Pilot seen 'drinking' causes kerfuffle

Turkish plane makes emergency landing in Germany, Israeli passenger pulled off, after he expressed concern pilot had been at the liquor

An Israeli man is suing Turkish Airlines after his concern that a pilot had been hitting the sauce before a flight led to a passive-aggressive emergency landing and him and his three sons being detained by police in Germany.

The Hebrew-language business daily TheMarker reported that as the passenger was boarding his flight in December 2014 from Tel Aviv to Amsterdam, he glanced into the cockpit, where he saw the captain pouring himself a drink from what looked like a small bottle of liquor, raising his glass in a toast and drinking from it.

Once the passenger was seated, he quietly asked a flight attendant to check whether the captain had been drinking liquor before takeoff. The flight attendant went and got the crew chief, who told the passenger that the captain had been drinking mineral water.

The man did not believe her and asked to see the actual bottle. She brought him a bottle of mineral water, and the skeptical passenger asked her to check again.

From that point, the man said, the flight crew behaved rudely toward him and the three small children who were with him, one of whom was his son.

The crew filled out an Unruly Passenger Report against the passenger, saying that he had behaved violently, and the captain turned the plane around, saying he needed to land in order to take a blood test, evidently to prove that he had not been drinking.

They demanded that the man take responsibility for the damage that would be caused by the unscheduled landing.

After a two-hour wait in the air, the plane landed in Düsseldorf, met by fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. German police officers boarded the plane and removed the man and the three youngsters. But once the police and later, the airport detectives, heard his story, they believed him and let him go.

After a flight to Belgrade and an overnight stay there, the man and the three children flew back to Israel on Air Serbia.

The man is suing Turkish Airlines for NIS 510,000 (about $130,000) compensation for monetary damages and mental anguish.

A spokesperson for Turkish Airlines commented to TheMarker: “The topic is in legal proceedings, so we cannot respond in the media.”