Man poses as pilot, hitches plane ride

A jobless Italian man posed as an airline pilot to successfully hitch a ride from Munich, Germany to Turin, Italy.

A jobless Italian man posed as an airline pilot to hitch a ride from Germany to Italy.

The guy has now been arrested after setting up a fake Facebook account under the name Andrea Sirlo and successfully flying as a third pilot on an Air Dolomiti plane from Munich to Turin, but he is not thought to have touched the plane's controls.

The police said in a statement: "On at least one occasion in 2012, pretending to be a pilot of a foreign commercial airline, and with a fake name, he succeeded in flying as the third pilot in the cockpit."

Suspicions arose when Sirlo introduced himself as captain to an aviation lieutenant, who became wary about the mystery man due to his young age.

Sirlo - whose real name has not been released - has been charged with endangering air transport security.

His scam is similar to the Leonardo DiCaprio film 'Catch Me if You Can', which sees the Hollywood actor portray a conman who posed as a pilot.

Bangshowbiz

ALSO READ

After lull, highway projects see aggressive bid offers

Govt aims to bring down CAD to 2.5% by 12th Plan-end, says Montek

Raghuram Rajan not in favour of sovereign bond to finance CAD

Airfares: Travel agents to keep shutters down on Tuesday