Updated June 9, 2026 @ 2:01pm
A former Air Canada pilot has been charged in a "complex" fraud and forgery investigation, police said Tuesday, accusing him of using a bogus licence to captain hundreds of flights during a lengthy career based out of Canada's busiest airport.
Police allege 59-year-old Geoffrey Wall was promoted to captain without the proper licence in 2009 and flew more than 900 flights on some of the airline's largest jets until his retirement in 2025.
The alleged fraud appeared to go undetected until a routine evaluation at Toronto's Pearson International Airport in March 2025 turned up "anomalies" in his documentation, police said.
"This is similar to a doctor that is licensed to practise family medicine but is doing brain surgery in their office," said Nick Milinovich, deputy chief of Peel Region police.
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The accused from Barrie started at Air Canada in 1998 and initially flew as a first officer until his promotion to captain in 2009. He was based out of Pearson airport and captained the Boeing 767, 777 and 787 planes, police said.
He had a commercial pilot's licence but not the highest certification required to fly as a captain, police said. He allegedly used fraudulent documents to misrepresent his qualifications to both the airline and the aviation regulator.
When he was found out, police allege he falsely reported his documents as stolen.
The criminal investigation was launched in January 2026 after a separate regulatory review by Transport Canada.
In a statement, Air Canada said as soon as it learned of the issue the pilot was removed from duty and voluntarily reported the matter to Transport Canada.
The airline said safety was "not compromised by this incident," noting pilots undergo mandatory recurrent training every six months to validate their flying skills. Their training also includes a flight check with a Transport Canada pilot every year.
"However, appropriate licensing is an essential layer of the airline industry’s multi-layered approach to safety, so Air Canada takes this matter with utmost seriousness," the company said in a statement.
An audit of the airline's pilots found no other instances of non-compliance, the company said.
Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said the federal government would review the case and make sure improvements, "if there are any," would be made. Despite the lengthy alleged fraud, he said the system to detect such issues had worked.
"I am gratified that we were able to detect this issue and get it dealt with," he told reporters on Parliament Hill.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 9, 2026.
–With files from David Baxter in Ottawa
