AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2018 - 28

FOR THE RECORD

Honest mistake

BY JARED ALLEN

When trying to fix an error can mean revocation
REVOCATION IS THE MOST SEVERE ACTION THE FAA

JARED ALLEN

is AOPA's Legal
Services Plan senior
staff attorney and is
an instrument-rated
private pilot.

28 | AOPA PILOT July 2018

can take against an airman's certificates, and it can easily
result from a pilot's mistaken answer when completing
the online MedXpress medical application. Pilots who
realize-before the FAA does-that an inadvertent mistake was made on the application should consider that,
despite the looming threat of legal action and a lack of
FAA guidance, these mistakes often can be corrected.
Medical applications are closely scrutinized by
the FAA. The FAA commonly vets the accuracy of
completed applications by checking driver's license histories, reviewing pilot-provided medical records, and
investigating safety hotline complaints.
When the FAA discovers that an airman did not
answer a question correctly on a medical application, the
agency often seems to presume that the airman knowingly
made a false statement, unless an investigation reveals
otherwise. FAR 67.403(a) provides for the suspension or
revocation of any airman, ground instructor, and medical certificate and ratings held by any person who makes
an "intentionally false" statement on an application.
Emergency revocation, rather than suspension, is
ordinarily imposed when intentional falsification is
alleged-and is immediately effective. If an appeal is
not taken or is unsuccessful, the airman must wait 12
months before applying for new certificates and ratings. All required written, oral, and practical tests must
be completed. While cases involving intentional falsification may also be subject to criminal prosecution by
the Department of Justice, such action is rarely taken.
Yet not every mistaken answer is intentional falsification. FAR 67.403(c) recognizes that an answer may be
just "incorrect," rather than one the pilot knew was false,
and limits any suspension or revocation to the airman's
medical certificate. This allows the airman to retain any
other FAA-issued certificates, and immediately reapply
for another medical certificate. Unfortunately, the FAA
seldom alleges that a statement was merely incorrect.
Not correcting a mistake can make matters worse. If
an incorrect answer is repeated on subsequent applications, each instance constitutes another possible violation.
Moreover, the "stale complaint" rule that limits the timeframe in which the FAA can pursue legal action does not
usually apply in intentional falsification cases. The FAA
has prevailed in cases involving decades-old applications.
Once an application is submitted online it can no longer be changed, and an AME who is asked by an airman

to make a change during the exam must follow a strict
procedure to do so. However, it is worth noting that an
application submitted online can only become part of the
airman's FAA records if an AME imports the application
into the medical certification system using the confirmation number provided by the airman. If the application
is not imported by an AME within 60 days, it is deleted.
When a mistake is only realized by the airman after
a medical certificate has been issued, our attorneys have
successfully helped pilots correct the error by sending a
letter to FAA's Aerospace Medical Certification Division.
These letters are typically limited to the airman's identifying information and a very brief explanation that
provides the correct information, because any information the letter provides could be used against the airman
in any subsequent legal enforcement action.
We have observed that the likelihood of the matter
ultimately being referred for legal enforcement action
depends upon the nature of the mistake. For example,
correcting the omission of a visit to a health professional within the last three years may not result in any
response from the FAA, while disclosing an event such
as an arrest relating to driving while intoxicated is likely
to result in an investigation.
In response to a letter correcting a mistake, the FAA
likely will require the airman to provide any medical
information or history that the FAA typically considers regarding that condition and address any medical
certification concerns-the same as if the question had
been answered correctly at the outset.
In the future, we hope to see the FAA's compliance
philosophy more consistently applied to cases involving unintentional mistakes on a medical application,
to resolve the matter informally without the need for
legal enforcement action. By recognizing that mistakes
do happen and providing guidance on how to correct
them, the FAA would further its goal of ensuring the
information collected is accurate and aviation safety is
not compromised. Until then, however, we recommend
that airmen seeking to correct a mistake on a medical
application consult an attorney for assistance before
contacting the FAA.
AOPA
EMAIL jared.allen@aopa.org

The AOPA Legal Services plan is offered as part of AOPA's
Pilot Protection Services (www.aopa.org/pps).

http://www.aopa.org/pps

AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - July 2018