An Argentinian airline has sacked two pilots and banned a Playboy model from travelling with them for five years, after a video was uploaded to social media showing the model flying a passenger plane during take-off. The Aerolineas Argentinas flight was travelling from the capital Buenos Aires to Rosario in central Argentina.
Actress and glamour model, Vicky Xipolitakis uploaded a photo-set to Twitter on Thursday showing herself in the plane’s cockpit, in between the two smiling pilots. The photographs were uploaded three days after the incident took place.
In a video, obtained by Argentinian television news program Telenoche, the pilots are seen explaining how the various controls work. Ms Xipolitakis is seen shouting: “I’m going to accelerate and will take off!”
The pilots then joke that as an Argentinian taxpayer, she is entitled to fly the plane – as the airline is wholly owned by the Argentine Government.
The airline fired pilots Patricio Zocchi Molina and Federico Matias Soaje after becoming aware of the incident.
In an official statement, they also said criminal proceedings would be initiated against the two pilots and Ms Xipolitakis, “under Article 190 of the penal code for putting the flight’s safety at risk”.
In a statement, translated from Spanish by ABC News, Ms Xipolitakis wrote: “I sincerely and wholeheartedly did not imagine I could cause this much damage.”
“With respect to the extraordinary flight, being there was an unforgettable and beautiful experience, I never thought there would be this much fuss.” [myad]
