Summary
- Sangeet Singh was charged for posing as a Singapore Airlines pilot using a forged ID and uniform.
- The individual had tricked his family into thinking he worked for the Singapore-based carrier.
- Singh raised suspicion when he passed through the same point in the airport multiple times that day.
Sangeet Singh, a 24-year-old Indian male, was recently charged with trying to pose as a
pilot at New Delhi Indira Gandhi International Airport (DEL) on April 25th. He was spotted walking around the terminal in a complete Singapore Airlines uniform.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) monitored and caught the wannabe pilot as he was near the airport’s metro sky-walk area, which connects terminals two and three. Singh even went to the lengths of forging his own Singapore Airlines pilot ID using an ID business card maker app.
Photo: Nicolas Economou | Shutterstock
Unfortunately for Singh, who was not qualified apparently to have tricked his family into being, he had got a job with the Star Alliance carrier. However, according to the Hindustan Times, his closest qualification to the airline industry was a 12-month Aviation and Hospitality course he completed in Mumbai in 2020.
Multiple charges laid
What spurred the CISF’s interest in Singh was that he was spotted walking multiple times through the same area of the airport. Singh is now facing several criminal charges laid under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which include:
- 420 – cheating and dishonesty
- 468 – forgery for the purpose of cheating
- 471 – using a forged document as a genuine one
When the security forces questioned Singh, he presented his ID, hoping to lower suspicion. However, the CISF quickly recognized it was a forgery and arrested the individual. During questioning, Singh outlined where he acquired the airline uniform, apparently from a Dwarka store. How or if an official uniform ended up here remains unclear.
Flights to Singapore
If Singh had even made it past the boarding gate, only two Singapore Airlines flights were headed for Changi International Airport (SIN) that day. SQ401 and SQ403, their schedules are below:
|
Flight number |
Departure Time (Local) |
Arrival Time (Local) |
Aircraft Variant |
Registration on April 25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
SQ401 |
09:00 |
17:25 |
Boeing 787-10 |
9V-SCF |
|
SQ403 |
21:55 |
06:10 |
9V-SKU |
Photo: Andrew Curran | Simple Flying.
Not the first time
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time, nor will it likely be the last, for the airline industry, that people will try to impersonate a pilot. In Delhi back in 2019, an individual dressed up as a Lufthansa pilot in a bid to try and skip the long queues at the airport.
The culprit, Rajan Mahbubani, got to gate 52 in terminal 3 before he raised a few eyebrows. He was waiting for his AirAsia flight to Kolkata when he aroused suspicions. AirAsia called Lufthansa to verify his identity, and Lufthansa swiftly dispatched security to the gate.
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![Singapore Airlines Airbus A350-941 (2)]()
Singapore Airlines
- IATA/ICAO Code:
- SQ/SIA
- Airline Type:
- Full Service Carrier
- Hub(s):
- Singapore Changi Airport
- Year Founded:
- 1972
- Alliance:
- Star Alliance
- CEO:
- Goh Choon Phong
- Country:
- Singapore
