A senior SAA pilot was forced to resign this year after the airline discovered he had flown aircraft for more than 20 years with fraudulent paperwork.
SAA discovered that William Chandler’s airline transport pilot licence was a forgery during an investigation into a “reportable incident” on a flight he piloted, the airline said this week.has learnt that the incident involving Flight SA206 from OR Tambo International Airport to Frankfurt, Germany, occurred in November over Swiss airspace.
Industry insiders said his refusal should have rung alarm bells; pilots who joined SAA alongside Chandler in January 1994 became captains in 2005 yet he remained a senior first officer . Pilots are also entitled to perks such as free airfares for their extended families, whereas other SAA employees get limited free tickets for their immediate families.
Chandler resigned as soon as it became apparent his licence could be a forgery, several insiders said. He allegedly initially denied the fraud when German authorities confronted him. Besides opening a criminal case of fraud against Chandler, Tlali said SAA has tightened up its authentication and validation processes.
“Our view is that this is an isolated case. However, as the aviation regulator and the entity that issues pilot licences, we have earnest interest in this matter; and hence we are also conducting our own investigation in order to establish where the loopholes are and whether there is a need to introduce additional countermeasures,” he said.
“When they landed, obviously they had to write a safety report, and apparently there was even a problem with the jet itself because of what he had done.”
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