Page 17 - July 2022

The good news about the report is the FAA does not see the contents unless you have acted criminally, intentionally, or the event resulted in an accident. The FAA cannot use the facts you have reported against you. Some think the NASA report is a “get out of jail free” card. If you believe that the timely filed NASA report will get you out of trouble, you are in for a shock; it will not. The FAA conclusion that you were at fault as claimed stays on record.
The NASA report has some shortcomings. It doesn’t help with violations such as criminal activity, intentional acts, Class B violations and several other matters. “But I didn’t intend to blow through that Class B!” This is just one example of where a NASA report will not help.
FACT: The way the FAA views entering a Class B without permission is not considered an “error or mistake.” Your error is regarded as a “failure to plan.” Your failure to plan (knowing where you are going and the turf you are going to cross) is not a forgivable event for which filing a NASA report will help you stay out of trouble, but that’s not the worst of it.
The reality of any violation, albeit minor, is that unless you can establish your innocence of what they say you did wrong, or you agreed verbally or in writing that you goofed and further agreed to some minor sanction, the violation can stay on your record FOREVER. Even if there was no penalty assessed, and you’ve agreed that you “violated” a rule, this means no expungement, no retribution and no way back to the days of your innocence. YOU WILL BE BRANDED, even if the NASA report excuses you from the penalty phase of the violation. And it may well affect your job opportunities and the cost of your insurance.
Everyone knows that you are innocent until proven guilty, right? Well, let’s take a trip to another time and dimension. You are about to enter the Twilight Zone as defined by the FAA. Usually, you have to violate a defined F.A.R. to get busted, but there is the catch-all rule: 91.13 Careless & Reckless action. If the FAA can’t pin you with something specific, they can get you with:
14 CFR § 91.13 Careless or reckless operation.
Aircraft operations for the purpose of air navigation. No person may operate an aircraft in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.
Aircraft operations other than for the purpose of air navigation. No person may operate an aircraft, other than for the purpose of air navigation, on any part of the surface of an airport used by aircraft for air commerce (including areas used by those aircraft for receiving or discharging persons or cargo), in a careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.
Check it out. Talk about ambiguity, wow! I don’t know what constitutes careless or reckless, but I’ll know it when I see it. Let’s play this out with my earlier speeding ticket analogy.
JULY 2022
KING AIR MAGAZINE • 15