Friends Say Pilot In Crash `Too Serious' To Drink Alcohol
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Nicholas Tafuri, captain of American Airlines Flight 965, enjoyed pampering the garden behind his Marco Island, Fla., home, playing tennis and going fishing.
One thing he did rarely, if at all, was drink, friends and co-workers say.
No one saw him imbibe on Dec. 20 - the day he took off from Miami in a Boeing 757 and crashed into a mountain in Colombia.
"He was too athletic, too serious of a man to do something like that," said Monique Huet, Tafuri's next-door neighbor, who visited him that day.
Forensic tests conducted by Colombian aviation authorities showed Tafuri, 57, had alcohol in his system. Whether it played a part in the accident, in which 160 were killed and four survived, is unknown.
Medical authorities say it is common for alcohol to form in a decomposing body - even if the person didn't consume a drop of liquor while alive.
When a body decomposes, enzymes are released that react with human tissues containing glucose and other sugars, much the same way as yeast does with grapes in the commercial alcohol fermentation process.
Forensic samples from Tafuri's remains will be retested by the Dade County (Fla.) Medical Examiner's Office at the request of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
Tafuri, who flew in the U.S. Air Force, was hired by American Airlines in 1969. He was licensed to fly Boeing 727s, 757s and 767s.
On June 14, he passed a stringent medical exam, which all airline pilots are required to take every six months, federal records show.
His ex-wife, Jeannine Tafuri of New Jersey, called him a perfectionist who loved his job. Tafuri was the father of two grown children and was remarried.
Claude and Monique Huet said Tafuri was their best friend. They said whenever they went to Tafuri's home, they were always served coffee or Coke, never alcohol.
Another Marco Island neighbor, Robert Burkett, agreed Tafuri was not a drinker.
"He played tennis. That was his relaxation," Burkett said.
Federal Aviation Administration regulations prohibit pilots from consuming any alcohol within eight hours of a flight. Alcohol can destroy a pilot's equilibrium and cause disorientation.
American Airlines officials yesterday declined to comment until forensic testing was complete.
American Airlines Flight 965 flew 13 miles off course and crashed into a 9,000-foot mountain about 20 miles north of the airport in Cali. Colombian authorities have tentatively blamed the crash on pilot error.
However, Donnie H. Williams of New Smyrna Beach, Fla., father of the flight's first officer, Donnie R. Williams, said he believed Colombian authorities want to pin blame on the crew rather than the country's air-traffic control system.
"If it's proven too dangerous to fly in there, they might lose commercial airliner business," he said.
The elder Williams said while he didn't really know Tafuri well, he was confident that neither he nor his son was drinking the day of the accident. The younger Williams' forensic tests have yet to be released.
Donnie H. Williams said he saw his son at lunchtime on that Wednesday, bright-eyed and alert.
"He had a strict policy of the night before or even the day before a flight, he never touched alcohol," the elder Williams said.