Italian Pilot Threatened to Crash Plane
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In the modern day, the technology is there to communicate with someone instantly and consistently (i.e. wifi on aircraft now) this pilot was texting before his flight which is scary. You have that pilot in Indonesia who killed many due to financial reasons, Germanwings and possibly MH370. Its time to put greater emphasis on the psychological status of pilots even before they get their PPL.
IMO we should monitor pilots debts and medical occurrences more closely as well and the airline should have the right to privately see a pilots account or go more in-depth into the medicals to clear pilots yearly psychologically. They do this heavily with police officers (at least where im from). You cant become one if you're sole motivation is money, or you past or potential signs of psychological are of concern, they make sure of this. Im not saying its 100% guaranteed but at least due diligence is done.
Unfortunately we have idiots in this world who think its ok to take hundreds of lives with them when they cant deal with life anymore! - madness
IMO we should monitor pilots debts and medical occurrences more closely as well and the airline should have the right to privately see a pilots account or go more in-depth into the medicals to clear pilots yearly psychologically. They do this heavily with police officers (at least where im from). You cant become one if you're sole motivation is money, or you past or potential signs of psychological are of concern, they make sure of this. Im not saying its 100% guaranteed but at least due diligence is done.
Unfortunately we have idiots in this world who think its ok to take hundreds of lives with them when they cant deal with life anymore! - madness
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Perhaps we should be listening to the partners/families of aircrew more carefully, not dismissing such things as 'spite'. Examples of which there are more than a few would be those who live under the constant threat of "if you upset/leave/don't please me you'll have the deaths of n passengers on your conscience if I'm not rested, happy and calm when I report for work". This kind of emotional blackmail has many permutations and while most pilots would have no intention of carrying out the veiled threat and use it 'merely' to control their partners, how would we know unless we listen and act on it whenever we hear something similar?
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Please...
I think this is not a women-vs-men bashing thread. It is a subject of greatest importance for people directly (air crew, maintenance) and indirectly (slf, security personnel) involved in aviation, or, for that matter, society as a whole.
When you put pressure on some people they will bend. Most will not. But it would be appropriate to have some kind of screening, yearly? bianually?, for anyone who might show a tendency to bad deeds.
Having some kind of reporting system for doctors might be one solution. We have that in Sweden: a select few diagnoses from the DSM or a select few physical problems requires by law that doctors report this to Transportstyrelsen (gouvernment agency who oversees all modes of transport). Some illnesses, be it physical (epilepsy) or mental (paranoid schizophrenia) might make you ineligible for several transport vehicle licenses. Other (clinical and severe depression with suicidal thoughts) might give you a temporary ban until things are more stable.
I do not know whether this wife did anything for "revenge" or "in spite". Maybe she was just a very concerned woman who did not wish to see her husband commit a terrible crime. Just as we were not in the cockpit of AF447, we were not at the receiving end of that text message. Maybe she was a "hysteric". Maybe she was a great woman with a conciense (spelling?). I operate by "better safe than sorry" and "belts and bracers just in case".
I think this is not a women-vs-men bashing thread. It is a subject of greatest importance for people directly (air crew, maintenance) and indirectly (slf, security personnel) involved in aviation, or, for that matter, society as a whole.
When you put pressure on some people they will bend. Most will not. But it would be appropriate to have some kind of screening, yearly? bianually?, for anyone who might show a tendency to bad deeds.
Having some kind of reporting system for doctors might be one solution. We have that in Sweden: a select few diagnoses from the DSM or a select few physical problems requires by law that doctors report this to Transportstyrelsen (gouvernment agency who oversees all modes of transport). Some illnesses, be it physical (epilepsy) or mental (paranoid schizophrenia) might make you ineligible for several transport vehicle licenses. Other (clinical and severe depression with suicidal thoughts) might give you a temporary ban until things are more stable.
I do not know whether this wife did anything for "revenge" or "in spite". Maybe she was just a very concerned woman who did not wish to see her husband commit a terrible crime. Just as we were not in the cockpit of AF447, we were not at the receiving end of that text message. Maybe she was a "hysteric". Maybe she was a great woman with a conciense (spelling?). I operate by "better safe than sorry" and "belts and bracers just in case".
Um, has anyone considered that maybe this story isn't true? 
Unnamed pilot, unnamed airline, unnamed destination in Japan, unnamed police force, unnamed wife...
All I see is a lot of, "according to a media report today", "the report said", "according to reports".
I would like to see something more substantial than, "according to reports", which sounds an awful lot like, "an anonymous source told me...".
The odour of bovine detritus is wafting on the breeze.
Unnamed pilot, unnamed airline, unnamed destination in Japan, unnamed police force, unnamed wife...
All I see is a lot of, "according to a media report today", "the report said", "according to reports".
I would like to see something more substantial than, "according to reports", which sounds an awful lot like, "an anonymous source told me...".
The odour of bovine detritus is wafting on the breeze.
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Even after germanwings some of you still want to bring up 'vengeful women'? If only his woman had done the same. Thankgod this one alerted the authorities, and its in a text messsge so we can be sure it was genuine.
I worry more about those of you flying planes who are so quick to auggest blame on the woman. I thought pilots are rational? All evidence is she did the right thing. You're pretty screwed up about women if you're instinct is to suggest that, and I'm not sure I like you near a cockpit. Men are pretty vengeful too and 100% of the ones suicidally murdering people. You're probably the same ones complaining about a flight attendant in the cockpit while one of you is in a toilet break, because obviously you're such gods; how dare anyone suggest a lowly flight attendant sit next to you so SOMEONE can open the door if needs be.
Tell me, how many planes crashed because of a flight attendant's ill intentions? And how many because of a pilot? It IS an issue that is not statistically insignificant in recent crashes. Personally I am not at all happy about an impenetrable cockpit door, I think it creates more dangers than it solves.
I worry more about those of you flying planes who are so quick to auggest blame on the woman. I thought pilots are rational? All evidence is she did the right thing. You're pretty screwed up about women if you're instinct is to suggest that, and I'm not sure I like you near a cockpit. Men are pretty vengeful too and 100% of the ones suicidally murdering people. You're probably the same ones complaining about a flight attendant in the cockpit while one of you is in a toilet break, because obviously you're such gods; how dare anyone suggest a lowly flight attendant sit next to you so SOMEONE can open the door if needs be.
Tell me, how many planes crashed because of a flight attendant's ill intentions? And how many because of a pilot? It IS an issue that is not statistically insignificant in recent crashes. Personally I am not at all happy about an impenetrable cockpit door, I think it creates more dangers than it solves.
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this pilot was texting before his flight which is scary.
These days, I'd almost be worried that a young kid (def: younger than me) is NOT texting before a flight!
BTW, the originator of the report (the Times) is identified in the link provided by the OP).
BTW, the originator of the report (the Times) is identified in the link provided by the OP).
In a moment of madness, I declined the honour.
I urge you all you read the RAeS link in my post 17 on this thread. Look at the statistics in it and then decide for yourselves whether this is a subject that needs to be treated much more seriously. A disturbingly high proportion of people have some mental health problems during their lives.
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Many years ago, a major US airline had psychological evals as part of their interview process. "Did you rock in the rocking chair?"
Anyway, after many years of this one man conducting such evaluations, he killed himself.
Kind of makes you wonder if the evals were conducted by someone with a level head in the first place????
Anyway, after many years of this one man conducting such evaluations, he killed himself.
Kind of makes you wonder if the evals were conducted by someone with a level head in the first place????
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I-Ford
It is actually in several news outlets although some just link to the Times article.
Here ( Jilted Italian pilot threatened to kill 200 passengers if wife left him - Travelandtourworld.comTravelandtourworld.com ) it says that the pilot was about to fly Rome - Japan one would assume as it was an Italian pilot and from another version of events from Padua that the flight was Alitalia possibly Rome to Tokyo.
It happened more than a year ago. Nothing in the news about it since. Now comes back with no details whatsoever.
I smell BS
I smell BS
Here ( Jilted Italian pilot threatened to kill 200 passengers if wife left him - Travelandtourworld.comTravelandtourworld.com ) it says that the pilot was about to fly Rome - Japan one would assume as it was an Italian pilot and from another version of events from Padua that the flight was Alitalia possibly Rome to Tokyo.
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Many years ago, a major US airline had psychological evals as part of their interview process. "Did you rock in the rocking chair?"
Anyway, after many years of this one man conducting such evaluations, he killed himself.
Kind of makes you wonder if the evals were conducted by someone with a level head in the first place????
Anyway, after many years of this one man conducting such evaluations, he killed himself.
Kind of makes you wonder if the evals were conducted by someone with a level head in the first place????
The rocking chair is now in the Delta Flight Museum according to this listing for the son:
Micah Janus, Ph.D. – Employee Screening Specialist
Micah is best known for his significant contributions of psychological assessments of pre-employment candidates and executive promotions for Delta Airlines. Virtually every pilot and senior manager at Delta went through the famous “Janus Rocking Chair” screening during the past fifty years. The chair now sits in Delta's museum.
Micah is best known for his significant contributions of psychological assessments of pre-employment candidates and executive promotions for Delta Airlines. Virtually every pilot and senior manager at Delta went through the famous “Janus Rocking Chair” screening during the past fifty years. The chair now sits in Delta's museum.
Those wacko psych tests 'with no right answers' have been a part of pilot hiring for many decades.
Now, would you rather step on a cat or throw up on a crowded bus?
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At one point I had an interview with a Dutch psychologist who seemed like a rather strange fellow.
It started off with "Draw a person," when I drew a face.
"Is that a man or a woman?"
"A man."
"Now draw a woman."
Moving along we had to draw a "dream tree" and a "fantasy tree." Finally we got to the Rorschach test, all these ink-blot cards that looked like vaginas or crotches or something else vaguely v-shaped and hairy, many of them tinted red! So this one was a butterfly and that one was a dragon, and I passed the test.
Later, the company dispensed with his services after a series of total weirdos showed up. The stand-out was a Canadian who promised us that he had made a list of all of us who had annoyed and harassed him, when he was going to hire a Mafia hit man, back in Canada, to have us killed. Phew!
At another time I took a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with this question that asked whether I would rather wash wounded soldiers or else teach young children to sing. Hmmm ....
It started off with "Draw a person," when I drew a face.
"Is that a man or a woman?"
"A man."
"Now draw a woman."
Moving along we had to draw a "dream tree" and a "fantasy tree." Finally we got to the Rorschach test, all these ink-blot cards that looked like vaginas or crotches or something else vaguely v-shaped and hairy, many of them tinted red! So this one was a butterfly and that one was a dragon, and I passed the test.
Later, the company dispensed with his services after a series of total weirdos showed up. The stand-out was a Canadian who promised us that he had made a list of all of us who had annoyed and harassed him, when he was going to hire a Mafia hit man, back in Canada, to have us killed. Phew!
At another time I took a Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) with this question that asked whether I would rather wash wounded soldiers or else teach young children to sing. Hmmm ....
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A chum of mine was having a hard time with the local council. It was a dispute over our famous 'poll tax' if I remember right.
Anyway, for whatever reason, and no doubt having lost his temper already, he threatened to crash his plane into the offices of the local council.
My, how they laughed.
Seeing as he was then an FO with a well known uk IT operator, they called the chief pilot, who grounded my chum immediately.
I should stress that he was a perfectly normal guy, well as normal as most pilots I know anyway.
Eventually, he went back flying with the same outfit, and indeed went on to get his command which as far as I know he still has.
Moral of the story? Losing your rag and saying something stupid may cost you money, seniority etc, but it doesn't mean you are stone mad.
Anyway, for whatever reason, and no doubt having lost his temper already, he threatened to crash his plane into the offices of the local council.
My, how they laughed.
Seeing as he was then an FO with a well known uk IT operator, they called the chief pilot, who grounded my chum immediately.
I should stress that he was a perfectly normal guy, well as normal as most pilots I know anyway.
Eventually, he went back flying with the same outfit, and indeed went on to get his command which as far as I know he still has.
Moral of the story? Losing your rag and saying something stupid may cost you money, seniority etc, but it doesn't mean you are stone mad.
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Anyway, for whatever reason, and no doubt having lost his temper already, he threatened to crash his plane into the offices of the local council.
My, how they laughed.
Seeing as he was then an FO with a well known uk IT operator, they called the chief pilot, who grounded my chum immediately.
I should stress that he was a perfectly normal guy, well as normal as most pilots I know anyway.
My, how they laughed.
Seeing as he was then an FO with a well known uk IT operator, they called the chief pilot, who grounded my chum immediately.
I should stress that he was a perfectly normal guy, well as normal as most pilots I know anyway.
The loose cannon rhetoric of a couple of decades ago, e.g. 'kill all the scabs', is no longer laughed off as the excesses of emotion at contract time.
As with most recent personnel matters, I've only got hearsay information but I believe a couple of my coworkers have been removed from flying, perhaps permanently, due to threats of what the company has deemed workplace violence. One alleged threat was verbal with multiple witnesses, the other was on social media.
Three decades ago, self-appointed geniuses like Captain WOW at Delta would be somewhat protected by ALPA from company attempts to reign in increasingly bizarre speech and behavior at work. At least he was able to get some sort of settlement when the feds pulled his medical as I recall.
Twenty years ago, Captain Barney at FedEx did an early social media press to test when he made statements deemed to be threatening on the ALPA FedEx CompuServe forum. The company demanded that he submit to a psych exam which is contractual at most U.S. carriers. He initially agreed but then refused citing a conspiracy to end his employability as a pilot.
Since it was argued that more scrutiny of Auburn Calloway's behavior might have prevented the recently attempted FedEx DC-10 hijacking, it was difficult for ALPA to defend Barnhart's statements as merely passionate viewpoints and constitutionally protected speech. Captain Barnhart was fired by FedEx and never got his job back.
I would suggest that tolerance for speech or behavior out of the norm (with a few exceptions) is even less these days in the pilot workplace.
