I got reported to the FAA (not a ******* Satire)

Hang 4 said:
Not a lawyer and agree with the comments that you might need one. Given the very specific point they have brought up - Facebook post, I'd suggest not trying to say you are well known jokester. i.e. don't bring up your videos etc. "Yes sir, I posted in FB, it was a joke, I don't instruct, someone missed the joke. Sorry, I'll be more careful going forward." Don't give any information not asked for.
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Yup. Whatever you do, unless they bring up the videos, don't point the FAA towards them.

So far this sounds like an inspector who has to get a manila folder from one side of his desk to the other. Yes sir, this was joke, no sir I have never provided flight instruction to anyone.

Not sure its worth getting lawyered up for this.
 
The worst part of all this is we may not get to enjoy any more of your satire videos! They're really quite fun to watch.
I don’t think much will come of the FB complaint, so just show’em what they want and be done with it. Good luck!
 
What Jesse and Mark said.

SCCutler said:
As noted above, the FAA investigator is required to conduct the investigation - it is not discretionary. This is universally true throughout the various administrative agencies.
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Agree. I can tell stories, but not online. What I will say is that this whole thing is a result of our regulatory state. Deep state, if you prefer. And no, I'm not being political: the problem with the whole thing is that the more regulations there are, the more they need to investigate even specious claims. And they are out looking for them. The kinds of sarcasm you use, Bryan, would potentially rise to fifth amendment issues under criminal law, but under regulatory law, the agency has great discretion - yeah, you can fight it, but it will cost lots and lots of money. Just ask Bob Hoover, or the guy who got gigged for having Q-tip prop, or... Or....

Certain Federal regulatory folks have been known to compete with each other to see how many violations they can write up. I am NOT suggesting that this guy is, but it has happened elsewhere.

Oh, and Happy Birthday. With a Y.
 
Brad Smith said:
The worst part of all this is we may not get to enjoy any more of your satire videos! They're really quite fun to watch.
I don’t think much will come of the FB complaint, so just show’em what they want and be done with it. Good luck!
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I am not going to change anything I do because someone got twisted.
This is just one more part of the narrative. If I had actually received $ for flight instruction, well one, I wouldn't have posted it, and also, I would have removed a lot of things from the web.
Also I wouldn't be working on my "I got reported video"


The real question is in the video, do I put the FSDO number at the bottom of the screen in the scene where I am having a "beer" in flight?
 
I got a call from FSDO last winter. They were asking me why I aborted a take off. Told them I had no indication of airspeed when I was ready to rotate. He said good call end of discussion.

Sorry you are being investigated for a lame reason..
 
rtk11 said:
I think you should ask if you have any rights to know who is bringing these allegations against you. See if you can find out who the humorless, “sad sack of an excuse for a human being” is who reported you for your post.

There is nothing you can do at this point other than to do exactly what you’re doing - demonstrate that it was posted as sarcasm, that you have a YouTube channel of sarcastic videos, that you’ve been recognized for your sarcasm, and clearly the post was made in jest, but clearly someone misunderstood, and any further posts of the like will be followed by a disclaimer.

Sorry to read of the hassles, Bryan.
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Don't use the word sarcasm....highly negative perception. Use satire instead. Yes, a minor and to some irrelevant difference, but "satire" is protected speech, under certain circumstances, and "sarcasm" isn't.
 
tawood said:
By the way, how are you supposed to prove something is NOT happening? Seems to me its up to them to prove it IS happening.
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Sorry, FAA isn't a court of law. With the FAA you are guilty first, then maybe with a good lawyer, the FAA decides you're not guilty.
 
Eff that.

Tell them it's not illegal to teach people if you don't take money or log it and dare him to prove you are.

And it helps to insult his mother, wife, kids and general family lineage.
 
Welcome to the 21st century! I'm seeing more and more of this kind of behavior. The whole "anti-bubba", knee-jerk, reactionary do-gooder mentality that says, "I know whats best for you!" is really beginning to **** me off.

I recently posted a short video clip of me doing a wingover in my little Sonerai, doing a wingover (a wingover fro crissake!). I wound up with several people (one in particular) that seemed to be triggered over the fact that I wasn't wearing a parachute. When I pointed out that there is no requirement for me to wear a parachute, they were concerned that I was setting a poor example.

I see this same sort of "I'm not happy till you're not happy" mentality spilling over into just about every aspect of life these days.
 
murphey said:
Don't use the word sarcasm....highly negative perception. Use satire instead. ..."satire" is protected speech, under certain circumstances, and "sarcasm" isn't.
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This; also, answer the questions being asked. Don’t offer anything else up, kind of like the oral—you can talk yourself into more trouble by bringing up things unrelated to the complaint.

The complaint centers around one post on a specific Facebook group. Anything you bring up that’s not specific to that post and that specific group opens up a fishing expedition since you brought it up.
 
murphey said:
Don't use the word sarcasm....highly negative perception. Use satire instead. Yes, a minor and to some irrelevant difference, but "satire" is protected speech, under certain circumstances, and "sarcasm" isn't.
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But his videos are really more of a parody.
 
weilke said:
Yup. Whatever you do, unless they bring up the videos, don't point the FAA towards them.

So far this sounds like an inspector who has to get a manila folder from one side of his desk to the other. Yes sir, this was joke, no sir I have never provided flight instruction to anyone.

Not sure its worth getting lawyered up for this.
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The lawyer is an insurance policy. A cheap insurance policy to avoid worst case situation.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Yes it does. It's a, if not the, major part of PBoR:

(1) In general.-Except as provided under paragraph (3), the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration (referred to in this section as the 'Administrator') shall provide timely, written notification to an individual who is the subject of an investigation relating to the approval, denial, suspension, modification, or revocation of an airman certificate under chapter 447 of title 49, United States Code.​

What he most likely got is a "Letter of Investigation." The very fist thing the FAA Order on the enforcement process says about Letters of Investigation is:

a. Contents of the Letter of Investigation.
(1) PBR Notification. If the recipient of the LOI is an airman (and the apparent violation may result in legal enforcement action against an airman certificate), then the LOI will include appropriate notice under the PBR, as described in paragraph 4.b., above.​

I guess it's time for me to do another enforcement seminar in North Carolina.
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The investigation is carried out under subpar B. PBOR only applies to actions taken under parts C, D and E.

Was I reading outdated text?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
He says "I get it but My job is to investigate these things and if I don't investigate it, there is no need for me to have a job"

.
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Wow he actually came out and said that? It's true but I didn't think they usually admit it.
 
Half Fast said:
Good idea. Put white-out over the entry before you show the logbook to the investigator.
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Boy they'd have a field day with my logbook, as it really does have a lot of white-out...my instrument instructor was constantly making mistakes in my log, then whiting them out...
 
tawood said:
Boy they'd have a field day with my logbook, as it really does have a lot of white-out...my instrument instructor was constantly making mistakes in my log, then whiting them out...
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That’s why mine is in pencil.
 
did u post anything on the texas fb page asking who the d!ckless wonder is?
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
"I can teach you but I am not a CFI so it won't be legal which is why I have a cash only, under the table policy but I'm good "
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Sorry about the investigation, and this is not a defense of over-regulation in any way, but reading this carefully, I can see how someone might have mis-interpreted this. The smiley could have been thought to mean the writer is happy about being good and getting cash only.

Hopefully the investigator knows it is a joke, as stated, and this will be over quickly. Hopefully also makes the subject of a funny video. Keep em up, they are quite entertaining!
 
eman1200 said:
did u post anything on the texas fb page asking who the d!ckless wonder is?
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No.
The admins are looking into it.
The thread was deleted (it went off the rails for a few other reasons)
They have found the date of the deleted thread and several people that were removed from the group at the time.

I think they are putting too much effort into it.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
So there I was (Its my birthday and I am full of Dogfish Head 120 so bare with the lack of continuity)
I started a new job on Wed and on day 1 I was all "awe yeah whose you're IT Director?"

3/4 through the day, I get a phone call and the # is not one I know but it is local so I answer.

A dude says "This is Ad*m H*nderson (that could be any name) from the North Texas FSDO"
My first thought is that @EdFred is jacking with me.

I go "sure dude! what's up?"

He says "I can't talk to you. I need to send you an email, you need to respond that you have received and understand it and then you can call me back and we can talk"

I am so stoked that EdFred is going to email me a photo of his junk.

BUT..... I check my email and I see this message from A*dam Hende*son @ FAA.Gov

WTF???????????????????????????????????????

2 attachments.

First was this:

View attachment 68293


The second attachment was a Bible of information but this was what mattered:.

View attachment 68294


"I may be receiving compensation for acting as a flight instructor"

WTF????????????????????

I have NEVER even taken anyone's pro-rata share of fuel for a flight.

I called the guy back expecting him to tell me someone claimed I was making instructional videos and maybe getting paid from youtube ads or something.

Sit down now...

He says this:

"a member of an aviation related facebook group took a screenshot of a comment you made and sent it to the FAA so we need to investigate"

I asked "what was the comment?"

Someone posted on a Texas pilots facebook group asking "can someone recommend a local CFI to teach me to fly?"

I responded:

"I can teach you but I am not a CFI so it won't be legal which is why I have a cash only, under the table policy but I'm good :) "

Someone sent that to the FAA and now I have to take my logbooks, cert, medical, etc to the local FSDO and some explain that I am not receiving money for flight instruction.

I don't care so much about having to go through the motions but I can't believe the FAA takes seriously a FB comment and I think whomever reported me is a pathetic spineless p*ssy.

Why do they want my logbooks? What currency requirements are there for facebook posts?
I could see if they saw a video of me flying through a cloud or something but this is NOT aviation related at all.

I will go to the FSDO next week and I will play nice but this is ********
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Congrats on the Birthday and your new job.
Sorry about the FAA problem. You should always end your joke with BAZINGA!!
 
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Just me. . .lawyer is going with me, and my Senator and Congresman are getting a call, and a check. Don't aplogize, and don't acknowledge any "tone it down" advice from the ASI. If he's smart, he won't give you any.
 
Palmpilot said:
I doubt that it's a good idea to "dare" the FAA to do something, but I do know that CAP has non-CFIs teaching CAP cadets on a frequent basis. They don't get paid for it, and I'm pretty sure that it's not logged as dual given or received.

https://www.gocivilairpatrol.com/programs/cadets/parents/cadet-orientation-flights/
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Funny, but 'm not a CFI and I fly EAA Young Eagles and about to be signed off to fly ORides with cadets. Do I provide instructions as per the FAA definition of a CFI? Nope. But I do explain the flight controls and allow the YEs and down the road the cadet, to fly the airplane under my direction as the PIC. Yes, there are CAP CFIs, but the Oride program does not purport to teach as CFIs. In my EAA chapter, we have multiple CFIs but they never sign the YE logbook or their personal logbook as providing instruction.

If you read the second page of the CAP parents info sheet, it states clearly that an Oride is NOT flight instruction. There are CAP CFis that will provide instruction but not on Orides and only under specific rules. Why? because a cadet is not allowed to solo in a CAP aircraft.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
He said they may make the suggestion that I tone it down a bit.
If that is the case, then I will just let the FSDO guy know we may become good friends.
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murphey said:
Sorry, FAA isn't a court of law. With the FAA you are guilty first, then maybe with a good lawyer, the FAA decides you're not guilty.
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Print out the 1st Amendment and bring it with you and hand it to the FSDO. If you so choose, show the FSDO your logbook and SHUT UP. DON'T ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. The more you talk, the more doors you open even if you don't realize it. FAA is the government and it is their responsibility to show that you violated a regulation which would be a basis to suspend or revoke your pilot's license.

The notice you received states:
Effect of failure to respond: The FAA cannot impose any penalties upon you if you fail to respond to this letter of investigation. If you fail to supply the requested information, however, the FAA will make determinations about possible enforcement action for this matter without the benefit of your comments on this matter.

Right now they have a vague internet post and that's it. If you truly didn't do anything wrong and I don't have any reason to think you did, you can passively fight this and make them prove you did something wrong. As with all gov't organizations, they have to have evidence (not conjecture) to suspend or revoke your privileges.

*I'm a lawyer, but this ain't no binding legal advice.
 
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