An Air Canada pilot flew for nearly 17 years without the proper licence
He allegedly used “materially altered and counterfeit” documents in order to work for the airline
A former Air Canada pilot is accused of forging documents and misrepresenting his credentials in order to fly planes for the airline.
At a press conference today, Peel Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich announced that Geoffrey Wall, who retired last year and is now 59, has been charged with fraud over $5,000, uttering forged documents, possession of counterfeit mark and public mischief.
Wall lives in Barrie and flew with Air Canada—out of Pearson International Airport—for 27 years. While he had obtained his Commercial Pilot Licence, he was promoted to captain in 2009 despite lacking the required Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL).
Milinovich told reporters that the police investigation into Wall’s alleged conduct read “like a movie script.”
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During a routine evaluation of the pilot’s qualifications, Milinovich said, it was discovered that Wall had not earned his ATPL. Wall is said to have used “materially altered and counterfeit” documents in order to be allowed to continue flying. He piloted around 900 flights as a captain between 2009 and 2025 and earned around $2.9 million in salary during that time.
“This is very similar to a doctor that is licensed to practice family medicine, doing brain surgery in their office,” Milinovich said. According to police, Wall also held several positions with the Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA), including time as the chair of the Master Executive Council, which governs the ACPA.
In a statement sent to CP24, an Air Canada representative said that passenger safety was “not compromised by this incident,” noting that pilots “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.”
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
