A pilot suspected of flying using a fake licence for over a decade has been arrested whilst preparing for take-off in a jet bound for Turkey with 101 passengers on-board.

The 41-year-old Swede was at the controls of a Boeing 737 at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport when he was handcuffed by police. The plane was bound for Turkey

Dutch police have confirmed that the man, a 41-year-old Swede, had logged more than 10,000 hours flight time using his forged licence, and had worked for airlines in the UK, Turkey, Italy and Belgium.

They had been tipped off by a source in Sweden, and said that the man had once held a commercial pilot licence, but it had expired and it never qualified him for passenger flights.

According to media reports, the unnamed pilot was said to have showed relief when confronted by police and immediately took off his pilot’s stripes.

A Dutch policeman said: “The pilot said he was relieved that his misdeeds had come to light, and he pulled off his stripes at the time of his arrest.”

“He claimed to have worked for various companies in Belgium, Britain and Italy over 13 years, logging more than 10,000 flight hours.”

The pilot is being in custody in Haarlem, near Amsterdam, and a judge will decide on Saturday if he should be released on bail pending trial for forging documents and flying without a licence.

The Corendon Airlines plane was bound for Ankara and a lawyer for the Turkish airline said that a reserve pilot had been drafted in.