Is it possible to impersonate an Airline Pilot?
Airlines
Mr Quiet asked:
That guy in that movie “Catch me if you can” pretended to be an Airline pilot? Say if I practiced on Microsoft simulator and faked a pilot’s license and made up some flight hours in a log book would it be possible to fool the airlines into employing me as a pilot?
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That guy in that movie “Catch me if you can” pretended to be an Airline pilot? Say if I practiced on Microsoft simulator and faked a pilot’s license and made up some flight hours in a log book would it be possible to fool the airlines into employing me as a pilot?
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August 20th, 2008 at 7:01 am
Its possible. There was a bit on The Man Show once where the guys dressed up like airline pilots and then hung out at an airport bar pretending to be VERY drunk, the cameras caught peoples’ reactions to the idea of two blind drunk pilots getting ready to fly, it was hilarious.
August 20th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Maybe in the past. Not these days. There is a lot more screening going on.
August 24th, 2008 at 5:33 am
Frank Abagnale impersonated an airline pilot to get free flights and to cash fake cheques as people tended to trust men dressed as pilots. I don’t think he ever tried to fly an airliner. The movie is based on fact though whether everything in it is exactly right I don’t know. I first heard of him way back in the days before they caught him.
August 27th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
No. You do not know how to run the airplane, yet your still a boy of very young age., but you can change the pilot in simple imagination only.
jtm
August 30th, 2008 at 4:55 am
Not hardly.
You’re gonna need more than papers to fool an airline into hiring you as a pilot.
They will want to contact any schools that would have given you flight training and/or certification. Then they will verify your flight hours with whatever company/school you logged them with.
Then I’m sure there is a battery of testing before they let you fly…
And they’re going to want to see your past employers… and verify those.
And if you slip up just once in the process and get caught with these forged documents you’re going to be in prison when airplanes are obsolete.
August 30th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Only if you want to be brought up on Federal charges of fraud, attempted murder, hijacking, and grand theft. I’m sure there are more charges for which you will be put away for life, but those are off the top of my head…
September 1st, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Very recently actually, a man in China pulled a stunt where he dressed as a pilot, actually made it into the cockpit and tookoff as one of the co-pilots for the flight. Eventually the pilots realised something was wrong when his knowledge of aviation was not very good. The flight was completed as planned where he was immediately detained.
So there is some truth to this. It is possible. Right place, right time, good counterfeited credentials. If you played a good flight simulator and studied actual aviation books and procedures for the aircraft you were planning to fly, I bet someone with a little bit of charisma could pull it off. However, just because you successfully get yourself into the cockpit and into the air doesn’t mean you are not going to get found out. Your name and credentials will likely not match up well when you arrive, especially if it is an international flight.
September 3rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Considering the very poor flying abilities of some of the captains I know who fly for the major airlines, I can assure you that it is possible to impersonate an airline pilot. Almost everybody I’ve fired over the years because they couldn’t pass a check ride is now an airline captain. Union contracts you see.
September 5th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
I work at an Airport as security and know that when you sign up to work at an airport you undergo extensive life history checks, just a basic job in the airport requires you to submit 10 years of living addresses and the rest. You could get your flying ticket OK I suppose but to actually get yourself into a Boeing for an airliner would be much much harder. As for sneaking in, you wouldn’t get past me anyway
September 7th, 2008 at 12:29 am
Well things have changed today…there’s much more security checks and background checks, employment history checks and even education checks…they even check your credit nowadays before you can get a job…all of that didn’t exist in the 60s when Frank Abagnale Jr. conned everyone…and besides, he was a really smart guy, who could learn anything in no time…
If you can practice on flight simulator, and fly a plane in real life???Yes and no….it helps develop your skills (real simulators not the games sold at best buy lol) but if you’re talking about the microsoft games, then no….atleast i don’t think so.
September 9th, 2008 at 7:56 am
To get your answer, call 1-800-ICA-NFLY or 1-GOF-LYA-KITE.
Oh, and call the FAA FSDO and ask them.
September 10th, 2008 at 11:34 am
No. The character in “Catch Me If You Can” never actually got behind the controls of an airplane. But he DID practice medicine, law and was a teacher. So watch out for your fake doctors, lawyers and teachers.
When the police stop you and ask for your license, they check your name and number in the computer. It is the same with pilots- everyone with a license has a number and is listed with the Federal Aviation Administration. Airlines check this along with other things- a 10 year background check, your employment, your flight school, your log book and who signed it, your medical history. Pilots are also required to have special medical exams done regularly by FAA examiners- this will also be checked.
You would get found out. Your employment would be denied. Go to flight school if you want to be a pilot.
Good luck
Ken
September 10th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
They will check with your training providers, and your past employers as well.
You won’t get a job with an airline without the two above, soimple as that.
So No
September 14th, 2008 at 6:49 am
No.
You’d fail the background check.
When you interview, the airline requests a copy of your FAA airman record and certificates. If you don’t have one it’s pretty obvious you have faked your credentials.
September 17th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
No, you would not be able to answer the first question of the interview!… and if you did get sent to training, when they saw how far behind the curve you were, you would fail training and then be arrested…
September 20th, 2008 at 2:33 am
i wouldn’t want to get caught!!!