A 60-year-old man from France was arrested in Pennsylvania because he was impersonating a pilot for a plane that was about to depart from Philadelphia International Airport.
Phillippe Jeannard has a ticket for the US Airways flight from Philly to West Palm Beach, Fla. on Wednesday. Lt. John Walker of Southwest Detectives told the Philadelphia Inquirer that the man happened to be wearing a White Air France shirt with a black leather jacket with epaulets on the shoulders, much like pilots wear.
Jeannard has asked the ticket agent if there were any seats available in business class at about 6:20 p.m. Jeannard wound up getting into an argument with the gate agent but he continued to board the plane anyway. Once he was on board, he proceeded to enter the cockpit and sit in the seat behind the captain's chair, Walker said.
The boarding agent saw Jeannard in the cockpit and called the police to have him removed. Jeannard was arrested and charged for criminal trespassing, tampering with records, impersonating a privately employed person, and presenting a false ID to law enforcement.
According to the Inquirer, Jeannard had a fake Air France crew member id card. Federal charges will be filed against Jeannard.
Air France confirmed that Jeannard was not one of their employees.
In a statement from Air France, they said, "The person who boarded this flight does not work for Air France. This person was not wearing an Air France uniform, badge (Crew Member Certificate) or carrying an Air France crew baggage. Regarding the badge, it was a very poor fake badge, which in no way resembled the Air France Crew Member Certificate (CMC)."
According to CNN, Jeannard stated that he hated Americans, but investigators don't believe he has any connections to terrorism.
The FBI is also investigating the incident.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
