A former Air Canada pilot faces legal costs for flying tens of 1000’s of passengers for almost 17 years with a fake pilot’s license, Canadian police introduced Tuesday.
Geoffrey Wall was arrested June 1 after investigators say he captained over 900 home and worldwide flights from 2009 to 2025, with out ever acquiring the correct license or finishing the necessary testing.
“This investigation and the details surrounding it read like a movie script,” Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Milinovich mentioned in a information convention in Ontario. “(Wall) rose to the position of pilot in command where for almost 17 years they flew Boeing 767s, 777, and 787s,” whereas incomes almost $3 million Canadian {dollars} (greater than $2 million US {dollars}) wage.
The allegations echo the 2002 movie “Catch Me If You Can,” the place a teenager talks his manner into flying for PanAm.
In this case, Wall was licensed to fly industrial planes for his complete 27 12 months profession with Air Canada, however police say he by no means possessed an Airline Transport Pilot License for Aeroplanes, also called an ATPL-A, which was required when he was promoted to captain in 2009.
“This is very similar to a doctor that is licensed to practice family medicine but is doing brain surgery in their office,” Milinovich mentioned. “There’s additional requirements and regulations to professional designations that exist for a reason.”
“We believe the accused misrepresented his qualifications to both his employer and the regulator,” Milinovich mentioned.
Wall was caught after a routine examination of his credentials in 2025 revealed “anomalies… within the pilot license documentation,” and Air Canada notified regulators, the investigators mentioned.
He retired in 2025 earlier than the regulatory and legal investigation, dubbed “Project Icarus,” was launched in January.
NCS was unable to right away find an legal professional representing Wall.
The airline famous Wall was a licensed industrial pilot and recurrently confirmed he was able to safely flying giant planes.
“Safety was not compromised by this incident because all pilots at Air Canada undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying competency, including a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every 12 months,” Air Canada mentioned in a assertion posted on Monday.
“However, appropriate licensing is an essential layer of the airline industry’s multi-layered approach to safety, so Air Canada takes this matter with utmost seriousness,” the airline went on to say.
Wall was fined by Transport Canada and faces seven legal costs, together with fraud over $5,000, two counts of uttering cast paperwork, and three counts of possession of a counterfeit mark, police mentioned. He is predicted to seem in court docket on June 29, 2026.