Fake pilot takes SriLankan Airlines for a ride

Rizer

Well-Known Member
Civil Aviation authorities yesterday revoked the licence of a SriLankan Airlines flight captain after it was revealed that the man was a fake, a top official said. Civil Aviation Director General Parakrama Dissanayake said the pilot, a German national, had gained employment with the airlines, producing cleverly-doctored documents.

He said the decision to revoke the licence was taken after Sri Lankan Airline submitted clear evidence which suggested that the suspect had forged documents regarding his qualifications and experience.
Mr. Dissanayake said the man was later summoned to the Civil Aviation Authority office for an inquiry conducted by senior flight officers. It was thereafter decided to revoke the license with immediate effect.
The German national joined the national carrier in 2007 and had piloted flights to various capitals, risking the lives of thousands of passengers and crew as well as many others on the ground, SriLankan Airlines sources said. They said the suspect had not only possessed a forged pilot license but also carried three different passports.

It has now been revealed that the man was not a qualified airline captain but a low ranking flight officer and not eligible to pilot an Airbus A 340.

During his stay with SriLankan Airlines he had flown the Airbus A 340 that touched down in many busy airports such as Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris and Dubai, the sources said.

www.sundaytimes.lk/080727/News/sundaytimesnews_11.html
 
Whoa. Thats disturbing. So... he was a qualified first officer just not on that type?
 
. . .so, what I'm hearing is that it's really easy to fly a jetliner!

Well the guy did have previous airline experience although as a first officer. Looks like a faked his experience level to get the job and passed SriLankan's training. I willing to bet you can take any regional FO with a couple years experience and train them to Captain a 777 or A340 around the world like this guy did.
 
Well the guy did have previous airline experience although as a first officer. Looks like a faked his experience level to get the job and passed SriLankan's training. I willing to bet you can take any regional FO with a couple years experience and train them to Captain a 777 or A340 around the world like this guy did.

...daaayumm, way to ruin my day brah. Was just about to take a drive down to Guadalupe!
 
Well i've heard that airbus pretty much flies themselves sooooooo no shocker that he did it. I bet even an 18 year old could.
 
Well i've heard that airbus pretty much flies themselves sooooooo no shocker that he did it. I bet even an 18 year old could.

LOLOL

I was just waiting for an Airbus joke :)

He probably falsified logbook entries to get the job, and then they found out- that's my guess as to what happened.

What's the take home lesson? Don't falsify entries.
 
Maybe I am full of myself but when I had the chance to fly in a Level D 757 sim and shoot the ILS into JFK, I had only 17 hours in a c172. Those damn needles stayed centered and airspeed was within +/- 5 knots all the way down with no auto pilot on.
Bigger the airplane, the easier it is to fly. Things just happen faster and the systems are more complex. I think an AirNet pilot flying a Baron has more mastery of flying skills than any airline pilot.
 
Bigger the airplane, the easier it is to fly. Things just happen faster and the systems are more complex. I think an AirNet pilot flying a Baron has more mastery of flying skills than any airline pilot.

My observed opinion is that most planes have it's own individual set of challenges. For example, there are some aspects of flying a 152 that can make it more difficult to fly than a Piper Chieftan and vice versa....

The larger the aircraft, the further you get away from just flying the aircraft to more of a systems management role. Since the larger aircraft is more complex, there is a lot more that can go wrong that will have more of a negative impact on the flight. The ole' snowball effect is much greater in the larger aircraft.
 
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