confirm???
 

Hi guys!

Sorry guys, but I don't know if my question really belongs to this group.

I have applied for an airline. They called and told me that they were going to confirm my documents and hours from the authority where I live. Is that normal? They said that there were so many people lying about their hours and certificates that they were enforced to check it out. To begin with I thought it was strange. BUt when I thought about it, it gave sense.

Have you ever experienced that? Thanks in advance!

I doubt they can do this without your permission. I don't think they can lift the phone and ask you local CAA to verify personal details without some sort of personal authorisation. I may be incorrect, however data protection may prevent them from verifying anything more than the fact that you hold a licence.

How can your authority know how many hours you have?

You fill out flight hours in details everytime you do a PC. And those papers are given to your local authority, before you get the certificate.

To me this makes sense and I would expect (or rather hope) that any employer did the same regardless of recent press exposure.

Application forms should be changed to include a section giving permission under data protection to contact at least the CAA. Whether contacting previous employers up to but not including the current one is a good idea without a firm job offer is debatable as news of such checks could reach your current employer which may cause you problems.