20 years ago, 118 died in a plane crash in Milan-Linate
On October 8, 2001, 118 people died in the collision at Milan-Linate airport between a SAS airliner and a small private aircraft: it was the deadliest air disaster ever to occur in Italy, and the most serious plane crash on the ground after the one in Tenerife.
It was Monday, October 8, 20 years ago, to the day. At 8:15 a.m., an MD-87 from the Scandinavian company SAS which was to reach Copenhagen was taking off at the Milan airport in Linate (Italy) when it struck a small Cessna from a private German company on the runway , before being embedded in a hangar and starting a gigantic fire.
Desolation show
With 104 passengers on board (including 56 Italians) and 6 crew members, the McDonnell Douglas 87 crashed, after hitting the tourist plane, against an airport hangar where about fifteen employees were working. Four of them, responsible for sorting the luggage, perished. Three other employees were hospitalized, one of them in serious condition.
“A human error”
The record is terrible. Due to the force of the impact and the violence of the fire that broke out, there were no survivors among the passengers of the Scandinavian aircraft.
Brigitte Nielsen had miraculously escaped the disaster by canceling her reserved seat on the SAS flight to participate in a television program called “Live Life”.
The two pilots of the small Cessna who were heading for Paris as well as their two passengers also perished in the accident. Despite the rapid arrival of help, the flames quickly spread throughout the hangar, the tanks of the SAS aircraft being filled with kerosene. All flights to Milano-Linate, the second airport in the Lombard capital which is only twenty kilometers from the city center, have been interrupted. Many witnesses say they heard three loud explosions.
The ground radar was not working
However, the thesis of the attack was dismissed by the Italian authorities who favored human error as the cause of this accident, as well as the title “South West” from October 9. Three investigations were immediately opened. According to the first elements, the German pilot of the small aircraft who would have liked to take a shortcut to get to its runway, had absolutely no knowledge of this airport. In addition, the ground detection radar, in service maintenance since October 5, was not working. Those in charge of the control tower therefore did not see the Cessna take an access that was normally prohibited, especially since that day, visibility was reduced due to the fog.
Four top Italian air transport officials convicted
Four Italian air transport officials were sentenced on April 16, 2004 in Milan to six and a half to eight years in prison, for the Milan Linate airport disaster, the most serious in the past 30 years. The heaviest sentences were handed down against Vincenzo Fusco, director of Linate airport, who was sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as Paolo Zacchetti, flight controller, according to this source.
The managing director of the civil air traffic control body, Sandro Gualano, dismissed from his post after the accident, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison, as was Francesco Federico, responsible for the two Milan airports of Malpensa. and Linate, also sacked.
The prosecution had accused Vincenzo Fusco, Sandro Gualano and Francesco Federico of having failed in their duties by not providing the airport with the necessary facilities, in particular a ground radar which had been sorely lacking on the day of the tragedy, where the the airport was shrouded in thick fog.