Peeping pilots endanger Italians

last updated 8 January 2015

Barletta, Italy

Three American military helicopters buzzed an Italian beach last week, swooping so low that the wind from their rotors sent chairs and umbrellas hurtling into the air. Five people were bruised by the flying beach furniture. Witnesses said the pilots were trying to get a closer look at topless sunbathing women. This is not the first time American barnstorming has hurt Italians. In 1998, a low-flying U.S. jet sliced through a ski-lift cable at a resort in northern Italy, and 20 people in the gondolas plunged to their death. That pilot was kicked out of the Marines. The crews of the helicopters, which were en route from Germany to the Balkans, face a military investigation.