Who is Geoffrey Wall, the former Air Canada captain charged in ‘Project Icarus’?

Playing null of undefined

Here’s what we know about the pilot who allegedly flew 900 flights with a ‘counterfeit’ licence

Pilot captaining 900 flights since 2009 without required licence ‘read like a movie script’: police

Geoffrey Wall, a former Air Canada captain, is accused of flying more than 900 flights without the proper licence between 2009 and 2025.

Peel police have charged him with seven criminal offences following their four-month investigation dubbed “Project Icarus.” The charges against him have not been tested in court.

• READ MORE: Former Air Canada pilot arrested after allegedly flying with fake licence, police say

After retiring in 2025, the 59-year-old from Barrie, Ont., became the coordinator for Georgian College’s military-connected program.

The college confirmed on Tuesday that Wall is a part-time employee but won’t reveal his current employment status “as this is an active criminal investigation.”

Here’s everything we know about the former pilot.

Beginnings

A November 2025 post on the Georgian College website, titled “People of Georgian: Flying forward — Geoff Wall helps Military-Connected students take off,” detailed his early beginnings “in his own words.”

The post has since been taken down, but a copy is preserved on the Wayback Machine, an online tool that archives webpages.

According to the post, Wall began flying at the Barrie Flying Club while still in high school, earning his private pilot’s licence before graduation.

After enlisting in the military, he attended flight school in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, and then in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.

He became a helicopter pilot in the summer of 1990 and was first posted to Moose Jaw, where he worked with a small search-and-rescue unit responsible for responding to on-base emergencies during training.

Wall wrote in the post that he also had the chance to fly in an F-18, F-5 and T-33 as a “very excited passenger.”

Three years later, in 1993, he was posted to Halifax, where he flew the Sea King helicopter off the back of Navy ships.

According to another profile on the Georgian College website, Wall completed two six-month deployments during the Yugoslav Wars.

Air Canada

After 12 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Wall was hired by Air Canada as a pilot in 1998.

“I still remember thinking there was no way I’d get the job, but I took the chance and it led to a 25-year career. I flew DC-9s, Airbus 320s, Embraers, 767s, 787s and retired off the Boeing 777,” he wrote in the post.

Wall also mentioned his work with the union. He was the former chair of the master elected council of the Air Canada Pilots Association.

“I’ve always believed in helping people navigate systems that can feel overwhelming, and in many ways that work was about connection and trust. I like to say I became a “conduit,” someone who might not have all the answers but knows who does, and makes sure people get the support they need,” Wall wrote.

In his capacity as union chair, he appeared on CTV’s Canada AM in August 2015 to talk about the government delays in updating regulations on how many hours pilots could work per day before needing rest.

“Canadian airlines are safe,” Wall told host Marci Ien. “But again, what we’re talking about is looking for something safer, and the message that we have is that if an American passenger can get on an American airline and be governed under flight duty times that are considered safe to a global standard, why can’t we expect the same thing for a Canadian passenger getting on any Canadian airline in Canada?”

The Air Line Pilots Association said it won’t comment about the investigation but maintained that the “safety and security of the travelling public and our crews is our highest priority and always will be.”

“We take all regulatory and licensing requirements seriously and work to maintain the highest standards of safety and professionalism across our industry.”

Post-pilot career

Wall wrote in the post that he did not expect to land a job at Georgian College.

“I was browsing job postings and came across a position supporting military-connected students. It immediately caught my attention. Over the years, I’d seen friends and their families navigate the transition from military life to postsecondary education, and I realized how valuable strong support could be during that time,” he wrote.

He started at the college in the summer of 2025.

According to Georgian College, the military-connected program supports students with a tangible connection with the Canadian Armed Forces, including veterans, members of the regular force, members of the reserve component and foreign military veterans.

In a statement released Monday, Air Canada said safety was “not compromised” by the incident, noting that all pilots “undergo mandatory recurrent training” every six months to “validate their flying competency,” which includes a flight check with a certified Transport Canada check-pilot every year.

“Throughout his employment with Air Canada, the individual in question was a fully trained pilot who held a valid Commercial Pilot Licence, and he successfully met or exceeded the required recurrent training, demonstrating a high level of competency to safely operate large aircraft,” Air Canada said.

The airline did say that the pilot lacked the mandatory ATPL, which must be obtained by all captains of large aircraft operated by airlines in Canada and involves a series of written exams.

With files from Codi Wilson