Forty Pilots Arrested for Flying with Serious Illnesses, page 1

Several grand jury's across California indicted Forty pilots for fraud after it was determined they had falsified medical records to hide medical disabilities such as schizophrenia and severe heart problems that would have grounded them, federal officials said on Monday. The statement issued by the U.S. Attorney's office in Fresno, also stated a number of commercial pilots and airline transport pilots were among the people indicted, but it did not provide details.

news.yahoo.com
Forty pilots were arrested after an investigation found they were licensed to fly but were receiving Social Security disability payments for a variety of illnesses, federal officials said.

The pilots, who include commercial and transport pilots, claimed to be medically fit to fly airplanes. However, they may have been flying with debilitating illnesses that should have kept them grounded, ranging from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder to drug and alcohol addiction and heart conditions, said Marlon Cobar, a prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney's office in Fresno.

[..]

When dozens of names turned up in both Social Security Administration and Federal Aviation Administration rolls, "they realized there was probably criminal wrongdoing — either lying to the FAA or wrongfully receiving benefits," Cobar said.

The FAA immediately revoked 14 pilots' licenses and medical certificates, which are necessary to maintain a valid license, the U.S. attorney's office said. Others were referred for administrative revocation.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

If this is what they found in California alone can you imagine home many more pilots are out there with similar conditions in other states?

It should be noted this all started out as a Homeland Security project to look into the fraudulent use of Social Security numbers and it shows that some good is coming out of the new Department of Homeland Security.

The Supporting link contains the formal charges with the names of the individuals charged.

Related News Links:
www.usdoj.gov

[edit on 7/19/2005 by shots]

[edit on 25-7-2005 by asala]