Honolulu — A former flight attendant for a Canadian airline posed as a industrial pilot and as a present flight attendant to acquire a whole bunch of free flights from U.S. airways, authorities stated.
Dallas Pokornik, 33, of Toronto, was arrested in Panama after being indicted on wire fraud costs in federal courtroom in Hawaii final October. He pleaded not responsible Tuesday following his extradition.
If convicted, Pokornik faces as much as 20 years in jail, a nice of as much as $250,000, plus a time period of supervised launch, the Justice Division stated.
In line with courtroom paperwork, Pokornik was a flight attendant for a Toronto-based airline from 2017 to 2019, then used pretend worker identification from that service to acquire tickets reserved for pilots and flight attendants on three different airways.
U.S. prosecutors stated Tuesday that Pokornik even requested to sit down in an additional seat within the cockpit – the “leap seat” – usually reserved for off-duty pilots. It wasn’t clear from courtroom paperwork whether or not he ever truly rode in a aircraft’s cockpit, and the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace declined to say.
The indictment did not determine the airways besides to say they’re based mostly in Honolulu, Chicago and Fort Price, Texas. Representatives for Hawaiian Airways, United Airways and American Airways – that are respectively based mostly in these cities – did not instantly reply to emails from The Related Press looking for remark.
Air Canada, which is predicated in Toronto, additionally did not reply to an e-mail looking for remark.
The scheme lasted 4 years, the U.S. prosecutors in Hawaii stated.
A U.S. Justice of the Peace choose on Tuesday ordered Pokornik to stay in custody. His federal defender declined to remark.
In 2023, an off-duty airline pilot driving within the cockpit of a Horizon Air flight stated “I am not OK” simply earlier than trying to cut the engines midflight. That pilot, Joseph Emerson, later instructed police he’d been fighting melancholy.
A federal choose sentenced him to time served final November.
The allegations towards Pokornik are harking back to “Catch Me If You Can,” the film starring Leonardo DiCaprio that tells the story of Frank Abagnale posing as a pilot to defraud an airline and acquire free flights.
