SAA to claim money back from ‘fake pilot’
South African Airways (SAA) has laid criminal and civil charges against former pilot William Chandler.
The Mail&Guardian reported on Friday that Chandler allegedly flew SAA planes with fraudulent paperwork for more than 20 years.
SAA says it uncovered the irregularities in November last year.
It says investigations into an incident involving a flight to Germany last year pointed to Chandler, a senior first officer at the time, making false representations to the airline that he was qualified and had an airline transport license.
He only had a commercial license.
"It is an SAA requirement that all pilots obtain an airline transport license within five years of their employment as pilots at SAA. This is linked to senior first officer status and forms part of their conditions of employment. Any pilot failing to obtain this license will have their employment terminated with the airline," says SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali.
He adds that since Chandler was only the co-pilot there was never any danger to passengers.
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"We take note that at no point did the alleged fraudulent license present any safety risk to SAA's operation, as the pilot in question was in possession of a valid commercial license and was the monitoring pilot and not the commander of the aircraft. The pilot had successfully completed all required safety training. However, we find it disconcerting that misrepresentations were made about the type of license that the pilot claimed to possess.”
Tlali says the national carrier wants to recoup some of the money paid to Chandler.
"What that means is that on the strength of this, he was able to work for the airline for a much longer period than he should have and he was able to also get promotion, which meant that he got remunerated at a higher scale and was also able to get benefits and other allowances. This is the money that we think he should not have gotten as it is based on misrepresentations."
The airline has already put in place measures to ensure there is no repeat.
"We have submitted all SAA pilots’ licensing files to the civil aviation authority for verification and audit. On the basis of a sample that has been selected for audit, it has indicated that the verification process is progressing well and no irregularities were identified to date," says Tlali.