If you are a California A&P, meaning airframe and powerplant, mechanic arrested for DUI, the pilot 60 day FAA report is not a mechanic certificate duty by itself. Your mechanic certificate comes from the Federal Aviation Administration, the federal agency that issues aviation certificates, under Part 65, not the pilot rules in Part 61. Your bigger aviation worries are the Department of Transportation, the federal agency behind transportation testing rules, your maintenance employer, and your airport badge.
Am I under the pilot FAA report rule?
No, not for your A&P mechanic certificate alone. The FAA certificates aircraft mechanics under Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 65, Subpart D, which is the federal rule set for mechanic certificates.
The pilot DUI report rule is different because it applies, by its own words, to people who hold certificates issued under Part 61, which is the FAA rule set for pilots. So if your only FAA certificate is your A&P mechanic certificate, the pilot report rule is not the rule that creates your duty.
This point gets missed because people use the word "airman" loosely. A mechanic may be an aviation professional, and the FAA may issue the mechanic certificate, but that does not turn the mechanic certificate into a Part 61 pilot certificate.
So do not start by mailing a pilot DUI report just because someone in the break room told you all FAA certificate holders must do it. Start by asking what certificates and roles you actually hold.
If I fly too, does that change the report duty?
Yes, if you also hold a Part 61 pilot certificate, the 60 day written report may apply to you as a pilot. The report rule is Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations section 61.15(e). It requires a written report of a motor vehicle action within 60 days to the FAA Civil Aviation Security Division, mail code AMC 700, P.O. Box 25810, Oklahoma City, OK 73125.
For a pilot, a motor vehicle action is broader than many people think because it can include a DUI type conviction or a driver license being canceled, suspended, or taken away for a DUI type reason. It can also include a driver license application being denied for a DUI type reason.
That pilot duty comes from the pilot certificate. It does not come from the A&P certificate alone. If you are both a mechanic and a private pilot, I treat those as two separate questions. The mechanic side does not create the pilot report, but the pilot certificate can bring the report back into the picture.
This is why the first step is not panic but inventory: list every FAA certificate, company role, badge, and driving duty you have, so each duty can be answered from the right source.
What aviation rule actually reaches maintenance work?
For maintenance work, the rule you are more likely to feel is the DOT testing rule through your employer, repair station, or carrier. Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations section 120.105(e) lists aircraft maintenance and preventive maintenance as safety sensitive functions.
"Safety sensitive" means the work is treated as important to aircraft safety, and if you perform aircraft maintenance or preventive maintenance, federal drug and alcohol testing rules can apply through the company or operation you work under. For many mechanics, this is the aviation rule that touches daily work.
A weekend DUI arrest in your own car is not the same thing as a workplace test, but the arrest can still raise questions at work if your job includes safety sensitive maintenance. Your employer may have policies about reporting, fitness for duty, or returning to maintenance work after an alcohol related event.
For example, you are off duty on a Saturday night, you get arrested in your personal truck, and you are scheduled to work Monday at a repair station. The A&P certificate alone does not create the pilot 60 day report. But the repair station may still have a policy you must read before you answer questions or work the next shift.
Could the shop or badge office be the first work issue?
Yes, your employer or airport badge can become the first work issue after a DUI arrest. This is separate from the Part 61 pilot report rule.
Airport identification media means the badge or card that lets you enter secured airport areas, and a Security Identification Display Area badge, often called a SIDA badge, is one kind of airport badge. Your badge sponsor, airport badging office, carrier, or repair station may have its own rules about arrests, driver license status, or conduct.
Your employer policy may ask about arrests, convictions, or loss of driving privileges if you drive on company time, and those are different questions that should be answered by the exact words you are asked.
Do not assume that "no FAA pilot report" means "no work issue." It means one common aviation myth is off the table for the mechanic certificate alone. The badge and employer questions still need careful answers.
Is this the same as the flight attendant or controller problem?
No, the main A&P problem is different from the Canada travel issue and different from an air traffic controller employment or medical clearance issue. Mechanics have their own concerns.
Flight attendants may worry first about international travel, including Canada, while air traffic controllers may have federal employment and medical clearance concerns. Those are not the usual A&P starting points after a California DUI arrest.
For an aircraft mechanic, I look first at the mechanic certificate, the DOT testing setting, the employer policy, the airport badge, the DMV case, and the court case. If you also hold another aviation role or certificate, that other role may add its own rules. For example, a mechanic who also flies as a pilot has to answer the pilot question too.
This separation keeps you from solving the wrong problem. You do not want to miss a real employer deadline. You also do not want to create a written FAA report that your mechanic certificate did not require.
Should I report the arrest to my boss right now?
Maybe, but only if a policy actually requires it, and the wording matters. Before you make a written or recorded statement, read the exact language from your employer, union materials, repair station policy, carrier policy, and badge rules.
An arrest means the police cited or booked you, a charge means the prosecutor has filed a court case, and a DMV suspension is a driver license action, not a court conviction. A conviction means the case ended with a guilty finding, a guilty plea, or a plea that counts as a conviction.
Those words can change the answer because if a form asks, "Have you been convicted?" an arrest is not the same thing, but if a policy asks, "Have you been arrested?" the answer may be different. If a badge rule asks about driver license status, you need to know what the DMV has actually done.
Say less until you know the question because you can be honest without volunteering extra facts that were not asked for, and the goal is a true answer that matches the policy.
How fast must I make the DMV request?
You have 10 days from the arrest to ask DMV for the administrative hearing, which is the DMV meeting where the agency decides the driver license action from the DUI arrest, separate from the criminal court case.
This is the first numbered California deadline for most people after a DUI arrest, and it comes before many court dates and before most people have figured out the employer and badge questions.
When you request the DMV hearing, you can also ask for the DMV discovery packet. Discovery means the papers the government has about the stop, arrest, and license action, and that packet can give you the officer paperwork early enough to help you understand what is being claimed.
Requesting the hearing does not admit guilt. It preserves your chance to fight the DMV action and get the papers. If you wait past 10 days, you may lose that chance before you have even sorted out your work concerns.
Can I drive to the hangar with the pink paper?
Yes, if your California license was valid at arrest, the pink DS 367 form is a full, unrestricted California driver license for the 30 days it covers. That is true even if the officer wrote a chemical test refusal allegation.
The pink form is easy to misunderstand because it is not a work permit, a home to work license, or an ignition interlock license for those 30 days. During that first 30 day period, it works as a full California license if your license was valid when you were arrested.
So during those 30 days, the DMV paper itself does not limit you to driving only to the hangar, the airport, court, or an alcohol program. Your employer may still have its own rules about driving company vehicles or being on airport property. But the pink DMV paper is not the source of a work only driving limit.
Keep the pink form with you when you drive, and also keep a copy in a safe place because it gives the date range and helps answer basic questions about your license status.
What begins on day 31?
Day 31 is when the DMV suspension period is the issue, and that is where restrictions and ignition interlock questions belong. They do not belong to the first 30 days covered by the pink DS 367.
An ignition interlock device, called an IID, is a breath testing unit installed in a vehicle, and if your case later involves one or a restricted license, that is part of the suspension period. It is not part of the original pink paper period.
This distinction matters for a mechanic because work schedules can be odd. You may have early shifts, airport parking rules, or a long commute to a maintenance base, so you need to know when you are fully licensed and when a suspension starts. You also need to know what driving options apply after that.
Do not let anyone tell you the pink paper is already a restricted license. It is a full, unrestricted California license for its 30 days if your license was valid at arrest. The restrictions and IID questions come after that period.
Why do the reports help your aviation answers?
The DMV packet helps because it gives you the officer and DMV papers before you commit to workplace or badge wording. I want the written record in hand before you explain the event to people outside the case.
The packet can help identify what the officer claims, what license action DMV is pursuing, and whether the paperwork alleges a refusal, and it can also help separate what is known from what is rumor. When an employer or badge office asks for a short answer, the written record helps you avoid guessing.
For example, do not call a DMV license action a court conviction, do not call an arrest a conviction, and do not guess at test details if you have not seen the papers. If your answer is wrong, even by accident, the workplace problem can become bigger than it needed to be.
The DMV packet is also useful for the defense of the DUI case because the same officer paperwork often points to the issues that need follow up in court. The earlier those issues are found, the sooner the defense can be shaped around the real record.
Will rushing the court case make work safer?
Rushing usually does not make the work problem safer, because a plea can create a record that your employer or badge sponsor later reads. The court result can affect the words people see later, even when the A&P certificate alone did not require a pilot report.
You may feel pressure to end the case fast so you can tell your supervisor it is handled, and I understand that feeling because mechanics are used to fixing the problem in front of them. They are also used to getting the aircraft back in service. A DUI case does not work that way.
The better order is to protect the DMV hearing request, get the reports, check the employer and badge wording, and then make court decisions with the whole situation in view. A dismissal or reduction can change the record. A plea entered too fast can lock in words that make later work conversations harder.
This does not mean every case goes to trial. It means the court decision should be made after the license, work, badge, and certificate issues are understood. Your A&P certificate is only one part of that decision.
What facts should I write down while fresh?
Write down the facts now because fresh details help both the DMV hearing and the court case, and do this for yourself and your lawyer, not for your employer or the badge office.
- The date and time of the stop or crash, if there was one.
- Where you were coming from and where you were going.
- What the officer said was the reason for the stop.
- Whether you gave a breath test, blood test, or were accused of refusing.
- What papers you received, including the pink DS 367.
- Whether your job involves driving, airport access, or safety sensitive maintenance.
- Any employer, union, repair station, carrier, or badge rule that mentions arrests, convictions, driver license status, or alcohol.
Keep these notes private. Do not post about the arrest, and do not send a long explanation to a supervisor before you know what the policy asks. A short, accurate answer is safer than a scared essay.
Your order for the next few days
Do these steps in this order, because the DMV deadline and your work answers need facts, not guesses.
- Find the arrest date and count the 10 day DMV deadline from that date.
- Request the DMV administrative hearing before the 10 days run.
- Ask DMV for the discovery packet when the hearing is requested.
- Keep the pink DS 367 with you when you drive during its 30 day period.
- List every FAA certificate you hold, including any pilot certificate.
- Read your employer, repair station, carrier, union, and badge rules before making any report.
- Separate arrest, charge, conviction, DMV suspension, and work status in your notes.
- Save all DUI papers, DMV papers, badge emails, and employer messages.
- Do not mail a pilot DUI report unless you actually have a Part 61 role that creates that duty.
- Make court decisions only after the DMV, job, badge, and certificate issues are on the table.