Former airline captain Geoffrey Wall, 59, was arrested for alleged fraud (Image: CTV)
A former airline captain was arrested and charged with fraud for allegedly flying a whole lot of flights for nearly twenty years without a proper license.
Peel Regional Police stated Geoffrey Wall, a 59-yr-outdated resident of Barrie, Ontario, was arrested June 1 following a roughly six-month fraud investigation, titled “Project Icarus,” by native authorities, Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich introduced Tuesday.
Wall is accused of mendacity about acquiring an compulsory airline transport pilot license (ATPL) after getting promoted to captain in 2009, over a decade into his profession.
Milinovich claims that Wall offered a fraudulent pilot license to Air Canada and Transport Canada whereas serving as a captain and lined it up from the police.
The deputy police chief in contrast the license scandal to “a doctor that is licensed to practice family medicine, but is doing brain surgery in their office.”
Air Canada stated in a assertion that Wall demonstrated competency during annual checks (Image: Getty Images)
The costs towards him embody fraud over $5,000, public mischief, two counts of uttering cast paperwork and three counts of possession of counterfeit marks, based on a Peel police press release.
Authorities launched an investigation in January after Transport Canada uncovered potential points during an annual review.
Police allege that Wall captained more than 900 home and worldwide flights between 2009 and 2025, during which he flew tens of hundreds of passengers on Boeing 767s, 777s and 787s. While doing so, he was making a nearly $3 million wage.
Air Canada introduced that it’s cooperating with authorities however dismissed claims that passenger security was threatened.
The airline famous that pilots are required to take a flying competency check each six months and an annual flight test with a licensed Transport Canada test-pilot, including that Wall was absolutely educated, had a legitimate business pilot license and proved to have high ranges of competency during his annual coaching classes.
However, Peel Police Services Board Chair Nando Iannicca warned that the state of affairs might break public trust with the industry amid dwindling confidence in airplane security.
“The allegations on this case recommend a deliberate effort to bypass systems designed to safeguard the public,” he said.
Canadian Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon confirmed that the federal govenrment is involved and will review the case.
“The system that’s designed to detect such occurrences labored,” he said. “We will, of course, take all these varieties of conditions very, very severely. I’m gratified that we had been capable of detect this situation and get it handled rapidly,” he said.
Reports indicate that Wall, a veteran, was working part time in a military to college life transition program at Georgia College after retiring from Air Canda.
After reviews emerged about his alleged legal exercise, the faculty eliminated his profile related to the college.
