RCMP pilots routinely doctored flight records in order to fly overloaded aircraft, the federal integrity commissioner says.

That meant the national police force routinely broke the Canadian Aviation Regulations while operating its fleet of about 40 aircraft, many of which are used for work in remote northern areas.

Commissioner Mario Dion said in the report released on Tuesday that he could not establish whether the RCMP flights posed a danger to the life, health or safety of anyone because the true weight of the flights is not known.

The reason it was not known was because the records were replete with bogus entries.

In his report, Dion says that the rule-breaking took place on “several occasions in 2012.”

Dion says he did not refer the falsified flight manifests to legal authorities because Transport Canada is aware of the issue — and, besides, he says the RCMP of all people should be expected to respect the law.

The routine rule-breaking came to light after allegations were made by a whistleblower.

The investigation began in November 2013. The report remains under a legal challenge from the federal government, which wanted to quash the findings before they could be made public.

Sometimes, the weight entry logs were over the allowed limit.

Other times, the records were highly suspicious.

On one occasion, the total weight of five passengers, including two pilots, was listed as 880 lbs, even though two of them were described as “heavy men,” who might have had a combined weight of 550 lbs.

That meant the other three passengers weighed just an average of 110 lbs each, if the Mounties entered correct data.

On another occasion, the fuel weight was listed at 1,900 lbs, which was described in the report as “very low” for a 3.4-hour flight.

On other flights, the total weight is listed as exactly what is allowed by regulations, or just slightly under the allowed weight.

The report also notes odd things about listed baggage weight. On one June 2012 flight, the total weight for baggage was listed at 50 lbs throughout. This was the same weight for every stage of the flight, whether it carried seven or two passengers.

On that flight, the aircraft was still 137 lbs over the maximum capacity.

Dion’s report dismissed several other serious allegations from a whistleblower for lack of evidence.

These allegations, including that RCMP planes were flown without valid airworthiness certificates and that pilots with lapsed credentials were scheduled to fly — could not be substantiated on the balance of probabilities.

The RCMP stated that it is addressing “the spirit and the intent” of the recommendations “through its ongoing engagement with Transport Canada.”

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The RCMP statement included an indignant reaction to the report’s comments regarding “making false entries,” saying this suggests “a deliberate deception of malfeasance on the part of RCMP personnel.”

“While there were data irregularities and incorrect .. . . entries on the part of the RCMP pilots the RCMP does not believe that pilots made these entries through deceptive intent,” the police statement says.

With files from Canadian Press