A pilot rescued with two young family members after they survived a night on the wing of an airplane partially submerged in an Alaska lake is a student pilot who was not authorized to fly with passengers.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday started disciplinary action against the pilot, John Morris Jr., National Transportation Safety Board investigator Mark Ward told The Associated Press.

“The FAA told me that he is a student pilot, he had no application in for a pilot’s license, and it appears he has a history of violating” the no passenger rule, Ward said. “At this point, we don’t know whether he landed purposely or for an emergency procedure, and he’s not talking to us.”