Jail for Fake Engineer Who Deceived Qantas

Timothy McCormack was caught red-handed lying about his qualifications to perform maintenance checks on Qantas jets, but his capacity for outrageous chutzpah was undiminished.

Facing the prospect of a lengthy jail term for falsifying his aircraft maintenance licence, he tried to persuade a judge that the airline would be less safe as a result of his employment being terminated - because it would be bereft of his fine eye for detail.

Judge Mark Marien, who sentenced McCormack yesterday to a minimum of two years' jail, read out a fake character reference the former Qantas employee had forged in the name of one of his supervisors to receive a lighter punishment. "Having Tim fully certified for jets has not risked anyone's lives as has been portrayed," the reference said.

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