{"id":726358,"date":"2026-06-10T00:49:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T00:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/726358\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T00:49:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T00:49:12","slug":"police-allege-ex-air-canada-captain-flew-flights-for-decades-with-fraudulent-licensing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/726358\/","title":{"rendered":"Police allege ex-Air Canada captain flew flights for decades with fraudulent licensing"},"content":{"rendered":"

A former captain with Air Canada<\/a> allegedly flew hundreds of flights for decades using fraudulent licensing documents, Peel Regional Police<\/a> say.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Investigators said Tuesday the allegations date back to 2009 and that the pilot had a 27-year career with Air Canada, the country\u2019s largest carrier.<\/p>\n

For 17 years, the pilot captained more than 900 domestic and international flights carrying tens of thousands of passengers and earning millions in salary, Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis investigation and the details surrounding it read like a movie script,\u201d he told reporters at a news conference Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur investigation has led us to believe that this was all done without the appropriate licensing. More specifically, without an airline transport pilot licence, which is a requirement to fly passengers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Acting Det.-Sgt. Chad Michell said the probe began in January when Transport Canada informed police about a regulatory investigation it had completed.<\/p>\n

The event that sparked Transport Canada\u2019s probe occurred in March 2025 at Pearson International Airport during an operational evaluation, Michell said. Credentials and performance anomalies were detected within the pilot licence documentation that was presented.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe the accused misrepresented his qualifications to both his employer and the regulator. We also believe that he attempted to conceal the fact that he\u2019d done that through false police report,\u201d Milinovich alleged.<\/p>\n

The police probe looked at the pilot\u2019s career, which began in 1998 and ended with his retirement in 2025.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t3:22
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPolice allege ex-Air Canada pilot flew flights for decades with fraudulent licensing\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Air Canada said in a statement Monday the individual was a fully trained pilot who held a valid commercial pilot licence and met or exceeded required recurrent training.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

The pilot was removed from active duty when the airline found out, and that it \u201cvoluntarily reported the matter\u201d to Transport Canada, it said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n

Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.<\/p>\n

Air Canada added safety was not compromised because all its pilots undergo mandatory, recurrent training every six months. That training includes a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check pilot every 12 months.<\/p>\n

However, \u201cappropriate licensing is an essential layer of the airline industry\u2019s multi-layered approach to safety, so Air Canada takes this matter with utmost seriousness,\u201d its statement reads.<\/p>\n

Air Canada added it has found no other instances of non-compliance among its pilots.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegulations 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,\u201d the airline said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Crime
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cThis individual, who had been promoted to captain, lacked the mandatory ATPL for the position. Immediately upon Air Canada\u2019s discovery of this, the individual was removed from active duty, and the company voluntarily reported the matter to Transport Canada.\u201d<\/p>\n

Transport Canada imposed a monetary penalty on the pilot. Police said in a news release issued after the news conference the pilot earned more than $2.9 million in salary.<\/p>\n

Air Canada added that it won\u2019t comment further due to the active criminal investigation.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Barrie resident Geoffrey Wall, 59, was arrested on June 1 and charged with fraud over $5,000, two counts of uttering a forged document, three counts of possession of a counterfeit mark and public mischief.<\/p>\n

Police said Wall\u00a0did posses\u00a0a Commercial Pilot Licence and held several positions with the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA), including serving as chair of the Master Executive Council, the governing body of the ACPA.<\/p>\n

Wall was also a part-time employee at Georgian College, the school told Global News.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorgian College became aware today of criminal charges that have been laid by Peel Regional Police against a retired Air Canada pilot and part-time employee of the college,\u201d a spokesperson said in an email.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs this is an active criminal investigation, Georgian will not comment on the arrest or charges, nor on the current employment status of the accused, which remains an employment matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wall is scheduled to appear in court on June 29.<\/p>\n

Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said Ottawa would review the case and implement improvements if there are any.<\/p>\n

He told reporters on Parliament Hill the system to detect such issues worked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am gratified that we were able to detect this issue and get it dealt with,\u201d MacKinnon said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A former captain with Air Canada allegedly flew hundreds of flights for decades using fraudulent licensing documents, Peel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726359,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[23684,49,48,2169,44,35244,35243,48757],"class_list":["post-726358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-air-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-ontario-crime","tag-peel-regional-police","tag-transport-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}