WARMINGTON: Peel cops caught this Air Canada pilot without proper licence because they could
· Toronto Sun
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Catch me if you can!
Well, Peel Police did catch this Air Canada pilot who was allegedly operating flights without an appropriate licence.
This was no Hollywood drama with Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks depicting the skyway man Frank Abiganle Jr. flying around in the jump seat being chased by FBI agent Carl Hanratty.
This was a real-life drama where there was a captain in the cockpit flying routine flights without being properly licensed.
But it is the stuff of movies.
It’s not the first weird set of circumstances with an Air Canada pilot. A pilot was suspended in 2009 for allegedly smelling of alcohol. In 2023, in a rare move of putting one of their own pilots on a no-fly list, the airline suspended and later terminated a pilot for wearing a pro-Palestinian scarf in a picture in his uniform posted to social media.
Pearson International Airport has also had its share of drama in recent years — from plane crashes to gold heists , to drug smuggling to the infiltration of organized crime to an armed “high risk offender” male being shot by Peel Police and now, allegedly, a pilot flying in and out without the proper credentials to do so.
Pilot didn’t hold right licence
While the passengers on hundreds of Air Canada flights had real tickets to fly that day, Peel Police allege the pilot did not have the appropriate licence.
And now that pilot has been grounded and is facing criminal charges.
“Peel Regional Police will announce the results of Project Icarus, a complex fraud investigation involving a former airline captain who allegedly flew hundreds of flights without the necessary licence,” they say in a News Release.
There will be more information provided at 11 a.m. when Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich address the media.
“Safety was not compromised by this incident because all pilots at Air Canada undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying competency, including a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every 12 months,” said a statement posted to the Air Canada website.
Perhaps out of this case could come new regulations that require the licences displayed prominently for all trusting passengers and inspectors to see when they board a passenger commercial flight? This can’t just be glossed over as an administrative paperwork issue.
The charges against the pilot have not been tested in court. This captain’s side of the story is still not known.
Who will play pilot and cops in movie?
While the airline indicates the pilot is no longer at Air Canada, the company in their release did say he was a competent pilot when he did fly for them.
“Throughout his employment with Air Canada, the individual in question was a fully trained pilot who held a valid Commercial Pilot Licence, and he successfully met or exceeded the required recurrent training, demonstrating a high level of competency to safely operate large aircraft.”
Does that make anybody feel any better?
Air Canada explained, “regulations require that captains of large aircraft operated by airlines in Canada hold an airline transport pilot licence (ATPL), obtained by passing a series of written exams,.”
The airline added, “this individual, who had been promoted to captain, lacked the mandatory ATPL for the position. 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.”
Does that cover them? Or is this a bigger problem than the flying public realizes?
The Montreal Gazette reported Transport Canada had 18 incidents of pilots not having the proper licence just last year, and they issued $67,500 in fines as a result. But now a Montreal-based pilot has been charged in a robust police sting. As more details emerge, one of the questions is who is going to play the pilot in the movie and who’s going to play the lead cop?
Catch it in the theatres or on TV or a streaming service or even on a flight in the near future if you can.