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

Sorry to hear that but this is the society we live in now. Posting anything on SM opens you up to ridicule and investigation. I don't think you need a lawyer yet as this sounds like a routine investigation. I have learned over the years though that carrying a smart tone, being uncooperative, and further complicating matters by publicizing it further do nothing but hurt you. I would go in, be polite, be cooperative, and be humble and swallow your pride. Some things just aren't worth it. After it's all said and done continue with what you have been doing, it's entertainment and freedom of speech. You are in fact guilty until proven innocent whether we like it or not. They are not going to pick your log books apart looking for any clerical error. They are going to review them and make sure you have the basic requirements to be a current pilot and that you haven't logged any time as an instructor. If they had some evidence that you in fact did something illegal then yes, they would probably dig deep to burn you from every angle, right now it's just a compliance thing.

Their tone with you will be a reflection of the attitude you have going in. I wouldn't need to feel compelled to prove my innocence or personality through further evidence. Take in what is requested, answer the questions that are asked, and thank him/her for doing their job and get on with your flying hobby.
 
Rushie said:
Maybe it's too late now for 6PC but in general, when one has looming legal trouble from a Facebook or other media post, shouldn't one never admit to making it? How would the FAA prove one's spouse or kid or a hacker didn't make that post? I'm not saying lie, I'm saying keep your mouth shut, don't even answer "yes" to the question "did you make this post?" unless your lawyer says you should.
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Blaming the cat for walking across the keyboard didn't work.

https://www.upi.com/Man-who-blamed-cat-gets-125-years/61961284061019/
 
I’m sorry 6PC for making light of your situation. I hope nothing results from it and I don’t see why it would. But then we had the Bob Hoover ordeal. What a sorry piece of crap to report this to the FAA. I too am willing to contribute funds if you need help with an attorney. Good luck brother.
 
I think it's funny with people saying social media is causing this. That's like my cousin years ago saying she didn't have credit cards because they cause debt issues. o_O Sorry, it's the misuse of credit cards that cause that. Same with social media.

Sadly it's much easier to "misuse" social media as you can post something that friends understand, but strangers don't. Anyone that knows Bryan knows what he posted was humor.
 
wayne said:
I think it's funny with people saying social media is causing this. That's like my cousin years ago saying she didn't have credit cards because they cause debt issues. o_O Sorry, it's the misuse of credit cards that cause that. Same with social media.

Sadly it's much easier to "misuse" social media as you can post something that friends understand, but strangers don't. Anyone that knows Bryan knows what he posted was humor.
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It’s a matter of benefit vs risk:
- I choose to utilize Credit Cards because of their convenience while acknowledging some element of risk,
- I choose not to participate in FB, etc because I see little benefit vs what I feel is substantial risk.

....but then, I’m just an old curmudgeon- now get off my lawn.
 
overreact.jpg
 
Interesting that Aviation101 has had to deal with this more than once, and I believe Steveo had a similar situation occur to him. I'm trying to envision what type of personality would do this.
 
I'm picturing either an older guy that doesn't think humor has a place in aviation, or someone who is jealous of the attention.
 
Good lord. You don’t need a lawyer. You just need to show them that it was a joke. 99% of stuff people say “you need a lawyer!” for, you don’t a need a lawyer for.

Your logbook will show that you don’t have instruction given logged. Your YouTube videos will show you are sarcastic (and since they’re public, you’re not showing them anything they couldn’t have already seen easily enough).

Dollars to donuts the FAA thinks this is as ridiculous as you do, but they’re just following through on a complaint where the post, taken without reference to other material, absolutely reads as a solicitation to provide unlicensed instruction. This is (and lawyers) is why people are scared to be themselves anymore without censoring themselves to the 9s.
 
Grum.Man said:
I'm picturing either an older guy that doesn't think humor has a place in aviation, or someone who is jealous of the attention.
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Some people simply lack any sense to detect sarcasm or irony. At times this comes with a overwhelming desire to always be right. If people argue with that type of character it can make for lengthy threads. We have such a spock character on beechtalk..
 
Mtns2Skies said:
<----- Engineer

Advance towards me brethren. (Come at me bro.)
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Ok. What's your address for service of process? I have some non-party "requests" to send to you. Shouldn't take you that long to comply.
 
Cluemeister said:
Interesting that Aviation101 has had to deal with this more than once, and I believe Steveo had a similar situation occur to him. I'm trying to envision what type of personality would do this.
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Grum.Man said:
I'm picturing either an older guy that doesn't think humor has a place in aviation, or someone who is jealous of the attention.
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I know, it's just really sad.

oh wait, people "report" posts here on PoA all the time, whoops. WWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH
 
SkyHog said:
Good lord. You don’t need a lawyer. You just need to show them that it was a joke. 99% of stuff people say “you need a lawyer!” for, you don’t a need a lawyer for.

Your logbook will show that you don’t have instruction given logged. Your YouTube videos will show you are sarcastic (and since they’re public, you’re not showing them anything they couldn’t have already seen easily enough).
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At the risk of exposing myself to ridicule, I'll point out that, when dealing in administrative world, you may not know what you don't know.

I have seen federal agencies do great harm, on much less substance than this. Seriously. These things do not take place before courts of law which are subject to the federal Rules of Procedure.

Fervently hoping (and cautiously expecting) that a simple conversation will close the matter (and that's not an unreasonable expectation), I'll gently observe that the core issue is not whether Bryan ever gave instruction (he says he didn't, so he didn't).

If it was I who had been called by the FSDO, you can bet I'd spend the coin to consult with competent counsel (and in this instance, it ain't me). It might come down to getting a solid understanding of how the conversation might go, and ensuring that word choice doesn't create a false message.

SkyHog said:
Dollars to donuts the FAA thinks this is as ridiculous as you do, but they’re just following through on a complaint where the post, taken without reference to other material, absolutely reads as a solicitation to provide unlicensed instruction. This is (and lawyers) is why people are scared to be themselves anymore without censoring themselves to the 9s.
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Think about that, carefully. The seeds of destruction are there - along with hope for salvation.
 
I'm so paranoid now, I'm afraid to post a joke on POA.
Somewhere out there is a old time movie clip, done in the mid 1960s, of me loading a fake 100 lb bomb on a J3 painted up in WWII Civil Air Patrol colors. The plane was done up to commemorate the CAP sinking a German sub during the war, and I was going to fly it in an airshow at HPN (I think)
During the filming, the "director" and I were chatting, and he asked "What's the bomb for?"
I told him "Urban renewal in downtown Peekskill." (Urban renewal was a very heated political topic in Peekskill at the time)
Couldn't say that now without going to prison forever.
Spike Cutler knoweth where of he speaks. Take heed. These guys have no rules, so they don't have to play by them.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I just called Mr Aviation 101 who has gone through this multiple times.
He basically said what the last few have said. They have no choice but to investigate the complaint.
They will look at my logbook and send me on my way.

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.

My plan is to answer his questions and let him do his job in hopes we can both get back to our real jobs.

Though I may wear my "world's greatest pilot" hat just so he knows.
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It was him. He ratted you out. He's had enough of you gettin subscriptions and likes and all that fame without having paid your dues
 
Grum.Man said:
If there weren't lawyers we wouldn't need lawyers. lol. I really despise them, even the good ones are pretentious egotist. But that is a different topic for a different thread.
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If a town has one lawyer, he'll starve while everyone else gets rich. If a town has two lawyers, they'll both get rich while everyone else starves. :)
 
Rushie said:
Maybe it's too late now for 6PC but in general, when one has looming legal trouble from a Facebook or other media post, shouldn't one never admit to making it? How would the FAA prove one's spouse or kid or a hacker didn't make that post? I'm not saying lie, I'm saying keep your mouth shut, don't even answer "yes" to the question "did you make this post?" unless your lawyer says you should.
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A copy of the original probably exists somewhere and there’s likely a log proving where it came from. Now would Facebook give that up? Who knows. One would hope a subpoena would be required but who knows.

Although that brings up an interesting point too. Anyone with very basic photo editing skills can make a fake screenshot. I’m sure most of you have seen the Fake Trump tweet generator just as an example. Does the FAA find the original post or do they just take the screen shot as evidence?
 
Rushie said:
Maybe it's too late now for 6PC but in general, when one has looming legal trouble from a Facebook or other media post, shouldn't one never admit to making it? How would the FAA prove one's spouse or kid or a hacker didn't make that post? I'm not saying lie, I'm saying keep your mouth shut, don't even answer "yes" to the question "did you make this post?" unless your lawyer says you should.
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Excellent point.

To that end,.... None of the posts on POA that are attributed to me were actually made by me. Including this one. And all future ones.
 
Grum.Man said:
If there weren't lawyers we wouldn't need lawyers. lol. I really despise them, even the good ones are pretentious egotist. But that is a different topic for a different thread.
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ya know what?....the world also needs good proctologists too.....o_O
 
Ken Ibold said:
You haven't met many, then. Sure there are a bunch, but there are also a whole bunch of really cool people who happen to make their living as lawyers. Spike, for example. My wife of 25 years, as another.
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I'd love to meet your wife.....I kid...I kid....I kid. :D
 
"Be sweet" . . ."Be cooperative". . . Uh, no - they're using up your time and resources. No need to be overtly rude to the ASI, as it's likely just an assigment he caught. But anything beyond civility, no, no way. It's a stupid, intrusive, and arrogant act by a bureacracy without much accountability. Wasting your time, the FSDO guy's time, and everyone's money.

Getting myself a little hit under the collar, but your stuff contributes more to advancing aviation than most FAA endeavors. Though that is their mandate.

So tell 'em, in a civil manner, that they are out of line - get a lawyer to send them a letter, unambiguously stating it was satire, and if they want more follow-up, to contact him. Seriously, if they catch a sh*t storm on every one of these asinine fishing expeditions, maybe getting some bad press, some congressional inquiries, et., it'll reign in some of this nonsense.

Rant complete.
 
Sundancer said:
Wasting your time, the FSDO guy's time, and everyone's money.
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So your solution for this.....

Sundancer said:
get a lawyer to send them a letter, unambiguously stating it was satire, and if they want more follow-up, to contact him
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Is to do this? I'm guessing your solution will take up way more time and money for everyone involved than just going in and taking care of it on your own.

I'm sure the FSDO guy is thinking the same thing "I have to waste my time because some guy made a wise crack on social media and got reported". Nobody wins here.
 
Sundancer said:
"Be sweet" . . ."Be cooperative". . . Uh, no - they're using up your time and resources. No need to be overtly rude to the ASI, as it's likely just an assigment he caught. But anything beyond civility, no, no way. It's a stupid, intrusive, and arrogant act by a bureacracy without much accountability. Wasting your time, the FSDO guy's time, and everyone's money.

Getting myself a little hit under the collar, but your stuff contributes more to advancing aviation than most FAA endeavors. Though that is their mandate.

So tell 'em, in a civil manner, that they are out of line - get a lawyer to send them a letter, unambiguously stating it was satire, and if they want more follow-up, to contact him. Seriously, if they catch a sh*t storm on every one of these asinine fishing expeditions, maybe getting some bad press, some congressional inquiries, et., it'll reign in some of this nonsense.

Rant complete.
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Make sure you throw in a "I pay your paycheck!" too. They love that.
 
PPC1052 said:
Ok. What's your address for service of process? I have some non-party "requests" to send to you. Shouldn't take you that long to comply.
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Careful. Someone might report you to the ABA.
 
Ken Ibold said:
You haven't met many, then. Sure there are a bunch, but there are also a whole bunch of really cool people who happen to make their living as lawyers. Spike, for example. My wife of 25 years, as another.
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Bigotry is an ugly thing.


...although I guess there's somehting to be said for trial by combat.
 
SCCutler said:
"Holding out."
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If a non-CFI holds out that they are willing to give flight instruction, but does not actually give any flight instruction, is it still a violation?

Not arguing, just asking. (I'm trying to figure out how careful we need to be when joking about stuff online.)
 
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