Unhappy Landing With A Chocolate Bar

The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied review of a pilot license adverse action.

Law enforcement officers responding to an airplane crash discovered THC-infused chocolate bars onboard. The pilot, Jeffrey Siegel, admitted that they were his. In this petition, Siegel claims that the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to revoke his pilot’s certificate for knowingly operating an aircraft with narcotics onboard was arbitrary and capricious. We disagree and deny the petition.

The story

On October 1, 2016, Jeffrey Siegel crash-landed his airplane on a road in Kansas due to an engine malfunction. Kansas State Troopers responded. While Siegel and his passenger were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, the troopers conducted a routine inventory of the aircraft’s contents. During the inventory, Trooper Lucas Wagner found three chocolate bars infused with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC, the psychoactive agent in marijuana) in Siegel’s briefcase. The packaging on the bars identified them as containing THC. Trooper Wagner asked Siegel about the bars at the hospital and testified that Siegel claimed ownership. Testing by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation confirmed the presence of THC. Siegel was charged with misdemeanor simple possession of marijuana under K.S.A. § 21-5706(b)(3), but the charge was later dismissed.

The action was not contrary to law 

It does not follow that Congress, by passing a law mandating lifetime certificate revocation for serious drug offenders, intended to remove the discretion of the FAA Administrator to regulate less serious drug offenses involving aircraft under § 44709. We therefore conclude the FAA retains authority to revoke a certificate for “simple
possession” of a controlled substance on an aircraft under § 44709. Further, because the Government did not apply § 44710 in this case, Siegel’s arguments concerning that provision—and his citation to other NTSB cases involving revocations under it—are inapposite…

The NTSB’s order was not arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law. We therefore deny Siegel’s petition for review.

The NTSB order is linked here. 

Kudos to Shirley Temple for inspiring the title to this post. (Mike Frisch)