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-   -   BA CityFlyer driver jailed for dodgy logbook (https://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/645975-ba-cityflyer-driver-jailed-dodgy-logbook.html)

Globally Challenged 31st Mar 2022 13:44

BA CityFlyer driver jailed for dodgy logbook
 
Evening Standard



A pilot has been jailed for lying about his flying experience to get a job with British Airways, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said.

Craig Butfoy, of Matfield, Kent, made false claims to get and retain work with British Airways subsidiary BA CityFlyer – based at London City Airport – and former Irish regional airline Stobart Air, between April 2016 and March 2018.

He entered false details and altered entries in his flight logbook so it appeared he was more experienced than he was.

Butfoy was handed a 12-month prison sentence at Snaresbrook Crown Court, east London, on Monday after pleading guilty to four charges of fraud at an earlier hearing, according to the CAA.

Jonathan Spence, general counsel at the CAA, said: “The Civil Aviation Authority’s prosecution and the sentence imposed show that offences of this kind are taken very seriously by the Civil Aviation Authority and the courts.

3wheels 31st Mar 2022 16:33

No mention of licence revocation? If ever there was a case....

Timmy Tomkins 31st Mar 2022 17:48

More on Sky https://news.sky.com/story/british-a...t-job-12578731

I woud be interested to know how he was rumbled. I assume he met the standard? MAybe not

MaximumPete 31st Mar 2022 17:56

Just wondering if your licence gets revoked if you serve a prison sentence of 12 months or more?

flash8 31st Mar 2022 18:02

Parker Pens are more prolific than one might imagine. I knew one 737 skipper whose alleged experience was pure fabrication as I knew folk in one of his previous companies (Harbour Air, BC) who told me a completely different story. He's now still floating around SE Asia picking up contracts here and there and telling tall tales.

Herod 31st Mar 2022 18:07

Yes the old P51 hours. In the RAF our logbook had to have a summary filled in at the end of the month, and countersigned. Once a year that went as far as the Stn Cdr. I continued with monthly summaries as a civilian, but more for my own interest than any requirement.

macdo 31st Mar 2022 18:34

Years ago we had a guy who had logged loads of mil flying, got in, was capable. I believe he got busted when he got a command and someone who should have known him from their previous life didn't. Turned out he was an ATCo and had logged the hours from the tower. CAA prosecuted and I believe he went to jail. History repeats itself when people forget.

MartinB738 31st Mar 2022 19:20

Hi there is an article in The Times (UK) today on this. Basically it says Ii've removed his name) A pilot who lied about his flying experience to get a job with British Airways was found out after pressing a button that “no qualified pilot would do”, sources have told The Times.

The pilot who has been jailed for fraud, worked for BA CityFlyer, a British Airways subsidiary, and Stobart Air, a former Aer Lingus subsidiary, between April 2016 and March 2018. He worked for each airline for about a year. He obtained work as a pilot after entering false details and altering entries in his flight logbook so it appeared that he was more experienced than he was, Snaresbrook crown court in east London was told.

He was jailed for 12 months on Monday after pleading guilty to four charges of fraud and two breaches of the Air Navigation Order 2016. Sources said that BA CityFlyer bosses became concerned about him after an incident in Switzerland in which he “pressed a button on the ground that no qualified pilot would” and they launched an internal investigation.

My question is, what was the button that the pilot pushed, that no pilot would touch??

alfaman 31st Mar 2022 20:10


Originally Posted by 3wheels (Post 11208612)
No mention of licence revocation? If ever there was a case....

From what I've read, it's not that clear whether he ever had a licence that could be revoked...

Contact Approach 31st Mar 2022 20:32

If he’s been flying for Cityflyer and Stobart then he clearly knew how to fly and was type rated so the whole pressing the wrong button thing doesn’t make any real sense??

WHBM 31st Mar 2022 20:52

If I'm not mistaken Stobart (alias Aer Arann) and Cityflyer never had a common type in this time, the Stobart E190 didn't come until afterwards, so must have purported to have two type ratings on the Embraer jet and the ATR turboprop. All Stobart's fleet, and their AOC, were, I believe, registered in Ireland, not the UK, so wonder what the IAA had to say about this.

May well have flown me once or twice.

Downwind_Left 31st Mar 2022 22:26


Originally Posted by WHBM (Post 11208727)
If I'm not mistaken Stobart (alias Aer Arann) and Cityflyer never had a common type in this time, the Stobart E190 didn't come until afterwards, so must have purported to have two type ratings on the Embraer jet and the ATR turboprop. All Stobart's fleet, and their AOC, were, I believe, registered in Ireland, not the UK, so wonder what the IAA had to say about this.

May well have flown me once or twice.

He got a job on the 190 for Stobart after Cityflyer got rid of him. At the time Stobart were starting an operation on behalf of Cityflyer. I guess someone noticed fairly quickly when the reference request came in.

WHBM 31st Mar 2022 23:31


Originally Posted by Downwind_Left (Post 11208780)
He got a job on the 190 for Stobart after Cityflyer got rid of him. At the time Stobart were starting an operation on behalf of Cityflyer. I guess someone noticed fairly quickly when the reference request came in.

Says he worked for Cityflyer, then Stobart, from April 2016 to March 2018, about a year with each. The first Stobart Embraer was delivered June 2018. It's a bit difficult having a story about hours not adding up when the reported dates don't appear to add up.

I see Cityflyer say he was "fully qualified", so presumably it is the hours that are key rather than not qualified at all.

stilton 1st Apr 2022 05:13


Originally Posted by MartinB738 (Post 11208694)
Hi there is an article in The Times (UK) today on this. Basically it says Ii've removed his name) A pilot who lied about his flying experience to get a job with British Airways was found out after pressing a button that “no qualified pilot would do”, sources have told The Times.

The pilot who has been jailed for fraud, worked for BA CityFlyer, a British Airways subsidiary, and Stobart Air, a former Aer Lingus subsidiary, between April 2016 and March 2018. He worked for each airline for about a year. He obtained work as a pilot after entering false details and altering entries in his flight logbook so it appeared that he was more experienced than he was, Snaresbrook crown court in east London was told.

He was jailed for 12 months on Monday after pleading guilty to four charges of fraud and two breaches of the Air Navigation Order 2016. Sources said that BA CityFlyer bosses became concerned about him after an incident in Switzerland in which he “pressed a button on the ground that no qualified pilot would” and they launched an internal investigation.

My question is, what was the button that the pilot pushed, that no pilot would touch??


Definitely the ‘only fake pilots push this’ button

Atlantic Explorer 1st Apr 2022 06:01

Another one been caught flying G-BIRO.

Had an example of this in my old company. He even had the brass neck to be lecturing others how it should be done in the Flight Deck. I had my suspicions about a couple of others but could never prove it.

Sleeve Wing 1st Apr 2022 10:06

It's been going on for at least 50 years !
I suspected one in the dim and distant when I was a young captain. All his BS just didn't ring true and, although he was quick, knew the manuals inside out and could programme the A/P like a genius, his basic manual flying skills were, well, basic. I've had PPL aeros students who were far more aware of what the aeroplane was doing.
He's presently doing a prison term for something unrelated !

First.officer 1st Apr 2022 10:14


He got caught because he pushed his luck claiming to have worked for a company who didn't even have the type back in 2016
I do know this guy, worked at the same company I did many moons past (is actually as I recall a nice chap) - and obviously in no way, shape or from can condone (or understand!) what he has done - but the outfit we both worked at had a Embraer Lineage 1000 back in 2010, and think he may well have been on that ship there also, prior to that I think he was on Hawkers (HS125).

flash8 1st Apr 2022 11:04


From what I've read, it's not that clear whether he ever had a licence that could be revoked...
The vast majority of Parker pens hold the appropriate licences, type ratings and often experience, it is the exaggeration of that experience or creation of fake hours that becomes their downfall. Virtually all of them could have got where they are a little/much later if they'd not decided on 'shortcuts'.

WHBM 1st Apr 2022 12:27

If you have the licences and type ratings, I am wondering what actual law is broken that leads to a significant custodial event. Sure, you have breached your employers' policy on experience, told an untruth to them about your hours, and are correctly dismissed for that. Cityflyer said he had the correct qualifications. Pulling the "wrong knob" on the ground doesn't normally lead to this.

212man 1st Apr 2022 12:50


Originally Posted by WHBM (Post 11209108)
If you have the licences and type ratings, I am wondering what actual law is broken that leads to a significant custodial event. Sure, you have breached your employers' policy on experience, told an untruth to them about your hours, and are correctly dismissed for that. Cityflyer said he had the correct qualifications. Pulling the "wrong knob" on the ground doesn't normally lead to this.

Article 231: CAP393REFERENCE_ONLY.pdf (caa.co.uk)


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