First Officer flies 13 years without license
 

Authorities at Amsterdam Schiphol airport arrested a 41yo Swedish first officer with a falsified licence certificate. The pilot admitted that he had flown for 13 years without proper papers. At the moment of his arrest he was preparing to fly a 737 with 101 passengers to Ankara.

Fuller story (in Dutch): Co-piloot vliegt 13 jaar zonder brevet | nu.nl/buitenland | Het laatste nieuws het eerst op nu.nl

Just one word...

HOW? :rolleyes:

Well, he can't be too much of a dummy if he's bamboozled colleagues and passed sim rides, type conversions all that time.

Interesting to know the airline involved though.

I guess after 13 years and that amount of commitment he would have been a better choice to fly the aircraft than some SSTR guys out there! :ok:

Let him through :=

He has (had) some pilot licenses, but not the appropriate commercial license. Somehow he obtained an imitation of the official license papers... (crafted one himself?)

So far it seems a case of "capable but not qualified", but I have seen no proof of his capacities. :E

Edit: there were two flights to Ankara on 2/3: TK 1958 and CAI 0202; I don't know which of the two flights was involved.

How?
 

Question: when the issuance of a license costs many hundred €'s/£'s/¥'s, why don't most of these pilot's licenses have any advanced anti-fraud characteristics like for example a photo (duh!) and a much harder to fake hologram etc?

CAA's around this globe are raking in millions in "fees" and what we pilots get in return is a lousy piece of paper that any high school kid with a scanner can fake!

Even the average ID card, driver's license or credit card have better anti-fraud measures in place... :eek:

p.s. what's really hilarious IMHO is that when you do your yearly license renewal that the TRE can just sign your license.

Who on earth is ever going to verify (for example during a ramp check or job application) that this "TRE" really is a TRE and that you really did pass that sim check? :confused:

Agaricus, looks like a code share between Turkish Airlines and something called Corendon.

Schiphol departures yesterday.

The better one was the Eastern Airlines Captain...same idea, even faked his way into an Air National Guard Unit flying fighters...it happens...

Dudley

did he have a scar on his chin/cheek?

"Badges? BADGES??? I don' need to sho no steenkeen badges!!"

The TRE signs the lcense but doesn't the paperwork go to the Regulatory Authourity of the issuing country.

Competent but not qualified, better than the other way around.

Some day they will make a film about his life.:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

Link to English language article: Dutch authorities arrest Boeing 737 pilot who had no valid pilot license

False Swedish licence
 

I understand that the 'first officer' was actually a training captain with a Turkish airline.

Dutch news now confirms that the company is Corendon.

edit -

CAI 0202 , Boeing 737-400 / TCTJC

What was the UK airline he flew for??

Of course the paperwork goes to the responsible CAA, but does anybody actually verify this? I don't think so... so basically anybody with a photocopier and half a clue to what goes on inside a cockpit can bluff his/her way into a job.

The only thing that gets checked thoroughly is the National Disclosure stuff (because "we can't let the terrorists win" :} ) but I guess that this can be circumvented by giving bankrupt airlines (plenty of those around!) as past employers! ;)

Doug The Head.... I have been recently laid off by a bankrupted airline, and am in the process of applying for an airport ID.

You can't even fool them like that. I had to get a letter from HMRC confirming the start & end dates of my employment with GSM!:eek:

This guy must have had forged documentation, surely....

LJ

Not necessary. At least in the U.S., you can check whether or not a person has a pilot's license (and the exact type held, with restrictions and current medical) in a few seconds on the Web, because that data is public information. In fact, the whole idea of making the information publicly available in a database is to avoid this type of scenario. Licenses cannot be forged because anyone can see if the license matches the FAA database in a few seconds.

Of course, this assumes that an employer actually takes the time to look the data up, instead of just glancing at what looks like a license and accepting it at face value.

It's different with something like a banknote, which you have to evaluate on its own merits. But with a license, assuming you have positive identification of the individual to which it refers, and with access to an online database, you can see if the license is real in a few seconds. The license could be scrawled on tissue paper and it would still be just as secure, as long as you have the person's ID and the database. But you do have to take the time to actually check that database.

That will be the same Corendon that didn't take any applicants recently from the two agencies offering a "normal" contract salary, but left their ad active with the dodgy one offering the same job for 1000€ a month less.
Guess if you insist on paying less than normal you can't expect guys to "actually" have a licence :ok:

Would love to know who this guy was, having operated in companies in all of the countries mentioned in the report, I feel sure I must know of him.
Anyway, just goes to show. . .paperwork Phaw ! ! := it's ability that counts :D

Just as well he never had a whoopsy, that would have been a difficult one with the insurance companies.