I saw that episode of Law & Order, too -- IIRC, he got the death penalty for felony murder. Don't think it works any better in real life than it did on TV.
Well stated.
Listening through various LiveATC recordings marked as interesting, just for fun (I know, it's an illness), and one was a Piper pilot who landed on a taxiway at Oakland -- oops!
As you might imagine he got a phone number and was asked to call the tower when able, but that made me wonder, how does that call usually go and what happens after that, usually? I realized I have no idea how the process usually goes from there, if there even is a "usually."
Just curious how this works.
For the ride itself, perhaps, but most folks like to get some training from an instructor on the areas being examined so that half hour doesn't end badly. When I've been that instructor, I know the Inspector giving the ride checked the examinee's logbook to see whether or not he'd gotten such training, and complimented the examinee on choosing to get that training.
The 5th A applies to FAA proceedings in the same way it applies to any civil or adminstrative proceeding - you can refuse to answer because the answer may incriminate you in a criminal proceeding, whether existing, pending or possible. But unlike criminal proceedings, generally speaking, there are legal consequences, the primary one being the "adverse inference" - the refusal to answer allows the fact-finder to infer that your answer, if truthful, would be bad for you.
So you do have the right to remain silent, but it's probably not smart. Thanks.
Understood. But even if the PBOR says no adverse inference may be drawn in terms of an enforcement action, they can still treat your refusal to talk with them about it as not showing a positive attitude towards compliance, and that can turn an administrative action (like remedial training) into an enforcement action (like a suspension) even if they can't make any adverse inference from that silence during the actual enforcement action.
If you land on a golf course, the FAA will have someone from the FSDO looking into it unless you manage to remove the plane before anyone else knows it's there. Once the call goes out to police/fire (pretty much inevitable in such a case), the press will be on it, and then the FAA cannot avoid at least asking some questions.
That sounds very reasonable.
No, if you had the right to remain silent, they couldn't use that silence against you. But you do have the right not to incriminate yourself in another proceeding, so you can't be compelled to testify.
The number of holes in this little tale you could drive a truck through...
Here's the thing, unless you have committed some egregious act, the maximum penalty is next to nothing, and you only end up with that if you are an *******. Basically you end up plea bargaining with someone who wants to close the file with the minimum hassle. If you cooperate and own up to your errors, they go away with a couple of hours training and you're done. Worst is you'll get a 709 ride which is yours to screw up. I can tell you from my experience, they are not trying to screw you on it, at least not if you're not an *******.
