Frenchman dresses as pilot, gets to sit in cockpit before being caught

Philippe Jeannard was so annoyed with his coach seat on a US Airways flight from Philadelphia to Florida that he decided to reenact a scene from Catch Me If You Can and pretended to be a pilot. Unfortunately for the 60-year-old, he didn’t have the good looks of Leonardo DiCaprio and only made it as far as the cockpit seat.

Philly.com reports that the Frenchman did have tickets for the flight, but it appeared that he was determined to try to get a free ride as a pilot from the beginning since he showed up dressed as an Air France pilot. Authorities even found him with fake Air France identification.

“When Jeannard could not produce proper credentials, he was removed from the flight and the police were notified,” police spokeswoman Jillian Russell told Philly.com.

Police say Jeannard, who lives in La Rochelle, France, walked slowly to the cockpit during boarding, while the cockpit doors were still open. When the flight crew did a head count, they noticed that he was in the cockpit, so they asked him who he was. He claimed to be an Air France pilot, but the crew was skeptical. He couldn’t produce the right credentials and was escorted off the plane. Police were notified and he was arrested.

According to CNN, Jeannard is now being held by Philadelphia police on $1 million bail. As he was being arrested, he reportedly said he “hated Americans.”

While the FBI will investigate the incident, authorities do not believe he has any connections to terrorism.

US Airways did not comment.