A Swedish man who flew passenger planes around the world for 13 years without a licence has been fined €2,000 by a Dutch magistrate.

The man was arrested at Schiphol airport in March as he was about to fly a Boeing 737 to Ankara, Turkey, carrying 101 passengers. The authorities had been tipped off.
The court said Thomas Salme, 41, was guilty of flying without a licence and fined him €2,000, in line with the prosecution’s demands.
Praise
But the magistrate rejected calls for a suspended jail term of 90 days and a fine of €13,000 for forging a pilot’s licence because of a technical error by the prosecuction department.
According to news agency AP, prosecutor Bote ter Steege praised Salme’s flying ability, saying: ‘You’d think you could say that (Salme) endangered air traffic all those years but the fact is that he flew for 13 years without any incidents.’
Salme lives in Milan and was not in court for the hearing because he was worried about being confronted by journalists. He has no plans to fly again, his lawyer said.
The public prosecution department is considering an appeal, saying the verdict did not do justice to people on board the plane, news agency ANP reports.