclose the conviction to most inquiries, but the FAA can see them. In fact, I'm not sure of what state you are envisioning that has that level of expunction for adult convictions. The complete expunction as you describe is typically only available (if at all) for arrest records in the case of charge dismissal or findings of innoncence.
It certainly is not HEARSAY. You have no idea what the legal definition of hearsay is. Further, even something legally characterized as hearsay can be made admissible.
The fact that a record the FAA wants doesn't exist doesn't get you a free pass. Believe you me, I've had medical records go lost and the FAA still wanted to see them. The FAA may take other information instead.
I answered that above.
No, that's not what expungement does, particularly in the state where you live. In North Carolina, expungement is a statutory remedy which can be used to clear official records of a conviction of certain crimes (primarily nonviolent misdemeanors and lower-level nonviolent felonies, with some specific exceptions) after a certain period of time (10 years for a felony; 5 years for a misdemeanor).
Depends on the state. In NC for example, the charge is removed as well as the police reports about it.
Negative. That does NOT happen here. Public disclosure is blocked, but the charges are still available to the state (notably LEO and the prosecutors) and likely the feds.
Nonsense. The FAA doesn't care if you were expunged or not. They want to know if you have psychological or other issues that the criminal charges were a manifestation about.
If you say so. I'll stick with my reading of the statute if you don't mind. There are, of course, exceptions and limitations. I'm pretty sure I said that earlier. I'm sticking with the general description here, not discussing it in depth with one of my clients or getting into some of the availability changes which occurred last year.
The question should be, if one doesn't disclose expunged (or juvenile) records, does the FAA have Right to Access rights to those records.... PERIOD! Juvenile records in all states and federally are not criminal.... PERIOD. The question is, Right to Access. Find out what piece of legislation the FAA can use to access expunged records and juvenile records. Federal and State laws explicitly states that a juvenile not tried as an adult may answer NO to criminal background questions. PERIOD. You shouldn't ask pilots ANY legal questions. If one voluntarily discloses something then that is something else....
If it happened, it happened. No changing that. It's still nice to have an order from a judge saying it's legal to pretend it never happened. That's useful for many things, just not necessarily for keeping the FAA happy.
One inquiry from the Government and the record is released to the government.
Since the thread has been revisited, I'll update my almost 6 year old post with a case the NTSB decided in 2021. Finally, there was a case presented where there actually was an expunction. There was a whole bunch of other stuff going on, but In that one, the pilot answered "no" on the 18.w. question about other convictions because there was an expunction. The full NTSB upheld the emergency revocation of the pilots certificates. AFAIK, there was no appeal, so the federal courts have not weighted in on the FAA question. The one door left partially open is whether the pilot who answers incorrectly can avoid an intentional falsification claim if the "no" was on advice of counsel.
Now the NTSB expects airmen to read the medxpress instructions? Does it know the devastating effect that would have on the traffic in this forum?!
My comment was mainly geared towards juvenile records. Yes, expunged records can be found and FAA does fall under the blanket as entities that have Right of Access to those records... HOWEVER, juvenile records..... I say they don't and furthermore one would answer correctly by omitting that information on their medical form.
I don't think the question of juvenile history and the FAA has come up (at least not in the cases I've read). You make a good point with respect to 18.w. since the question specifies "conviction(s) (misdemeanor or felonies)" Under state law, a delinquency adjudication may or may not be defined as a conviction of any type. Even federal criminal law recognizes a distinction. For an analogy, it was never an area I practiced in extensively, but delinquency is not a "crime" under federal immigration law. You can read one of the cases, Matter of Devison, here.
