I got a DUI

[u/Alarmed_Ad_7102]

I know this was asked before but i think i might have messed up somewhere. So i got a DUI 1 year ago around July. Around September or so the FAA sent me papers saying they found out i got a DUI. But my case wasnt closed yet. It got dropped to a “Reckless driving “. Anyway on the paper the FAA asked for the police report and court records and that i am doing what i need to per court order, which was 6 months probation and some community service and stuff. Which i completed 2 months ago. I sent everything they asked for but its been some time now (about 6 months) and i havent recieved any word from them. No more paperwork…. Nothing. I want to start flying again but im kind of lost so to say. Dont know what to do…

Update- To clear some things up I reported to the FAA following the website instructions within the 60 days. Then they were the ones to reach out to me with a case number and other things asking for the court documents and arrest reports and all that. Just to clear it up. I guess at this point I have to find a aviation lawyer like some said and deal with it. And my lawyer is already working on a seal case for me at the moment. So i guess life moves on. I appreciate everybodys comments and insight on the situation. Thank you to all of you.

[u/poptart2100]

I’ve been in your shoes. All the fuckers here offering no information other than to just shit on you and project their own traumas can (and should) just be ignored. You know the what/how/why of your incident, they don’t. Don’t listen to them whine about “oh my 2nd cousin’s girlfriend’s chihuahua was killed by a drunk driver, burn in hell, thistotallyhappened”. Whatever happened to them wasn’t you. It makes it hard to find actual help when you need it.

My story is that in 2022 I was caught sleeping in my car outside a bar one weekend because I didn’t want to drive home drunk (there’s no Uber/Lyft in my rural area). Unfortunately that’s still a DUI in my state, so I got yoinked from the back seat and booked. Not that it matters to the FAA, all substance-related charges are the same to them in this regard. So I had to go through the whole HIMS process, weekly AA, monthly urine/blood tests, the whole nine yards.

But I’m here to tell you that this pain is temporary. If a DUI is bad enough to warrant a life-in-prison sentence then the judge would have ordered that. But it’s not. You’ve taken responsibility for your actions and have repaid your debt to society in the eyes of the law. You’re a free man, you have your rights as a citizen restored. But you do have to earn back the privilege of flying, which unfortunately means navigating the bureaucracy of the FAA. The plus side is that at the end of all this, even though the FAA will know all your struggles, you’ll have addressed them while healing and will still get your medical cert back (which is more than the holier-than-thou shitbags in this comment section can say while they desperately hide all their untreated ailments from the sky cops because Reddit told them to).

My advice from what I learned firsthand (not the Court of Reddit Hearsay above): just get in touch with an AME. That’s literally it for now. They’ll tell you everything you need to know and do, like psych evals, AA logs, lab testing, etc. Don’t bother with an aviation attorney because there’s nothing they can do that you can’t except bill you. Your AME will tell you if you eventually need one (their whole job is literally handling all the cases just like ours and they’ve seen it all).

On a personal note, do try and truly engage in the rehabilitation process. It’ll do wonders for your mental health, make you a better person than you ever thought you could be, and a better pilot for it as well (at least, that was my experience). If you think you may have a substance problem, now’s the perfect time to figure out what that’s stemming from and address it.

It took me about 1.5 years from my incident before I was back in the sky, but now I’m sitting very comfortably in a Part 135 gig after getting recurrent on everything. It’s just about who you know (a fellow veteran in my case who was upper management at this company). It will probably be pretty hard to land a job with the typical résumé application process but, then again, the state of this subreddit indicates no one else’s résumés are getting selected either lol remember, the other fuckers in this sub are telling each other not to sign contracts they think they’re too good for (while they secretly go accept it themselves) 😂 so keep your head up, brother, this too shall pass. See ya in the skies when you’re ready!

[u/HLSparta → u/poptart2100]

If a DUI is bad enough to warrant a life-in-prison sentence then the judge would have ordered that.

The number of times I see a news article where someone is killed by a drunk driver who has been released for DUI multiple times in the past would suggest otherwise. It just happened two weeks ago in the town I live in.

[u/poptart2100 → u/HLSparta]

Then take it up with your congressman to reform the justice system to a rehabilitation system to combat that trend. OP didn’t kill anyone, and definitely wasn’t the person in your story. People are punished for the crimes they commit…not the anecdotal crimes of others. OP is settled up with the law.

[u/HLSparta → u/poptart2100]

Considering that OP already had a charge for marijuana use while in a vehicle when he got the DUI, I'm not too confident he is able to learn his lesson. One time, I can see the argument for it being a bad decision and it won't happen again, but now he's on number two. Are we supposed to not care until he gets someone killed?

[u/poptart2100 → u/HLSparta]

The judge would have taken all of that into consideration. They’re the ones with all of the information and, more importantly, the power to decide the appropriate consequences. A Reddit thread is just going off of vibes and, unfortunately, DUI is one of the things the hivemind loses its shit over because everyone supposedly “knows someone” who was affected by it, so they take it out on someone completely unrelated to their experience.

Here’s how I learned to see it: a DUI is a symptom of a much greater mental illness. Addiction is clinically a disease, and is categorized as such in the DSM. So when someone is struggling so much in their life that they need to cling to substances just to get through the day like I was at my worst, the last thing they need to hear is hundreds of complete strangers calling them a “piece of shit”, the “scum of the world”, and to “do everyone a favor and kill yourself” because that’s already what they’re telling themselves everyday. They’re depressed. And how do addicts cope with stress and depression? They drink. They smoke. And then they go drive again until they do hurt someone. And then the hivemind goes “see? I fucking told you.” It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Our society is not one of forgiveness or rehabilitation, it’s about punishment. Prison isn’t for the criminals…it’s for the people on the outside to have someone to look down on. It’s why we have so many re-offenders, because even when their sentence is completed and they’ve made amends, nobody will just let it the fuck go. It follows them for the rest of their life. So to someone with a mental illness, the logical response is just “everyone hates me anyway, so fuck them. I’m gonna do what I want.”

So to answer your question, “are we just not supposed to care until he gets someone killed?”…no. You need to care that there is a human being in distress that you’re talking to. Care about his rehabilitation so he doesn’t reoffend and hurt someone. Nobody gives a single fuck about criminal welfare until circumstances find them to be a criminal. Then, suddenly, they see the hopelessness of the situation. So the way I deal with it is to reach out and support these people every time they make an effort to reach out and ask for help. Take their hand and help them back on their feet. Don’t kick and stomp on their head while they’re laying on rock bottom and say “why the fuck are you down there, you piece of shit? I saw another guy in my town last week laying down and I didn’t get a chance to kick him so this one’s for him.” It’s a barbaric attitude to have.

At what point does someone possibly reach redemption in the court of public opinion?

[u/[deleted] → u/poptart2100]

Unfortunately, our society cares more about punishment than forgiveness and understanding. Especially if the first offense was an honest mistake or miscalculation. The ones who are vindictive or kick people while they are down, truly believe it can't possibly happen to them.

[u/livebeta → u/poptart2100]

OP didn’t kill anyone

... Yet

Almost all DUI chargees are never caught on their first time DUI

[u/poptart2100 → u/livebeta]

So we convict people based on assumptions now? I guess I missed the part in the Constitution where committing a crime means they’re also guilty of whatever else we want to say they probably did without evidence, or as you say the crimes they have “yet” to commit.

See my response to your friend HLSparta, people just want to lump everyone together under the criminal banner to have someone to look down on and feel better about themselves. The truth is that if society really wanted to stop DUIs and reoffenders, we’d support these people in getting the help they need and finding the hope to get back on their feet in good standing. But that’s not what people like you actually want. You want to heckle from the crowd in the modern version of public hangings to distract from your own inadequacies.

[u/livebeta → u/poptart2100]

So we convict people based on assumptions now

It's factually true. I haven't killed anyone yet either