(supersedes previous)Alitalia airline said Tuesday it has suspended one of its pilots after prosecutors in the Umbrian town of Todi reported him for firing a gun during an argument at home on Easter night. The incident came less than two weeks after a reportedly mentally ill Germanwings co-pilot deliberately crashed his airliner into the French Alps, killing himself and 149 other people. Prosecutors had informed Alitalia of the incident involving Maurizio Foglietti, an experienced pilot from a prominent Todi family who was captain on a February 14 flight from Rome to Palermo taken by President Sergio Mattarella.
The prosecution said it is not up to the judiciary "to evaluate whether or not (the pilot) is fit for duty at Alitalia". The airline said Foglietti "is relieved of flight and command duties" pending an internal inquiry.
Meanwhile in Todi, police are still investigating the chain of events that led the unmarried pilot to fire his gun several times into a wall after an argument with his mother and brother on Easter night.
Carabinieri military police were called to the scene, where they seized the recently fired gun and other weapons and placed Foglietti under investigation on possible charges of making threats and aggravated harm.
News of the incident prompted an MP from the ruling Democratic Party (PD) to call for mandatory psychiatric evaluations for pilots.
"We must immediately reinstate yearly, obligatory psychiatric and psychological check-ups for pilots," tweeted Deputy Michele Anzaldi tweeted on Tuesday.
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