Milan air crash theories emerge

Fasulo was a pilot with 30 years flight experience.

MILAN, Italy (CNN) -- Friends and colleagues of the pilot whose aircraft crashed into a Milan high-rise have dismissed speculation that he deliberately flew his small plane into the building.

Prosecutors investigating Thursday's crash have offered three possible explanations for the cause: a technical problem with Luigi Gino Fasulo's Rockwell Commander 112TC; illness; or suicide.

Fasulo's plane crashed into the 26th floor of Milan's 32-story Pirelli Tower, killing him

and two women -- Anna Maria Rapetti, 41, and Alessandra Santonocito, 42, both lawyers. Eleven of the 36 injured inside and outside the building remained hospitalized Friday.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO A small private plane slammed into Milan's tallest building, killing at least three people and injuring dozens. CNN's Jim Clancy reports (April 18) Play video The plane punched holes in both sides of the building. (April 18) Play video   MORE STORIES • Witnesses talk of Milan plane horror  • New Yorkers' first thought: 'Not again'  • Chronology: Skyscraper disasters    RESOURCES • Gallery: Pictures of the crash scene  • The flight path  • The Pirelli building     Crash chronology Italian authorities detailed the events leading up to Thursday's crash. 5:39 p.m.: Fasulo asks the control tower at Linate airport for permission to land. 5:42 p.m.: Fasulo tells the tower he's having problems with his landing gear; the tower asks him to circle over a nearby private airport. 5:43 p.m.: Fasulo tells the tower that he is trying to manually lower the plane's landing gear. 5:44 p.m.: The tower gets no response when it tries to contact Fasulo. 5:47 or 5:48 p.m.: The aircraft hits the Pirelli building.

The building, which houses the Lombardy regional government, remained closed Friday, and surrounding hotels were still evacuated. But engineers said there is no risk the building will collapse.

A news report citing Fasulo's son, Marco, fueled speculation that the crash was an act of suicide, and not an accident. (Full story)

Rome's La Repubblica newspaper quote Marco Fasulo as saying the crash may have been a deliberate act induced by despair over financial problems -- reports that Milan police claim Marco Fasulo has since denied making.

"It was a suicide, a suicide, do you understand?" he was quoted as saying.

Fasulo's wife, Filomena, told CNN she plans to sue the newspaper over the report. Meanwhile, Fasulo's nephew, Luigi Fasulo, told Italian state television that the crash was an accident.

"Surely there was no intention on the part of my uncle to crash into the building," he said. "He was a person who loved life."

Fasulo, 68, from Pregassona, Switzerland, had been flying for over 30 years, held a commercial pilot's license and owned the plane.

Under Swiss law every pilot over the age of 50 has to undergo annual health check-ups. Fasulo passed his last medical in October with no problems.

Workers at Magadino Airport, the tiny airport in Locarno, Switzerland, where he kept his plane said he showed no sign of unhappiness.

Pino Scossa, a fellow pilot and Fasulo's friend of 40 years, told Reuters: "I saw him yesterday before he took off and he seemed very normal to me. The idea that he committed suicide seems absurd to me."

Pietro Marci, former head of the local flight club, added: "We're surrounded by mountains here. If he wanted to kill himself he could have flown into one of them."

Italian Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi, who has ordered a probe into the pilot's health, family situation and finances, told the Senate that Fasulo could have fallen ill at the controls. (Questions remain)

After making initial radio contact with the control tower, "there was silence, he was not operating any of the plane's controls in the last two minutes," he said.

Lunardi told reporters: "There's every reason to thing there was something strange -- the kind of target and the way it was hit straight on is spooky."

An Italian law enforcement official told CNN that authorities had no evidence of any link to terrorism.

Three people, including the pilot, died and 36 were injured

The National Aviation Authority said Fasulo radioed the control tower at Milan's Linate Airport to report "a small problem" with his landing gear as he was approaching the airport tarmac to land.

The tower tried to put him into a holding pattern to the west of the tarmac, but the pilot turned north instead, the authority said.

When the tower contacted the pilot again to inform him he was making "improper maneuvers," he told officials he was trying to fix the problem with the landing gear so he could land, and that was the last time the tower was able to reach him.

Milan fire brigade officials have said the plane was on fire as it flew into the Pirelli building.