Summary

On July 10, 2009, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered the emergency revocation of Peter Sasson’s airman maintenance certificate. Sasson, an FAA certified mechanic, admitted to OIG agents that between approximately July to October 2008, while a student at the Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics (PIA) of West Mifflin, PA, Sasson systematically breached the school’s computer database and falsified grades and FAA regulated attendance records. Sasson’s deceptive actions allowed him to fraudulently receive a graduation diploma from PIA, which in turn provided Sasson a prerequisite to test for an FAA regulated Airman Certificate. Sasson also fraudulently inflated his grades to the degree that he was named the class valedictorian.

On April 27, 2009, PIA revoked Sasson’s Associate Degree in Aviation Maintenance Technology (AMT), repealed his completion certificate in the FAA–approved AMT program, and nullified Sasson’s status as valedictorian of his graduating class.