More details are emerging about the Swede with a fake pilot's licence who was arrested at Schiphol Airport just before he was due to fly more than 100 passengers from Amsterdam to Ankara on Boeing 737 belonging to a Turkish airline.

Following a tip-off from the Swedish authorities, the Dutch police waited until he was actually behind the controls so they could catch him red-handed.

The 41-year-old is reportedly a self-confessed playboy who jets around the world and has a girlfriend in every city. "Thomaz" describes himself as a flying photographer and boasts on the internet:

"I live in Milan but the world is my workplace. As a sideline I fly, because that takes me to the most beautiful places."

The Swede had been flying for the Turkish airline Corendon for two years and previously managed to fool Air Sweden and Alitalia subsidiary AirOne. He had been flying commercial jets illegally for a total of 14 years. In reality, he had only a private pilot's licence which he had allowed to expire.

RNW talked to the President of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association, Evert van Zwol, who said he was surprised this could have happened but admitted he had only had his own licence checked once in his 20-year career.

"It's a bit like a driving licence, it doesn't normally get checked unless you do something wrong."

On the other hand, he points out that Dutch pilots have to have regular "prof checks" in the flight simulator before they can get an annual extension of their licences.