Human error or radar deficiencies may have been the cause of a horrific accident yesterday morning at Milan's Linate airport. At least 118 people lost their lives when a Scandinavian Airlines passenger plane collided with a private jet during take-off.
Inevitably in the current climate prompted by US-led military action in Afghanistan, it was at first feared that the disaster might have been the result of a terrorist attack. Linate Airport authorities, however, were quick to deny such explanations, with the Interior Ministry later issuing a communiquΘ which excluded "any possible theory re a terrorist attack".
SAS Flight SK 686 to Copenhagen, with 104 passengers and six crew members on board, was travelling at full-speed down the take-off runway when a privately registered Cessna with two crew and two passengers strayed into its path. Following the impact, the SAS McDonnell Douglas 80 careered wildly out of control eventually crashing into a nearby hangar where it broke into three separate pieces before bursting into flame and setting fire to the hangar.
Even though the fire was quickly brought under control, it was immediately obvious that no-one on board either plane could have survived.
Rescue workers' initial efforts were focused on searching for survivors amongst the eight airport workers believed to have been sorting luggage in the hangar at the time of the crash. By yesterday evening, 118 people - four airport workers plus the 114 people on both planes - were reported dead, with another four airport workers injured.
Although Linate Airport was shrouded in a heavy fog at the time of the crash, the airport director, Mr Vincenzo Fusco, denied that fog had been the cause of the accident. Speaking to Italian television, Mr Fusco said that ground conditions yesterday morning were "not incompatible" with the normal volume of air traffic.
On his arrival at Linate to visit the crash scene, the Minister for Transport, Mr Pietro Lunardi, immediately suggested that human error had been the cause. The Interior Ministry claimed that the Cessna private plane had strayed onto the SAS flight's take-off runway "by mistake since it had been authorised to taxi down another runway".
While an error on the part of the Cessna's German pilot and co-pilot may well have been the cause of the crash, the Italian airline pilots' union argued that "the inefficiency of Linate's ground radar system ... could have contributed greatly to bringing about the human error".
Linate airport is not new to controversy. Three years ago, it featured at the centre of a row between the Italian government and the European Commissioner for Transport, Mr Neil Kinnock, over Italian plans to move much international air traffic to Milan's other airport, Malpensa. At the time both the Italian government and the state carrier, Alitalia, argued that Malpensa was a much safer airport, although the EU argued that international carriers could not be forced to move.
Whereas Linate is frequently fog bound, is dangerously close to the city centre and works off one single short runway, Malpensa is relatively fog free, is sited 53 km outside Milan and has several different runways that can handle any size of aircraft.
While Aer Lingus operates daily out of Linate, a spokesperson in Milan yesterday confirmed that none of the company's personnel had been in vicinity of the crash.