Catch me if you can? A false captain flew through Europe

The Falstaff Travel Editors, 11.11.2025

A man pretended to be a flight captain at the wet-lease airline "Avion Express" and sat in the cockpit although he did not have the necessary qualifications. He also flew in Europe.

The report in the Aero Telegraph reads like the story of Frank Abagnale, the con man and cheque forger played by Leonardo di Caprio in the 2002 film "Catch Me If You Can". The man who posed as an airline captain for the Lithuanian Avion Express last summer - without the relevant qualifications - must have been similarly hardened.

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Catch me if you can? A false captain flew through Europe