A former Air Canada pilot faces criminal charges for flying tens of thousands of passengers for nearly 17 years with a fake pilot’s license, Canadian police announced Tuesday.
Jeffrey Wall was arrested on June 1 after investigators say he captained more than 900 domestic and international flights from 2009 to 2025 without ever obtaining a proper license or undergoing required testing.
“This investigation and its details are like a movie script,” Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Milinovich said at a news conference in Ontario. “[Wall]rose to the position of captain and flew Boeing 767s, 777s, and 787s for approximately 17 years,” earning a salary of nearly C$3 million (more than US$2 million).
The allegations echo the 2002 film “Catch Me If You Can,” which tells the story of a teenage boy’s journey to fly Pan Am.
In this case, Wall held a license to fly commercial aircraft during his 27-year career with Air Canada, but police said he never held an air transport pilot’s license, also known as ATPL-A, which was required when he was promoted to captain in 2009.
“This is very similar to a doctor who is licensed to practice family medicine but does neurosurgery in a clinic,” Milinovich says. “Professional designations have additional requirements and regulations, and they are there for a reason.”
“We believe that the defendant misrepresented his qualifications to both his employer and regulators,” Milinovic said.
Wall was arrested after a routine qualification check in 2025 revealed “anomalies in his pilot license documents,” and Air Canada notified regulators, investigators said.
He retired in 2025, before a regulatory and criminal investigation called “Project Icarus” began in January.
CNN could not immediately find a lawyer to represent Wall.
The airline noted that Mr. Wall was a certified commercial pilot and regularly demonstrated that he was capable of safely operating large planes.
“Safety was not compromised as all Air Canada pilots undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to verify their flying ability, including flight checks by Transport Canada certified check pilots every 12 months,” Air Canada said in a statement Monday.
“However, Air Canada takes this issue with the utmost seriousness, as appropriate licensing is a critical layer of the airline industry’s multi-layered approach to safety,” the airline continued.
Police said Wall was fined by Transport Canada and faces seven potential criminal charges, including fraud over $5,000, two counts of uttering a forged document and three counts of possession of a counterfeit mark. He is scheduled to appear in court on June 29, 2026.
