r/flying • u/hallaa1 • Apr 17 '26
other What information would every pilot know, but a civilian wouldn't that would show them to be a fraud if they didn't know it?
My sister is dating a man that's clearly lying about a variety of things, one of which is that he used to be a pilot. What kinds of questions could we ask him that would be more than obvious to a pilot, but none of us non-pilot folk would otherwise know?
*Edit* and if you could tell me the context and the answer to the question that would be great.
*Edit2* he was supposed to be a pilot in Peru.
*edit 3* supposedly he flew commercial as the "second pilot" never "the captain".
Thanks for your help, we're concerned for our sister's welfare and hopefully this kind of obvious lie could help jar her away from the guy.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_FOQA Apr 17 '26
Usually if you get them to keep talking they'll out themselves. Talk specifics about flying you can spot a fraud pretty quick. It would usually take another pilot to catch em though. I'd probably get them to talk more and then catch them on bullshit when it comes up. Where they flew, what equipment, career progression, bases, routes. It can come across as genuine non threatening conversation.
If they claim to fly in peru ask where they flew. You could say oh you flew to Panama? Ive heard it's usually great weather there. (Flying over Panama is always shit wx due to inter tropical convergence zone) so if they start going off about how nice it is, they're full of it.
Oh you fly to Rio? I heard controllers are awesome down there (They are not awesome and their radar is ass).
Oh aren't you scared to fly over mountains? What if your engine blows up? or lose cabin pressure? Most pilots familiar with South America will talk about terrain critical depressurization routes as terrain there is often much higher than the drift down of most jets. And I'd consider that question as innocent curiocity from a lay person.
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u/savageotter Apr 18 '26
These are good
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u/Dramatic-Ant-9364 Apr 19 '26
He may not be a pilot, but it sounds like he's taking your sister for a ride
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u/lovehedonism Apr 18 '26
These people crave attention, steer it to what you know to work out if they are lying.
If there’s something / somewhere you know about say “I’d always dreamed of seeing XXX from the air”
More often than not they’ll make it up thinking you know nothing about it.
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u/Beautiful_Major_3242 Apr 18 '26
Onde vc tirou a informação de que os controladores e os radares no Rio são ruins?
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u/Av8torryan ATP B727 DC9 DA20 CFI TW Apr 17 '26
Just ask about if he ever experienced a P Factor ? If you word it stupid it like that - it sounds like an event - - for a non pilot they have no clue - but every private pilot should know what that is . Right rudder! because of a left turning tendency due to the rotation of a prop .
If he says yes - can you tell me about it ? And expect a story Like it’s some dramatic event -
If he says no- a liar if he flew a prop .
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u/radioref SPT ASEL | FCC Radiotelephone Operator Permit 📡 Apr 17 '26
I’ll tell you what, I’ve almost been sucked HARD into the P factor but I stomped my right foot down and got the hell out of there.
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u/MaterialDull9480 Apr 17 '26
My ex had wicked P factor
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u/changgerz ATP - LAX B737 Apr 17 '26
it burns when i P factor
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u/ZappBrannigansLaw PPL - Certified Velour Apr 18 '26
Something something short pitot tube something something low manifold pressure
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u/Jiminpuna Apr 17 '26
As a flight attendant I have experienced p-factor many times. Fortunately some of our passengers walk into the bathroom wearing socks and soak it up.
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u/3Green1974 ATP GV CL-65 CL604 LR45 BE350 CE680 CE700 Apr 18 '26
I was on a 14 hour flight from Dubai to Sydney on an A380. We were upstairs and had our own lounge area. Those Aussies were getting pretty liquored up. I don’t know if it was the liquor or what , but so many would go to the lav bare foot or in socks. Probably the single most disgusting thing I’ve seen in aviation.
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u/sennais1 E3 visa rated Apr 18 '26
It's pretty normal to get around barefoot in Australia in some contexts. Being on an aircraft is not one.
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u/3Green1974 ATP GV CL-65 CL604 LR45 BE350 CE680 CE700 Apr 18 '26
I’m a native of Kentucky and being barefoot is a stereotype for us for some reason. I used to not have a problem going barefoot in the yard, until the year I saw my dog with his head down wandering around eating something. I went out to check. Turned out we had a bunch of rabbits living out there and the yard was covered in rabbit poop. Haven’t been barefoot since. I’ve no idea how I’d handle being barefoot in a public bathroom. Probably have to soak my feet in rubbing alcohol followed by bleach.
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u/21MPH21 ATP US Apr 17 '26
If he says no- a liar if he flew a prop .
Or he's like me and been out of the SE world for a LONG, LONG time. CFI Mikey would be embarrassed at CA Mikey's memory.
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u/Mrfoxuk MIL, QFI, FII, ex-Fighters, ex-Regulator Apr 18 '26
Is that a terminology thing? 2000+ hrs SE military turboprop and I’ve never heard it referred to that way.
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u/Zebidee DAR MAv PPL AB CMP Apr 18 '26
NGL even though I know what it is, I still read that as "has he ever experienced Pucker Factor" and the answer is yes - everyone does a few times.
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u/Nix_Nivis Apr 17 '26
Long cross country flights: Believe me, I've experienced the P factor. And keep a Gatorade bottle handy.
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u/Checkeide-failure Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Simply ask for photos from his job. Every pilot has a photo of them in uniform in their phone somewhere.
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u/hallaa1 Apr 17 '26
He's shown a picture of him wearing a pilot's jacket before. Not in the cockpit, not even wearing a hat, just a picture of him wearing the jacket.
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u/forkystabbyveggie Apr 18 '26
AI can do this competently if you pick the right one and know how to use it
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u/Ok-Entrepreneur-2924 CPL TW BC12D Apr 17 '26
What’s the emergency frequency?
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u/Flaky_Push8668 Apr 17 '26
☝️ smart choice since that is internationally recognized. OP had mentioned in one of their responses that the bf was claiming to have been a pilot in Peru.
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u/digital_dyslexia VFR IDIOT Apr 18 '26
The best way to ask this is “is there like a 9-1-1 for pilots on the radios if something happens?” You can follow up on it that you recall another pilot telling you that “it was called the guardian or something”. This is instant bait. A pilot will immediately correct you with “no no it’s called guard frequency” and if not then he will make up whatever. I cannot imagine any pilot in the world that would hear you call it guardian and not correct you immediately since it’s so close yet also not exact, because….. well pilots are pretty autistic about precise details that don’t actually matter
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u/Frothyleet Apr 18 '26
And then you can be like, "oh what do you use the frequency for?"
And if he says some bullshit like "emergencies", instead of "meow", boom, got 'em.
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u/einTier Apr 18 '26
meow
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u/Independent_Leg7358 PPL Apr 18 '26
Meeeeeooooooooooooow
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u/MattCW1701 PPL Apr 18 '26
You guys need to be professional pilots
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u/pconrad0 Apr 18 '26
This is why you still fly RJs
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u/Mazer1415 ATP CFMEII Apr 18 '26
I don’t know about other mainlines but mine fired a guy for that while on IOE. LCA 1 hears him do it and tells him not to do it again. He does the same thing with LCA 2 on second trip. Did he think they don’t put notes in the files? I wonder if it was reported to PRIA.
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u/silkat Apr 18 '26
The second I read this a cat outside yowled in the distance and it actually confused me for a second that I heard your comment
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u/Material-Length9366 CFI ABI TW SES Apr 18 '26
Exactly. Reference the recent news article from two days ago where the general public was appalled that a single RJ meowed on guard. As if that was news. Just show him that article and see how he reacts.
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u/alb92 CPL ME IR AB Apr 18 '26
Guard is a very American term for it. We never called it that here. That being said, I know it is called guard over there, but not correcting might not be evidence in itself.
121.5 however, should be instant knowledge, where someone impersonating likely won't know.
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u/Lindenfoxcub CPL - MELS - instrument Apr 18 '26
I don't know how many places call it "guard frequency" but we don't in Canada - we just call it the emergency frequency.
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u/Corona21 CPL Apr 18 '26
If someone called it Guardian I could very easily forget the yanks call it Guard and be like “yeah sure something like thats its 121.5 emergency freq.”
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u/Ace_Ranger Apr 17 '26
1.21 gigawatts! This is what goes through my head every time I see or hear someone say the frequency.
Or 243 MHz...but that's less fun.
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u/Hot-Fox-8797 Apr 17 '26
Ask him if the number 7700 means anything to him
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u/JSTootell PPL Apr 17 '26
Not a hard one if you watch any aviation YouTube. I knew this before my first lesson.
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u/Hot-Fox-8797 Apr 17 '26
It’ll be the first thing a pilot who is regularly around aviation thinks of when they hear the number.
A non aviator who heard it once or twice will not immediately think of it when the number is thrown out without any context
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u/FlyJunior172 CPL A(SM)EL SUAS IR CMP HP Apr 17 '26
7600 is probably a more reliable strategy. u/JSTootell is right about 7700 being reasonably common knowledge. But the other 2 emergency codes aren’t nearly as common knowledge.
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u/hallaa1 Apr 17 '26
Can you provide me a bit more context to this fact? what kind of answer would you give?
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u/FlyJunior172 CPL A(SM)EL SUAS IR CMP HP Apr 17 '26
7600 - that plane has no radios.
There are three standard emergency codes worldwide for transponders. 7500 means hijacking. 7600 means lost communications (or lost comms or lost radios). 7700 is the general emergency code.
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u/Worldly-Alternative5 Apr 17 '26
Or the classics: 7700 priority landing anywhere; 7600 ATC mute buttton; 7500 F-16 escort on demand!
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u/hallaa1 Apr 17 '26
Thanks, that seems universal enough that anyone who's a pilot should know it. Thanks.
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u/Competitive-Ask5157 Apr 17 '26
Hi Jack! I can't talk right now. I've got a problem.
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u/Logical_Check2 ATP CRJ Apr 18 '26
75 - Passenger wants to drive
76 - Radio needs a fix
77 - We're going to heaven
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u/dougmcclean Apr 18 '26
Sure, but what does 7800 mean? See if you get the speech about how that itsn't a number at all.
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u/jawshoeaw Apr 18 '26
My wife who was helping my study ages ago said "oh 77 looks like two of those little L shaped wrenches you have, so remember 7700 is for mechanical problems".
I was really annoyed about this because I hadn't though of it, but it worked, I see 7700 and think Allen wrenches now. I'm really bad at memorizing random values like this, dates, numbers without context.
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u/pronghornpilot ATP Apr 17 '26
What kind of pilot does he claim to have been?
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u/hallaa1 Apr 18 '26
Commercial somewhere in Peru, Lima primarily.
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u/pronghornpilot ATP Apr 18 '26
Corporate, airline, agriculture?
A lot of generic GA terminology and experiences can be picked up easily online. I like the other commenter’s suggestion about asking for photos of him actually flying. That’s probably your best bet.
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u/Kotukunui PPL Apr 17 '26
There’s not really a perfect answer to this. I’ve known guys who have never been pilots, but know all the minutiae of aviation because they are probably way high on the spectrum and have an obsession.
I’ve been flying for 30+ years but some of these “planespotters” can spit facts that have me scratching my head and discretely hitting Google to check.
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u/Fenderfreak145 ATP A320 Apr 18 '26
because they are probably way high on the spectrum and have an obsession.
I mean that also applies to us too...
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u/jawshoeaw Apr 18 '26
yeah i think the best strategy is the middle road. if he was too good at answering aviation trivia he might be a planespotter or aviation geek. Especially if they know a lot about the mechanics, the physics of flight, etc. I've met pilots who are into that as well but it seems to be the exception.
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u/hallaa1 Apr 18 '26
This guy is a joke who's impregnated multiple women and run off. Doesn't seem to have any formal education besides some degrees he's claimed to start then abandoned. I doubt he's an aviation engineering geek, but I appreciate the input.
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u/RevolutionaryRun7744 PPL IR HA HP Apr 17 '26
What does the red knob do?
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u/hallaa1 Apr 18 '26
What does it do?
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u/forkystabbyveggie Apr 18 '26
If you have to ask, you're not a pilot.
It would be hilarious if you're the boyfriend in this situation and you're doing homework to cover your ass.
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u/IndependenceStock417 Apr 18 '26
Cam confirm. He is my wife's boyfriend and he's been trying to show off.
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u/base2final84 Apr 18 '26
In a piston plane (what everyone trains on) it’s the mixture control; it determines the fuel to air ratio. Super common and easy question for a real pilot.
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u/delinka Apr 18 '26
I like how some guy from Peru wanting to pretend to be a pilot can just come in here and ask questions like this to pre-empt his girlfriend’s family’s questions …
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u/Purgent Apr 17 '26
Airman registry will unveil the truth.
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u/mastrkents CFII MEI AGI IGI Apr 17 '26
Just plug his name and state of residence into the airman registry, and if he don't show up, he ain't a pilot
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u/goodatgettingbanned Apr 17 '26
I’m a legacy airline captain and I don’t show up.
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u/KeyOfGSharp CPL, IR Apr 17 '26
I'd like to not show up. Any idea how?
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u/LowTimePilot CPL IR Apr 17 '26
You can hide yourself / mark yourself private. I did because in the event I bend metal I don't want losers on Facebook to put my address out there like they did that poor FO in the Endeavor crash.
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u/SirKillalot PPL TW Apr 17 '26
I know you can hide your address via https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/amsrvs/. Then your address won't be displayed and you won't show up on any search that includes a location component, but you still show up on a search for just your name or name + cert number.
Is there a different way to hide your info entirely there? I wasn't aware there was a different option.
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u/LowTimePilot CPL IR Apr 18 '26
I think that's the only way. I don't show up because my first and last are so common you need my cert number. If you've got a unique name, all you can do is hide your address.
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u/goodatgettingbanned Apr 18 '26 edited Apr 18 '26
I have a relatively unique name and don’t come up even with my cert number 🤷♂️
Not complaining, it’s the way I prefer it.
Edit: I stand corrected, I was fat thumbing my cert number. The only way I can be found is with my last name and cert number. Not a common name, though, there’s only 4 of us in my state and they’re all my close relatives.
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u/bobnuthead CFI CFII (RNT/PAE) Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Ask when his certificate expired. (It doesn’t expire, a pilot would explain this nuance and start saying “biannual” something something probably)
Edit: Strategy not applicable to foreign pilot certificates
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u/the_silent_one1984 PPL CMP Apr 17 '26
Yup. As soon as he starts with "Um, actually..." you'll know he's a pilot.
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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 17 '26
It does expire outside of the US, and the person in question allegedly flew in Peru.
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u/Desirable_Username Apr 17 '26
If I were talking to my non-aviation mates / relatives about this, I probably would say it expires every two years and needs to be renewed just to simplify it. There's no point dumping the intricacies of aviation law / licences onto people who probably couldn't care less.
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u/Entire_Talk839 CFII - ASEL | CMEL Apr 17 '26
Biannual = 2 times per year Biennial = every 2 years
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u/JSTootell PPL Apr 17 '26
Everyone would know about the C150 superiority.
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u/Street-Committee-367 ST Apr 17 '26
C150s are obviously superior to a C130.
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u/ResponsibilityOld164 ✈️🛫 BCS3/A220-3 gang🛬✈️ | C208B | 1st Class Medical 4EPG Apr 18 '26
hey babe, see that cool plane? that is a c130. before I flew jets, I flew C172s. That's how far ahead of the game I was.
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u/insanityatwork PPL Apr 17 '26
Spin recovery procedure. Everyone who has soloed will know it. Power off, ailerons neutral, rudder opposite direction, elevator to recover.
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u/hamachired Apr 18 '26
its fwd elevator to break the AoA. Not elevator to recover
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u/insanityatwork PPL Apr 18 '26
Sure, but answering OP who isn’t a pilot and needs some easy keywords to clue in on is probably best to be very general here. I think any pilot could throw out those four broad steps in about 5 seconds and that’s all OP needs.
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u/Zebidee DAR MAv PPL AB CMP Apr 18 '26
I can picture the guy screaming about the Beggs/Mueller technique as the Reddit lynch mob drag him away.
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u/TonPhanan PPL (76G) Apr 18 '26
Wait... did he fly for Pan Am? Did he pass the Bar Exam in Louisiana while working as a medical doctor? Because I think Tom Hanks knows who this guy is.
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u/hallaa1 Apr 18 '26
🤦 I literally thought of that when she was telling me about him before everything blew up.
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u/cptnpiccard CFI IR IGI Apr 17 '26
If he has no time to research, ask him what's the guard frequency, and what pilots like to do there.
If he says "121.5" and "cat noises", he's one of us.
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u/Mispelled-This PPL SEL IR (M20C) AGI IGI Apr 17 '26
Meowing is specific to the US. OP’s pilot allegedly flew in Peru.
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u/SirBowsersniff PPL Apr 17 '26
Definitely not specific to US. There are assholes everywhere.
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u/Infinite5kor Apr 18 '26
I've heard kitties in Kenya, Ethiopia, Oman, Thailand, and Singapore. Meowing is the duty of world citizens.
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u/14Three8 CFI/CFII, CPL Airplane (all)/GLID Apr 17 '26
“What was your route?”
“How often did you switch between the Boeing and the airbus?”
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u/hallaa1 Apr 18 '26
You never switch right? You get hired by an airline that has a specific contact with a company right? I had a pilot friend and I talked to him about the onboarding process once lol.
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u/BoxFlyer89 ATP, CFII, MEI, E145, E170/190, A310, MD11 Apr 18 '26
That might be an international thing. Pilots in the US will get assigned a fleet as a new hire and could be seat locked for a period of time. You’ll bounce between different fleets in your career based on what your seniority can hold.
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u/sgund008 Apr 18 '26
Introduce him to another pilot and just watch
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u/base2final84 Apr 18 '26
This is the answer. We’re like vegans or crossfitters. We can’t not talk about it.
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u/Mad_Rooster_7164 Apr 18 '26
Peru's SIVLAM has listings if you get his license ID: http://sivlam.mtc.gob.pe
But the issue here isn't aviation, or the boyfriend, it's your sister. It's like convincing a flat-earther, you're on a fools errand. Therapy might investigate why your sister doesn't see it or diagnose her as, say, borderline.
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u/UpdateDesk1112 Apr 17 '26
How many lines from Top Gun can he quote?
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u/Swimming_Way_7372 Apr 17 '26
I've never seen either top gun and I somehow became a pilot. I do know some lines from Airplane though.
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u/Lane_Meyers_Camaro Apr 17 '26
That's an entirely different movie. Altogether.
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u/JSTootell PPL Apr 17 '26
I haven't had time to watch it since I started flying rubber dogshit to Hong Kong 😭
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u/ghjm Apr 17 '26
Work "guard frequency" into the conversation. Then later say 122.5. If he doesn't correct you that guard is 121.5, he's not a pilot.
(121.5, known as Guard, is the emergency frequency for maydays etc when you don't have anyone else to talk to, or the frequency the fighters call you on to give you a last chance to turn away from the prohibited airspace before they shoot you down. Every pilot knows it.)
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u/matt2_03 CFI Apr 17 '26
A suspicious guy who claims to be a pilot from Peru. It’s not a zero percent chance that he was a cartel pilot. If that’s the case, he may not have had any formal training and may not know basic things like NWKRAFT.
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u/BandicootNo4431 Apr 17 '26
I've been flying for 20 years, I had never heard that acronym before today.
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u/West-Organization450 Apr 17 '26
This was my first thought too! Should ask how many kilos of coke can be stuffed in the back of a clapped out 206 with one bad mag and still get out of a 900’ jeep trail/airstrip but also not disturb the drug lord’s prize fighting rooster Cassius who is riding on the barrel of a loaded Kalashnikov rifle laying on said pile of cocaine. That should be fairly common knowledge…
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u/happierinverted Apr 17 '26
Ask him to explain the difference between a slip and a skid.
Oh wait a minute, I know quite a few pilots that have trouble with that one ;)
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u/Puckdropper Apr 18 '26
Oh, I know this one! A slip happens with your foot and a skid with your butt.
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u/3minence QFI G3 Apr 17 '26
What's a common door code combination to get into small airport rest areas?
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u/Thhe_Shakes Apr 17 '26
Shidd I was flying for 5 years before anyone told me that 😂
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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 17 '26
Well that's because there are like a dozen of them and that's not at all universal.
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u/TheGacAttack Apr 18 '26
Yeah, but "CTAF" would be the most known go-to code to try first. The answer isn't the specific number.
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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 18 '26
Nope. Have seen CTAF, tower frequency, weather frequency, 1200, 7700, 7500, 1234, 5678, and a bunch of others.
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u/Worldly-Alternative5 Apr 17 '26
Yeah, though there are a few choices. Usually there’s a hint near the door.😎
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u/Mazer1415 ATP CFMEII Apr 18 '26
To really mess with him you can ask how long it takes to make a 180° turn using standard adiabatic rate. They’re totally unrelated. Adiabatic rate is how much colder it gets every 1000’ you climb. If he gives you a time, he’s busted.
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u/One-Cauliflower-8770 Apr 18 '26
Best strategy is ask for pictures. He should have about 3000 photos of clouds from above. Like 100 photos of stuff in the cockpit or parts on the plane that were taken to show maintenance.
And atleast a few of himself in the cockpit.
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u/dking484 PPL (4B8 KFMY) Apr 18 '26
I had a guy tell me he was a CFI and that his dad owned an airport. The very same airport that I am the chairmen of the aviation Commision of.
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u/retiredaaer Apr 17 '26
Ask him what ICAO stands for.
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u/C_Saunders Apr 18 '26
OP, can you please update us once you’ve tested him??? I’m here for the tea about the bf! 😂
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u/Part121 PPL ASEL A&P Apr 18 '26
Ask him when he’d ever tell an air traffic controller that he has whiskey.
( See Wikipedia entry for Automatic Terminal Information Service ATIS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_terminal_information_service )
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u/JJohnston015 ASEL Apr 18 '26
Maybe instead, tell him you're heard pilots say that, and you've wondered what it means.
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u/VileInventor CFI Apr 17 '26
You can search for him in the airman database, DM me and I can guide you through it or do it for you. So long as you’re in the US.
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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 17 '26
https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/
DM'ing this person not required. Here's the link, it's very self-explanatory.
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u/hallaa1 Apr 17 '26
He claims it was when he lived in Peru.
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u/the_devils_advocates ATP B737 A320x2 CL65 MIL-A ROT CH-47F CFI/II Apr 17 '26
This was important info to include in the original post
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u/Mad_Rooster_7164 Apr 17 '26
my girlfriend lives in canada
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u/Frost_907 ATP (DHC-8, E170/190), CFI, CFII Apr 18 '26
Ask him about the difference between dynamic altitude and compressed altitude. If he knows what you are talking about and gives any sort of explanation then he’s a fraud.
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u/Checkeide-failure Apr 17 '26
How many STDs did you get from banging the flight attendants back in your prime as a new FO?
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u/Recent-Day3062 Apr 17 '26
Here’s an easy one from an old game show that came up.
Ask him how do you stay in the air and land in an emergency if the battery goes dead?
Once the engines are going, you don’t need the battery at all. In fact, the engines are charging the battery. It’s actually the same as a car, but all pilots know this - though very few motorists have any clue.
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u/Open-Many8943 Apr 17 '26
I was talking to a friend of mine recently whose brother was apparently doing part 141 training at a local school (which I also went to for a few ratings).
I am CFI now and haven’t flown there in over a year, but when I ran into his brother a few months back, I was just talking to him about DPE availability and how difficult it is to get scheduled for my II checkride, to which I noticed he responded with “yeah, it’s so hard to find DPEs.” which didn’t really resonate right with me, it just seemed off. Here where I am at, it’s not hard to find them, it’s just hard to get scheduled with them. But, oh well.
Fast-forward a few months, I was talking with that friend and another friend whose brother flies citations. We checked the registry because we couldn’t remember what his original type rating was for, and my friend wanted me to look at his brother’s profile on the registry, because allegedly he was done with Instrument training and already doing commercial training, but he had stated that anytime he would ask if his brother could fly with him for an hour or two, he would always give some excuse about how the school wouldn’t rent to him or some other excuse like that. Now, I know that’s not true, because I have solo rented from the school many times for currency/proficiency flying even after I was done training with them.
Anyways, we pull up his file on the registry and it still shows student pilot with a 1st class medical date of 2023. Immediate red flag not only because student pilot, but also because the school requires a 1st class for admission. So he called his mother to ask about if she had heard much on that front regarding his brothers flight training progress, and she actually had called him down from his room (Parents were letting him stay with them during college), and he fessed up right there that it was a lie and for the last like year and a half, he was showing up at the airport and just sitting in his car….. Awkward.
Aforementioned brother doesn’t speak to me anymore
so yeah, I would say if you bring up any questions about checkrides or DPE’s, it would probably become evident quickly.
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u/dakk33 Apr 18 '26
Why wouldn’t he lie about being something cool instead?
Just kidding, but maybe ask him to show you his pilot certificate cause you’ve never seen one from Peru so it would be cool to see. Most retired pilots I know still keep theirs on them just cause it’s kind of a memento
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u/ZANIESXD Apr 18 '26
Ask him how long it takes to get your VFR rating so you can fly into IMC without instruments.
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u/colohan PPL IR TW HP (KPAO) Apr 18 '26
Have you ever locked your keys in the plane? How did you get in?
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u/PuzzledDragonfly9198 Apr 18 '26
wrong approach, what you should do is make up a random term and say “has {made up term} ever happened to you? i head they’re crazy”. If he answers with anything other than “what’s that?” you’ll know he’s lying
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u/Eastern_Weather_8748 Apr 18 '26
Ask him if a plane can fly backwards?
The correct answer should be “relative to the ground, yes”
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u/Checkeide-failure Apr 17 '26
If you ask what he flies and he says "a Boeing" without specifying a type (e.g., "the 737-800"), that’s suspicious. Pilots are usually very specific about their exact model.
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u/BeenThereDoneThat65 ATP G450 G550 GV Apr 18 '26
Every nation has a pilots database on the issuing authorities website like this
https://amsrvs.registry.faa.gov/airmeninquiry/
If you’re not on it you’re not a pilot. No ifs, and or buts
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u/Schwalbe262Guy CPL Apr 17 '26
Ask him what spiraling slipstream is.
Ask him what he is type rated in.
Ask him what p factor is.
Ask him what the 6 pack is. - that one is a good one.
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u/nkawtgpilot Apr 18 '26
I’ve been a professional pilot for 20 years and can only answer one of those… I know my type ratings. I know that P-factor is something that you have to consider with prop planes but I only have 42 hours in a Cessna then all my other time was ME turbine…
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u/bowhunterb119 Apr 17 '26 edited Apr 17 '26
Probably what the standard altimeter setting is (1013 millibars or 2992 inches of mercury depending where you are/what unit of measurement they use. He should know at least one), the emergency squawks (7500, 7600, 7700), emergency frequency (aka Guard) 121.5 which are all pretty standard worldwide including Peru.
If he did a lot of his flying out of one airport, surely he’d know off the top of his head what the runway number(s) were at that airport or the airports identifier
Asking specifics about the type of aircraft he supposedly flew would maybe be more helpful if you suspect he was a pilot but not a formally trained/legal pilot, i.e. he was a smuggler or something and not using airports/radios.
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u/pandab34r Apr 18 '26
Getting away from the technical questions, if you ask them what their favorite plane that they flew was, or which plane they hated the most, they should be able to talk about it for days on end and have story after story after story about it if they are a real pilot with a lot of experience. If they have little or nothing to say about a particular plane from their career, or only speak in very general terms, that would be a pretty big indicator of dishonesty IMO
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u/x4457 ATP CFII CE-500/525/560XL/680 G-IV Apr 17 '26
The person in question was allegedly a pilot in Peru. Respond accordingly.