General

Bogus jet pilot flew for 13 years

Swedish man’s scam reprises movie Catch Me If You Can—except this guy actually operated the planes

Airline passengers have to show no end of documentation to get on a flight these days—passports, tickets, boarding passes, baggage vouchers. They might ask the same of the guys in the cockpit. Yesterday, a Swedish “pilot” was arrested shortly before he was to take off in a Boeing 737 carrying 101 people from Schipol Airport in Amsterdam, and now is charged with flying without an license. The 41-year-old man had apparently logged 10,000 hours over 13 years flying for European airlines with nothing more than an expired license to fly small aircraft. He was most recently employed by Turkey’s Cornedon Airlines, and was bound for Ankara when the bust took place. Authorities say he’d forged his papers to fly jetliners but was so tired of living his lie he happily tore off his epaulets when the cops arrived in the cockpit. Fasten your seatbelts indeed.

New York Daily News

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