Good on CASA. Logbook fraud is one of my major hates and I'm glad to see that one aviation agency has the required danglies to do something about it. Loss of licence is the correct penalty IMHO. It sounds a bit draconian, but if some one has the audacity to commit fraud to the extent that he is prepared to endanger himself and other people by claiming skills and experience they don't have, it's the correct one.
Other authorities do have safeguards in place. In Italy, every logbook entry has to be countersigned or stamped by the aircraft's operator. The CAA (UK) has been actively checking up on pilots who have been hours building in the US claiming huge numbers of hours in short time periods and have caught a couple of people and a lot of military logbooks are countersigned. In the RAF, we had monthly and yearly summaries, each countersigned by two people.
However, this didn't stop some. I was flying with a UK long haul operation where commands were coming fast and there was a race for guys to get the minimum hours. One ex RAF fast jet pilot applied for a command, but the fact he had more hours than his contemporaries didn't ring true to the company. They got some of his ex colleauges from his old squadron who were with the company to check his logbook and he has fictitious hours.
And even worse, with one of the UK Charter companies, one F/O passed his command. The company asked him to bring his log book in for endorsement. the chief pilot was suprised to see his RAF logbook claimed he was on a squadron with himself at the same time, but the chief pilot didn't remember him. Turns out his whole RAF flying career was a fabrication as he had actually been an Air Traffic Controller! He was prosecuted by the CAA as well as being sacked.
I have heard of pilots bragging about P51 hours in thir logbook (that's Parker 51 and not Mustang!) - they are stupid. If I had one making such a claim, I would have no compuncture about shopping them.
Last edited by Dan Winterland; 6th Jun 2009 at 04:47.