Flight Plan

An airline pilot was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of stealing jumbo jet flight operation manuals and flight crew uniforms that were later offered for sale on the internet, police said. The allegation came amid heightened security in Japan in the wake of warnings that al-Qaida could be preparing to attack an Asian city and at the start of Japan's general election campaign. Kosuke Yasue, 42, a pilot at All Nippon Airlines, Japan's second-ranked carrier, is suspected of taking six flight operation manuals, including one for Boeing B747-400s, from a study room used by ANA staff at Tokyo's Haneda Airport in January, a police spokesman said. Yasue sold the manuals, along with uniforms for a pilot and co-pilot, to an aircraft goods shop for 500,000 yen, and they were offered for sale online, the spokesman said. Yasue told police he needed the money.
-- Reuters