Crash in Milano
A 68 years old pilot - an Italian living in Swizzerland- took off with his Rockwell commander 112 RG from Locarno airfield, in Swizzerland, just off the Italian border, on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore with a regular flight plan to Linate, Milan, Linate is the "old"airport of Milan, now used only for domestic flights, just off downtown, next to the eat "ring ". Upon approaching the circuit, the pilot apparently told Loinate tower . about problems in his landing gear He said he would try to lower the gear manually, and was told by the tower to hold, and orbit west of the downwind leg, which put him right over downtown. Few minutes later he crashed into the ONLY high-rise in Milan - 32 floors - . Analysers say he was busy with the gear manual pump, which in the Commander 112 is located just behind the yoke, so maybe he pushed the yoke foreward too much and was not looking out. Another possibility is smoke or fire in the cokpit to to oil leaking form the nose gear. pparently, an accident, but of all the space above Milano downtown, he flew right into the ONE AND ONLY "SKYSCRAPER" in town, possibly with his vision blurred by the strong sun which at that hour, 1755 local, was at a low angle. Now the pilot`s son told the TV that his father had financial difficulties, so he would not rule out suicide ! a real IDIOT , this son. But if so , why fly all the way to Milan instead of crashing into a nice Swiss mountain ? That `s what is known right now. By the way, a Piper Chayenne lost had apparently an engine failure during final just few min. before midnight in Brescia airport. and crashed, both pilot and passenger died, jut a week ago. The results, as usual, will be more hassle for the GA . Zeev
