The way I understand it:
He was never a flight engineer, but worked at SAA Ops as a dispatcher until he had a CPL when he joined SAA as a pilot.
SAA has a condition of employment that all pilots have to have an ATPL within 5 years after starting or be dismissed.
The SA-CAA still uses an almost illegible and obsolete paper license system where you get new "pages" for your license booklet at each renewal.
These plastic booklets with transparent sleeves come in different colours (blue for a CPL and green for an ATPL)
There are only three places/lines in this booklet of pages where the words Airline Transport Pilot/Commercial Pilot or ATPL/CPL appear. The rest of the license is identical.
When the 5 years were coming up, the pilot had still not acquired his ATPL, so he apparently found a green booklet and doctored his valid CPL into an ATPL. I don't know if he ever passed the exams, but he certainly never held the license.
For the next 20 years, he annually went through the same process of document fraud, while maintaining full airline currency as per SAA's training programme.
He refused upgrade when it was due. He continued to refuse the upgrade for at least the last 10 years.
SAA is probably correct when they say that safety was not compromised. By all accounts he was a model FO and operated well.
Document fraud is a crime and it is conceivable that there will be criminal charges.
I think almost all the SA airlines are/were vulnerable to this type of fraud due to the CAA's obsolete licensing system. I assume they are all now doing a thorough license audit.
His ALPA membership was immediately terminated and his actions have been condemned by his peers, colleagues and employer.
Last edited by nugpot; 6th Mar 2019 at 15:38.