MathFox - I do not agree with your analysis here. I suspect that from what you are written, you are not a professional pilot. That is absolutely fine but most pilots would completely disagree with you. If an individual has obtained 'real' hours by lying and deception, as was the case with the Airtours guy, then he should not be rewarded for doing so. In my judjement he has disqualified himself from future employment as a commercial pilot at any time in the future. The key thing here is that not only must there be punishment of the individual but also warning for others not to do the same thing. There are many thousands of young people who are submitting themselves to the rigours of professional examinations and selection against their peers for the relatively small numbers of jobs available. Someone with, for example, a military fast jet background is much more likely to gain employment than someone without. If that experience turns out to be falsified then the indiviudal has gained a totally unfair advantage. He must not be seen to profit in any way from such deceit. It is no different from employing a surgeon who never really was one, but who actually carried out dozens of appendix removals on the grounds that he actually now has a lot of experience. We simply cannot have such people around our industry to avoid any possible encouragement to others who would contemplate such dishonesty.