Just a small fraction of the U.S. population is licensed to fly. When you fly, whether
professionally, for business, or leisure, you have a big financial investment in your FAA
license.
At Lento Law, our substantial experience providing certificate action defense in federal
court or before the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) can be a major asset
for you facing FAA enforcement actions, which are often signaled by a letter of
investigation or notice of proposed certificate action.
Letter of Investigation.
A Letter of Investigation (LOI) is something the FAA sends to make you aware that they
believe you have violated the Federal Aviation Regulations and to give you a chance to
explain what happened from your point of view.
Under the Pilot’s Bill of Rights, the LOI must state that a response is not legally required
and that no adverse inference may be made if the pilot does not respond. While this
may sound friendly enough, proceed with caution. The LOI is part of the enforcement
process and means the FAA is collecting information about the possible violation to be
included in their enforcement investigative report (EIR).
Any response you send will be included in the EIR- the report that will be forwarded to an
FAA lawyer for enforcement action based on what the inspector concludes. This means
it will be part of the evidence that the FAA may present in a hearing before an
Administrative Law Judge. In other words, what you say can and in most cases will be
used against you.
How to Respond to the FAA
The first sign of possible enforcement action against your certificate may be a request to
call the tower, an FAA Supervisor, or receive an FAA Letter of Investigation.
If you have been instructed to call the tower, an FAA Supervisor, or receive an FAA Letter of Investigation, contact our aviation lawyers online, or call us toll-free at 833.LENTO.LAW, for a free no-obligation consultation.
When you receive this request or letter there is often the impulse to respond right away.
While cooperation can be fundamental to a successful outcome, reacting without the
advice of a Lento Law Attorney could be a big mistake.
Instead, allow a competent FAA enforcement defense lawyer to prevent you from
unwittingly making any immediate statement to the FAA that may prejudice your case.
For those reasons, the decision of what, if any, response to provide must be made very,
very carefully, preferably with proper advice from legal counsel.