A captain in the cockpit of hundreds of Air Canada flights may have been able to pilot the planes, but did not have a license to do so.
Geoffrey Wall now faces criminal charges after it was found that he captained more than 900 domestic and international flights from 2009 to 2025, despite never taking the mandatory testing or obtaining a license required as a captain. Wall did have a license to fly commercial planes but never had an Airline Transport Pilot License for Airplanes (ATPL-A), which was required when he became a captain in 2009. reported.
He was arrested on June 1, Canadian police announced this week.
“This investigation and the details surrounding it read like a movie script,” Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich said.
The chief said Wall “rose to the position of pilot in command, where for almost 17 years they flew Boeing 767s, 777, and 787s.”
He earned almost $3 million Canadian dollars or more than $2 million U.S. over that time, CNN reported.
Wall did have a license to fly commercial planes, but never had an Airline Transport Pilot License for Aeroplanes (ATPL-A), which was required when he became a 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 explained. “There’s additional requirements and regulations to professional designations that exist for a reason.”
Police said they believe he misrepresented his qualifications.
Regulators were tipped off to the issue when Air Canada found “anomalies” in his credentials in 2025, CNN reported.
The company said he is no longer working for Air Canada, ABC News reported.
Air Canada said Wall was capable of flying the large planes safely.
“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 said in a statement.
The company said it has reviewed all pilots’ records and found no additional problems and has reinforced the physical verification of licenses.
Wall will appear in court later this month after being released on his own recognizance. He is charged with seven counts, including fraud, uttering forged documents and public mischief, NBC News reported.
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