FIRST Officer Andrea Sirlo, 32, had 400 Facebook friends. He delighted them with photos of himself in his pilot's uniform standing in front of planes in secure areas of airports around the world with his aviators on.

In one photo he is shown waving from inside the cockpit of a commercial aircraft.

The problem was “Sirlo” wasn’t a pilot at all. He made the uniform at home.



And he didn’t just his brag on Facebook. Using his fake uniform Sirlo managed to collect several identity cards, an airport staff parking card and airline training manuals.



He allegedly flew in the cockpit as a “third pilot” free of charge on an Air Dolomiti plane from Munich to Turin in April.

Air Dolomiti is part of the German airline Lufthansa. They insist he could not have boarded the plane without a ticket. But have so far refused to make any further comment. Police are now investigating whether “ Sirlo” flew on any other flights.



“Sirlo’s” fake life began to unravel when introduced himself as a captain to a civil aviation lieutenant. It’s one thing to boast to Facebook friends, but another entirely to lie to a real pilot.



The lieutenant thought he was too young to be a captain and alerted police. “Sirlo” is actually the name of a flight corridor over Italy.



The man known as Sirlo was arrested this weekend at Turin Airport. When police found him he was sipping coffee in the check-in lounge wearing a pilot’s uniform with no company logo on it.



He told police he wanted to be like Leonardo DiCaprio in the film Catch Me If You Can.



In the film DiCaprio plays real-life con man Frank Abagnale who reportedly flew one million miles on over 250 flights as a fake Pan American pilot in the 1960s.



"I saw that film and I wanted to be like Frank Abagnale," he reportedly told police.



The man has been charged with attempting to threaten air security and assuming a false identity.



Originally published as Police catch fake pilot in check-in lounge