According to a post on the FAA’s Office of Inspector General’s website here, on August 31, 2006 a student pilot in Wisconsin plead guilty to charges of submitting a fraudulent statement on a FAA application for an airman medical and student pilot certificate in August 2001. Apparently the student pilot had an extensive criminal history which he conveniently omitted on his application. Although the student pilot has not yet been sentenced, he has surrendered his expired student pilot certificate and pilot logbook.
Unfortunately, this situation is becoming more common. I think most pilots do not realize the implications of failing to disclose or misrepresenting information that is requested on applications for airman or medical certificates. Most pilots probably assume that if they are caught, they will simply lose their certificate(s). However, as the above case shows, this is not all that will happen. If you omit or misrepresent information on an application, not only do you run the risk of losing your certificate(s), you also expose yourself to criminal liability for submitting a false statement under FAR’s 61.59 or 67.403. Don’t let this happen to you.
