It takes countless hours, hard work, determination and a lot of money to obtain your pilot certificate, and flying without a license can have severe consequences. Most pilots are proud of the work they put forth to operate a plane, but for a few, they managed to take to the sky without all the hard work. An Alaskan man has been indicted for allegedly serving as an airman without a certificate, displaying false information about his certification and aircraft registration. This posing pilot is not the first conman that managed to fly without proper certification, and likely not the last.
Michael Anthony Roberts, aged 61, crashed a Piper PA-18 (N99640) at Wolf Lake Airport in Wasilla, Alaska on takeoff on Feb. 27, 2022. Roberts was indicted by a federal grand jury in May with one count for acting as an airman without a certificate and one count for displaying a false or misleading mark on the Piper, pertaining to the registration of the aircraft. If he is convicted of his alleged crimes, he faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. A federal district court judge will decide the sentence given the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other related factors.
Roberts had his first court appearance on May 9 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew M. Scoble of the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska, where he was ordered to be detained pending the trial. The Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Transportation, the FAA and the Alaskan State Troopers are involved in the investigation of the case.
While the court has not determined his guilt yet, Roberts is not the first faux pilot caught in a sky-high con. There have been well-known cases of pilot conmen, including Frank Abagnale, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2002 movie Catch Me If You Can. Despite the legal consequences like $250,000 fines and jail time, these pilots still found their way into a cockpit.
Frank Abagnale fake license, Art Crime Archive
Frank Abagnale
Abagnale was caught up in petty crimes throughout his adolescence, but he began turning his cons into long-term impersonations of pilots, doctors or lawyers to get what he was after. Abagnale learned what he could about aviation in high school, including writing a news article on Pan Am. He eventually forged his own pilot’s ID and FAA license. He began impersonating a pilot to get free rides all over the world before the authorities caught on. He never actually flew the plane but used his con-artistry to sit in the cockpit like a real pilot, before transitioning to his con career as a doctor in Georgia.
Abagnale served time in France and exchanged his freedom for a career with the FBI, helping them find other con artists. He wrote a memoir about his time and this was later turned into a movie, directed by Steven Spielberg.
Thomas Salme
Thomas Salme managed a 13-year-long career without ever obtaining a license. His about.me page notes that he had a passion for flying but financial restraints prevented him from becoming a pilot. He eventually started to work as a simulator technician at SAS Scandinavian Airlines and would sneak in at night to train. In 1997 Salme felt ready to fly, applying for the Italian airline Air One as a co-pilot. He forged his own Swedish flying permit on a piece of paper with a fake ID number. He was promoted to captain in 1999, continuing to work at Air One until 2006.
He bounced around to a few different airlines, regularly flying for Corendon Airlines for two years before he was arrested in 2010. Salme was caught at the Schipol Airport in Amsterdam in March 2010. He was in a Boeing 737 carrying 101 passengers, minutes from takeoff when he was arrested. Disciples of Flight reports that he was fined an equivalent of just over $10,000 for his decade-long con.
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Arnold Gerald Leto III
In October 2016, Arnold Gerald Leto III pleaded guilty to two counts of operating an aircraft without a license, receiving a sentence of 10 months in federal prison and a $5,500 fine. Leto had been illegally piloting private jets with passengers without a valid pilot’s license. He flew a Cessna Citation in January 2015, carrying paying passengers without having his airman’s certificate. In February he was certified to be the second-in-command but continued operating as the sole pilot. On April 8, 2016 he flew a Falcon 10 with paying passengers from Van Nuys to Las Vegas, despite not being certified to fly a Falcon 10. At this point, the FAA had revoked all of his certificates.
Tom Cook
Tom Cook claimed to have an “unlimited rating” from the FAA, but other pilots began to question his so-called skills. Disciples of Flight notes that he was hired to teach pilots in the Link trainers and ground school as well as serve as a check pilot at a St. Louis FBO. He had reportedly signed off on hundreds of pilots for their instrument rating checkrides. He claimed to have had a military background, handling aircraft like a B-17 and B-25. He also boasted of having a career flying celebrities after his time in the military.
Former Monsanto chief pilot Ralph Piper was looking for a co-pilot and came across Cook, a local pilot with supposed skill. Once in the air, Piper noticed Cook obviously had bad eyesight and poor judgment. He also told Aviation Oil Outlet that Cook could not land a plane properly, a skill most pilots would have mastered if they were boasting about an unlimited rating. Disciples of Flight recounts an occasion when at 4,000 feet, a Monsanto DC-3 began picking up ice and when Piper told Cook to request a different altitude, he saw that he was nearly catatonic. This was the last time Piper used Cook on a flight.
Cook’s con did not last much longer. While flying Cook almost hit a farmer, who had to jump from his tractor for safety. He pulled up and hit nearby trees, wrecking his plane. The farmer filed a lawsuit and, in the trial, it was discovered that Cook had stolen a pilot license number to use in his scheme. Cook was convicted but died three weeks later in his sleep.
Jimmie Lane
Jimmie Lane was hired by Eastern Air Lines in 1958, despite only holding a private pilot’s license. He had wanted to fly, working his way through cadet training in the Navy and later Marines. Disciples of Flight reports that Lane flew as a pilot on bombers during the Korean War before being discharged in 1955 with two Purple Hearts. Once back in his home state of Texas, Lane got a crop-dusting job, moving to Guatemala to work before interviewing with Eastern.
He became qualified to fly as co-pilot on numerous planes, like the Douglas DC-4s, Lockheed Electras and Convair 440s. During his training, no one checked his license. He told Eastern he had a commercial license, but never told them that this commercial license was from Guatemala and not recognized by ICAO or accepted by Eastern. He flew for 11 years with Eastern. Eventually obtaining a DC-9-type rating on his own.
When his pilot master list was updated, Lane was eligible to upgrade as a captain. He feared this would tip off the FAA, so he readied himself for a DC-9 checkride without any formal training. On Feb. 26, 1968 FAA examiner Clay Cairl administered his checkride, giving Lane a pass after a successful ride. Then, the charade was over. The examiner asked for Lane’s license, which led to an investigation into his background and license. He was fired and the FAA revoked his license. He attempted an appeal but the FAA upheld its decision, but it was reduced to one-year revocation with probation.
Lane eventually obtained his legitimate commercial license, moving on to work for multiple companies as a corporate pilot. He went on to continue flying, commercially or privately, but legally.
While there are some ultra-light aircraft that do not require a license to fly, it might be safer to avoid a long-term con and get a license the old-fashioned way. For those who dream of flying, put in the hard work and hours of training and avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines and possible jail time.
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