Dave Stadt wrote:
snip

This is not really a difficult problem to consider.

Is there a pilot here who thinks he will not be caught???

He could probably fly for decades and never get caught. Fly in and out of
small Podunk strips. Doing so is much more common than many think. Same as
driving a car without a license or insurance.

The great aviatrix Pancho Barnes never had a legit pilot's license
until very late in life. She had to log 20 dual and 20 solo hours and
took the PP-ASEL checkride although she already had thousands of logged
hours. She kept a log-they just weren't valid. Viktor Belenko had the
same problem, I believe- they would have honored his Soviet military
pilot card and logs, but they were back in Mother Russia, and the Sovs
weren't about to forward them! When the Wall came down they did, and he
was able to get advanced ratings-I don't know if he ever got a MiG LOA!

A lot of rural people bought airplanes cash and flew them in partial
or total disregard of regulations. Some would get dual under a student
ticket and never take the checkride. In the 60s and 70s it was well
known some would buy Bonanzas, cabin twins, you name it, file IFR and
had never had any license or ratings. There were even rumors of people
who would buy Lears cash and fly them around with anyone gullible
enough to sit in the right seat. Many others would get legal at one
point and then just quit getting medicals and BFRs and whatnot.

I'm sure there people flying in the bushes "bootleg" but if they are
going in and out of controlled fields sooner or later they are going to
run into ramp checks, or someone will put two and two together. If
you're really old or really wealthy and judgement proof you may say
WTF, but I can't imagine young people in any numbers doing this.

I'm not sure what they'd do to you today. If people are doing it in
numbers, they are getting nailed at least often enough to supply the
answer. Anyone "know"?