No, I didn’t violate anything. I know what CFR stands for, but do they actually carry criminal penalties? Ie, flying out of annual, flying with suspended license etc? I do know that some CRR’s can carry felonies. Such as nuclear power plant CFR’s etc. interesting topic that none of my IA’s can agree on.

-0-

No kidding.

Obviously, CFR implies a “Regulation”. Congress creates “laws”, and hands them off to federal agencies, who then create “regulations” to implement enforcement of those “laws”.

In the case of the FAA, their most important enforcement power is the ability to “suspend” or “revoke” licensed privileges....specifically, Pilot, aviation Maintenance, or operating certificates.

The FAA operates enforcement through Administrative Judges, which are not “criminal” judges. Administrative judges can assess monetary penalties, but those are fairly rare. But in general, unless they find something no shit criminal, that’s as far as it goes. If they find something truly “criminal” in nature, they will pass it on to the appropriate federal LE agency, which MAY be DEA, or any of a dozen or so others.

But, believe that the FAA can make things pretty miserable for you.

MTV

niente qui

Dayum, dogpilot!


Spooky stuff.

To get back to the original question, both statutes (which Congress passes and the President either signs or allows to become law without signature) and regulations (the Code of Federal Regulations) are "law". But not all laws are criminal--in fact, substantially less than 1/4 of all laws have criminal penalties attached. Many non-criminal laws have the potential for civil enforcement. Examples in our discussion include certificate actions (including suspension, revocation, or denial) and civil penalties (what some call fines).

It's certainly a fact that at one end of the pendulum swing, laws that should be enforced, aren't. And at the other end of the pendulum swing, laws are capriciously and improperly enforced. The human element is unpredictable. We all like to think that all people charged with enforcing the law are upstanding and proper about what they do, but it's unfortunately true that not all are. Those who have some sort of ax to grind will find a way to grind it, even it there isn't a criminal penalty available. And those whose job is to enforce laws may very well be lazy or careless.

Anyone who has been around aviation very long has war stories, either their own or ones that they know about, in which good people were subjected to improper enforcement, and on the other hand, reported unsafe practices were allowed to slide although there was substantial evidence to support the reports. In a perfect world, such things wouldn't happen. We don't live in a perfect world.

Cary

Our founding fathers, having suffered through the excesses of King George's unfettered excesses, by design created a beautifully inefficient system of governance with four branches (the people being the fourth) remaining in equilibrium by constantly being at odds with one another. Looking back from a distance of 238 years, it is simply amazing how well they succeeded.

It’s all gov

Do you honestly think one branch won’t follow the advise of another?

Look at the outlawing of instruction in experimental planes, doubt that federal judge knew the difference between a aileron and a elevator, he just went with his fellow government workers opinion.


If you really piss off the FAA it will end up criminal if you push the issue.

Ubiquitous wrote:Our founding fathers, having suffered through the excesses of King George's unfettered excesses, by design created a beautifully inefficient system of governance with four branches (the people being the fourth) remaining in equilibrium by constantly being at odds with one another. Looking back from a distance of 238 years, it is simply amazing how well they succeeded.

Would have worked great if people didn’t become safety whores

Well put Cary. Good to hear from you. I became all too familiar with civil sanctions and civil penalties.

CFR code of federal regulations.

AOPA will not question ACS or any sanctioned training technique, sadly, but they do provide inexpensive legal assistance with lawyers familiar with FARs. Your family lawyer is as helpful as yourself, so get the legal services plan or hire an aviation lawyer on your own. My medevac unit commander and attorney for Albuquerque nearly lost me my CPL, like tear it up. Margaret Lamb bailed us out. She used an eight day clock, which she punched when she picked up the phone, at $125,00 per hour in the 70s and was worth every penny. My local AOPA lawyer, when that became available later, did fine as well at much less expense. Like the District Attorney legal system, when you get a wrap sheet you become easy prey, so try not to get one. Fortunately, the local GADO, now FSDO, cares little about Ag. Government bureaucrats avoid dealing with things they are not expert in. Besides spray planes stink. When I crashed I just gave them a call and said the grower wants it out of the field. "Sure, move it," they said. Nor did they ever look at it at the airport before the owner picked it up for rebuild.

I beg to differ on the “4th branch”, not that the constitution doesn’t count 4 but what the 4th is. The 4th is the independent states. The theory was the states would retain their own rights and powers not explicitly granted to the federal government in the constitution. Those who don’t understand the electoral college struggle with the whole states rights notion.
The People are not another branch in the constitution, they are supposed to be the overseers of government. I would contend.more that a bit of dereliction of duty lately.

The federal system has worked well in our democracy except when states have sought the supremacy forbidden by the Constitution. It has always been in our, the people's, interest to have the central government, composed of representatives from the united states, be supreme. Otherwise, no united states. I have always worried about the use of American (we are one of many American countries) in place of United States of America to identify ourselves. American can be partisan. United States of American might make us consider how the founding fathers set up the Constitution as more united than partisan. Errors were made with amendment being the solution. Yes, the electoral college was a concession to the states. Concession, not supremacy. Amend if the college is used to choose which partisans have the right to vote. Either state or central government can initiate that cumbersome, especially in a nation divided against itself, process.

The federal system has worked well in our democracy when it has insisted that states and their central representatives "cooperate to graduate."

Hey political science PHDs, time to button it up. You've departed too far from the original topic. Politics, even if it is somehow relevant in a roundabout way, is not allowed on this site. Easy to get your fill elsewhere.