Pilot spent 17 years flying Boeing jets across the globe, but a routine audit revealed his entire career was based on a lie

An Air Canada pilot with 17 years of experience has been found to have a fake license. The pilot in question had flown several hundred flights carrying thousands of passengers, only to be found guilty of a forged flying license. Police reported that he never obtained an ATPL-A, which is normally required to become a captain of a passenger airplane.

According to Brobible, the investigations into this case and others were ongoing for a long time to uncover the truth, and it was eventually found that the pilot had never received a license and kept flying. NBC News reported on the incident, saying that a “complex fraud and forgery investigation” revealed that the commercial pilot who flew from 1998 to 2025 had falsified a license required to become a captain in 2009. The police deputy chief, Milinovich, compared the case to a movie script.

Deputy Police Chief stated, “This investigation and the details surrounding it read like a movie script. He rose to the position of pilot in command, where for almost 17 years they flew Boeing 767s, 777s, and 787s. This is very similar to a doctor that is licensed to practice family medicine but is doing brain surgery in their office. We believe the accused misrepresented his qualifications to both his employer and the regulator.” This discovery was made as part of fraud investigations made under the project named “Project Icarus.”

Air Canada issued a statement confirming that passengers were not endangered by this 

Air Canada issued a statement on the matter. They appear to be saying that although the pilot did not have the required license, their pilot training program, conducted every six months, equips them to assess flying competency, and that the pilot had exceeded that competency every time he went through mandatory training. But it appears that as soon as the investigation revealed that the pilot was guilty, they removed him from service.

Air Canada stated, “Immediately upon Air Canada’s discovery of this, the individual was removed from active duty, and the company voluntarily reported the matter to Transport Canada.” Talking about the safety compromise of the passengers, they stated, “Throughout his employment with Air Canada, the individual in question was a fully trained pilot who held a valid Commercial Pilot License, and he successfully met or exceeded the required recurrent training, demonstrating a high level of competency to safely operate large aircraft.” 

The pilot has been arrested by the police and was reportedly charged with seven counts, including fraud, uttering forged documents, and public mischief. Even though the pilot has been removed from duty and might not be able to fly again, in my opinion, he pulled off one of the most unsafe stunts in his flying career. Fortunately, the passengers remained safe all these years.