So, in case you are all wondering, yes, I am asking this because I recently received a violation.) (Though, **to be abundantly clear, besides the following words, I am not opening an appeal inquiry in this post. I am asking out of curiosity in Real World Aviation situations.
At least for what I’m assuming is the FAA in the United States, is there an appeal process for pilot deviations? And for other countries, what are some examples of the governing body that would handle things—like the FAA?
Speaking on the United States front, yes, there is an appeal process. Generally, if you get a pilot deviation, you’ll get a letter from the FAA called a “Letter of Investigation,” which is just where they detail the alleged violation and requesting a response where you can detail your side of the story. After they hear that, they’ll send a Notice of Proposed Certificate Action, where they tell you the punishment they’ve decided on. Sometimes, it’s as small as a no action taken or just a verbal “don’t do this again,” or it can be as major as a suspension or total revocation of your pilot’s license or even criminal prosecution, depending.
If you’re not happy with the FAA’s decision, you can take it up with an NTSB Administrative Law Judge. There’s not a ton of information on how that works, but it gets you a hearing in front of a judge. If you still don’t like that outcome, that’s whhn you take it to a U.S. Court of Appeals, where they can override or uphold any previous decisions.
Here’s a nice flow chart from AVweb of the order of events:
