Non-Certificated Airline Pilot Arrested

[EHM-1749 Hector]

A 41-year-old Swedish man who was about to pilot a Boeing 737 with 101 passengers aboard was arrested this week at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport for falsifying papers that had allowed him to fly for 13 years without valid certification. He had been flying for Corendon Airlines (Turkey) for two years, but said his career had spanned airlines in Belgium, Britain and Italy, and had allowed him to log more than 10,000 flight hours, by using falsified documents. Few details are yet available, but the man was reportedly in place, in the cockpit, and ready to fly the jet from Amsterdam to Ankara, Turkey, when arrested. Authorities say that he reacted by pulling his pilot stripes from his shoulders and expressing relief that he'd at long last been caught.


The arrested "pilot" had once held a valid pilot's certificate, police told BBC news, but the certificate had expired, "and did not allow him to fly large jets." A spokesman for Corendon said the man had "expertly misled the company with false papers." The airline had been notified of the impending arrest and had a pilot standing by to fly the jet to its destination. As for the suspect, he is now in custody and awaiting trial for forgery of documents and flying without a valid and appropriate pilot certificate.


 

[EHM-1465 Dominic]

In this modern age with so many details available online (your driving licence and car insurance for instance) it seems surprising that anyone could get away with this kind of forgery. But not the first time, I'm sure 

[EHM-1749 Hector]

That's true indeed. How many pilots will be actually on the same situation? I don't really think that any serious airline would accept this. However, I wonder about charters flights, low-fare airlines, etc. However, this pilot says he was working for airlines in the UK, Belgium and Italy. This is a major breach in safety and control that sooner or later will lead to a major disaster. What about the Airline Pilots Association? What about the Regulatory Bodies? It is very hard to believe that this pilot could maintain that secret for so many years without having the temptation to comment it to someone. Just to let them know how smart he is.

[EHM-1749 Hector]

Thomas Salme, 41, who acted as captain of a Boeing 737 without proper certification, has been banned from flying for 12 months by a Dutch court and charged with a fine of about $2700. Prosecutors had sought a fine of roughly $18,000 more, plus a 90-day jail term, but the judge rejected the higher penalties and said prosecutors had not properly presented forgery charges. Over the 13 years Salme had been flying professionally as a commercial pilot, he had acquired more than 10,000 flight hours without an accident or incident. He did so without proper certification and with an Airline Transport Pilot certificate that he'd falsified. He was arrested at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport on March 2, as he sat in the captain's seat of a Corendon Airlines (Turkey) Boeing 737 with 101 aboard. He was released to his home in Milan two weeks later.

Salme's defense attorney said at the beginning of his career, his client didn't have the money to acquire proper credentials and realized only after he'd taken a job as a commercial pilot that he was technically unqualified for the position. Salme had only been with Corendon for two years at the time of his arrest, but had flown previously with airlines in Belgium, Britain and Italy. His attorney said Salme did not intend to work again as a pilot upon completion of his flight privileges suspension.