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Pilot arrested on 737 for flying with forged license
"A pilot was arrested in the cockpit of a packed passenger jet just before take-off — for flying for 13 YEARS with a FAKE license." That's the lead paragraph from an article in the British tabloid The Sun, one of numerous media outlets reporting on a story coming out of the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Media reports say the 41-year-old Swedish man was in the cockpit of a Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 preparing to take off from Amsterdam to Ankara, Turkey. Dutch police boarded the jet, which was carrying 101 passengers, and arrested the man on a tip from Swedish authorities. Radio Netherlands Worldwide says "the Turkish low-budget airline was informed in advance and had a second pilot lined up to take over the flight."
CNN says "it's apparently not the first time the man, whose identity was not divulged, has tried to fly without a license. Investigators in Sweden charged the man several years ago with flying with a fake license, but they did not pursue the case because they couldn't find him, said Anders Lundblad, a spokesman for the Swedish Transport Agency."
Radio Netherlands Worldwide adds "the fake pilot says he has been flying for 13 years on a false license and had spent at least 10,000 hours flying hours in the cockpit. He had worked for airlines in Belgium, Great Britain and Italy. Once arrested, he appeared relieved that his deception had come to light and immediately removed his stripes. The man did have a pilot's license, but it was not valid for passenger aircraft, so he had falsified it." Other reports say the man's license had expired and was never renewed.
The Sun says a lawyer for Corendon Airlines tells the paper that the man had "expertly misled the company with his false papers." The Daily Mail of London cites a Dutch police statement as saying: "The pilot said he was relieved that his misdeeds had come to light, and he pulled off his stripes at the time of his arrest."
"A pilot was arrested in the cockpit of a packed passenger jet just before take-off — for flying for 13 YEARS with a FAKE license." That's the lead paragraph from an article in the British tabloid The Sun, one of numerous media outlets reporting on a story coming out of the Netherlands on Wednesday.
Media reports say the 41-year-old Swedish man was in the cockpit of a Corendon Airlines Boeing 737 preparing to take off from Amsterdam to Ankara, Turkey. Dutch police boarded the jet, which was carrying 101 passengers, and arrested the man on a tip from Swedish authorities. Radio Netherlands Worldwide says "the Turkish low-budget airline was informed in advance and had a second pilot lined up to take over the flight."
CNN says "it's apparently not the first time the man, whose identity was not divulged, has tried to fly without a license. Investigators in Sweden charged the man several years ago with flying with a fake license, but they did not pursue the case because they couldn't find him, said Anders Lundblad, a spokesman for the Swedish Transport Agency."
Radio Netherlands Worldwide adds "the fake pilot says he has been flying for 13 years on a false license and had spent at least 10,000 hours flying hours in the cockpit. He had worked for airlines in Belgium, Great Britain and Italy. Once arrested, he appeared relieved that his deception had come to light and immediately removed his stripes. The man did have a pilot's license, but it was not valid for passenger aircraft, so he had falsified it." Other reports say the man's license had expired and was never renewed.
The Sun says a lawyer for Corendon Airlines tells the paper that the man had "expertly misled the company with his false papers." The Daily Mail of London cites a Dutch police statement as saying: "The pilot said he was relieved that his misdeeds had come to light, and he pulled off his stripes at the time of his arrest."
