An unidentified Italian man was arrested over the weekend for posing as a pilot in order to catch flights across Europe.
The man, who went by Andrea Sirlo, created a new identity for himself and had flown on at least one Lufthansa flight and one Air Dolomiti flight as a third pilot, according to The Guardian. The man had even created a fake Facebook account in the name of his alter ego, making flight attendant friends and posing in pilots' uniforms, according to the BBC.
Police had been investigating the 32-year-old for months. He was formally arrested at Turin Airport wearing a pilot's uniform and using forged ID cards over the weekend and charged with endangering air transport security and impersonation, the BBC reports.
Filippo Vanni, Turin police spokesman, told reporters that the impression was impressive.
He's so good that with his fake uniform, fake degrees and fake badge, he tricked a lot of people into believing he really was a pilot and also some crew members bought it. That's how he got a 'lift' on the Turin-Munich flight in the cockpit, actually in the seat reserved for special guests, behind the co-pilot. He tried to create a new life for himself, where he could be accepted, gain friends and access a whole new social setting.
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