Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

Fake pilot flew A320 airbus into Gatwick

  • 11-05-2013 2:34pm
    #1
    Cork boy 55
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,324 ✭✭✭


    A former USAF pilot faked an ID and got a job with a Libyan airline
    On the run now He was caught as a result of an internet forum chat
    I guess internet forums are good for something.

    A CONMAN forged a pilot's licence and medical certificates to obtain a job flying passengers into the UK on the Libyan state-owned airline, Afriqiyah Airways.
    Michael Fay, a US national who settled in Alton, Hampshire, spent eight months piloting an Airbus A320, ferrying passengers into Gatwick Airport.

    (.)

    Fay, a former US Air Force pilot, was employed by Afriqiyah Airways between June 1, 2010 until he was arrested on February 3, 2011. Police were only alerted to his fraud when another pilot became suspicious while talking to him on an internet forum.

    http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/conman-who-faked-pilots-licence-flew-passengers-into-gatwick-29259507.html


Comments

  • #2
    Schnitzel Muncher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 349 ✭✭Schnitzel Muncher


    Note to self: Never fly with Afriqiyah Airways.


  • #3
    lintdrummer
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,808 ✭✭✭lintdrummer


    I'd love to have a read through the thread where he gave himself away. I wonder was it pprune?


  • #4
    joegriffinjnr
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 686 ✭✭✭joegriffinjnr


    airliners.net apparently. Thread has been deleted.


  • #5
    Bsal
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,780 ✭✭✭Bsal


    He was obviously able to do the job, 8 months and nobody noticed.


  • #6
    Tenger
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 10,005 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tenger


    Bsal wrote: »
    He was obviously able to do the job, 8 months and nobody noticed.

    I agree....he was actually NOT a "fake pilot"....merely working under an assumed identity.....


  • Advertisement
  • #7
    Schnitzel Muncher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 349 ✭✭Schnitzel Muncher


    Tenger wrote: »
    I agree....he was actually NOT a "fake pilot"....merely working under an assumed identity.....

    Was he qualified / certified (whatever the term is) to fly this plane?


  • #8
    Xenophile
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,073 ✭✭✭Xenophile


    Schnitzel Muncher wrote: »
    Note to self: Never fly with Afriqiyah Airways.

    Notes to self are a great idea, thanks for the tip!

    The Forum on Spirituality has been closed for years. Please bring it back, there are lots of Spiritual people in Ireland and elsewhere.



  • #9
    Schnitzel Muncher
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 349 ✭✭Schnitzel Muncher


    Xenophile wrote: »
    Notes to self are a great idea, thanks for the tip!

    No problem. If you don't have a post it you can send yourself an email.


  • #10
    Tenger
    Moderators, Motoring & Transport Moderators Posts: 10,005 Mod ✭✭✭✭Tenger


    Schnitzel Muncher wrote: »
    Was he qualified / certified (whatever the term is) to fly this plane?
    From the article.......looks like he forged his type cert perhaps? The HR company didn't do a proper background check and Afriqiyah were duped....
    "We are currently investigating this matter but we understand that his engagement with us may have been arranged through a third-party broker who should have vetted his documentation and credentials before recommending him as a contractor with Afriqiyah Airways.......
    At no time did his behaviour or demeanour draw attention to his ability or competence to fly the aircraft either with his colleagues or the station staff at Gatwick."


  • #11
    keith16
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,061 ✭✭✭keith16


    Could there be potential repercussions for the airline?


  • Advertisement
  • #12
    Locker10a
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 4,217 Mod ✭✭✭✭Locker10a


    keith16 wrote: »
    Could there be potential repercussions for the airline?

    If it transpires that they did not complete a correct background check then possible! But then there dont fall under European Regulation!


  • #13
    squonk
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,990 ✭✭✭squonk


    I'll probably offend the jobbing pilots here but as an ex USAF pilot you'd have to assume he was at least flying fairly similar equipment, if not more advanced aircraft than the 320. I'd have to assume he didn't have a type certification but certainly knew all the controls, settings and what everything was and did.


  • #14
    DieselPowered
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 686 ✭✭✭DieselPowered


    Why is it so hard to grasp he learned what to do on the A320? He probably learned it from YouTube..as you do.

    Fly the Airbus A320 - Part 1


  • #15
    brandon_flowers
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,657 ✭✭✭brandon_flowers


    squonk wrote: »
    I'll probably offend the jobbing pilots here but as an ex USAF pilot you'd have to assume he was at least flying fairly similar equipment, if not more advanced aircraft than the 320. I'd have to assume he didn't have a type certification but certainly knew all the controls, settings and what everything was and did.

    I'd have to agree as another non-pilot. He obviously knew what he was doing. It wasn't really a case of arriving in off the road and off down the runway with an A320. And I'm sure Afriqiyah Airways were delighted to have an ex USAF pilot on the books. They probably thought he was the next Chesley Sullenberger.

    The story just reminds me of Tom in Father Ted "Tis my money Father, I just didn't want to fill out de forms"


  • #16
    lomb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,017 ✭✭✭lomb


    I would think flying a bus like an A320 could be done by anyone with a multi CPL/ IR after probably a week reading the POH and a few hours in a sim. After all an aeroplane is an aeroplane. Everyone would have you believe what they do is the most difficult thing in the world but the reality is usually very different. How you react under pressure is a different matter of course and being type rated would of course help here. Its quite funny as to why he would resort to that though considering aviation is very heavily regulated.


  • #17
    Flier
    Closed Accounts Posts: 345 ✭✭Flier


    lomb wrote: »
    I would think flying a bus like an A320 could be done by anyone with a multi CPL/ IR after probably a week reading the POH and a few hours in a sim. After all an aeroplane is an aeroplane. Everyone would have you believe what they do is the most difficult thing in the world but the reality is usually very different. How you react under pressure is a different matter of course and being type rated would of course help here. Its quite funny as to why he would resort to that though considering aviation is very heavily regulated.

    Maybe someone with a multi CPL/IR, a MCC and a proper TR on another large commercial jet (or military transport jet which was probably the case here). But CPL/IR to normal ops in an A320 after a week of book work and a spin in the sim? I don't think so. Have you ever flown a 320 (or anything similar)?


  • #18
    lomb
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,017 ✭✭✭lomb


    Flier wrote: »
    Maybe someone with a multi CPL/IR, a MCC and a proper TR on another large commercial jet (or military transport jet which was probably the case here). But CPL/IR to normal ops in an A320 after a week of book work and a spin in the sim? I don't think so. Have you ever flown a 320 (or anything similar)?

    I havent but how hard could it be? Obviously this guy could do it:D
    Ok ok it would probably take more than a few hours in a sim, maybe quite a few, but probably not too many. Doesnt the A320 virtually fly itself anyway with the pilots taking over for a few minutes at the beginning and end?


  • #19
    smurfjed
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,431 ✭✭✭✭smurfjed


    Doesnt the A320 virtually fly itself anyway with the pilots taking over for a few minutes at the beginning and end?
    They are all easy to fly when things work correctly :) But flying is the easiest part, there is a lot more involved in "managing" an aircraft.

    smurfjed


  • #20
    Flier
    Closed Accounts Posts: 345 ✭✭Flier


    lomb wrote: »
    Obviously this guy could do it:D

    Like I said, he was ex USAF, so either a fast jet pilot (ie the elite) or a transport catagory pilot (ie similar ops to commercial transport).


    lomb wrote: »
    Doesnt the A320 virtually fly itself anyway with the pilots taking over for a few minutes at the beginning and end?

    And that, my friend is the kind of elementary mistake that will get you killed! When the AP is engaged, the pilot is still very much 'flying' the aircraft. As Smurfjed said, there's a lot more to it than hand flying. It's managing the situation (normal or otherwise), and things happen a whole lot faster in a jet. As a colleague once put it - 'for the first few months, the airplane takes you places, after a while, you catch up with it, and then begin to take it places'!


Advertisement