Alitalia Flight 112

Alitalia Flight 112

Accident
Date	5 May 1972
Summary	Pilot error, CFIT
Site	Mount Longa, near Palermo, Italy
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas DC-8-43
Operator	Alitalia
Registration	I-DIWB
Passengers	108
Crew	7
Fatalities	115 (all)
Injuries	0
Survivors	0

Alitalia Flight 112 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 115 on board. On 5 May 1972, it crashed into Mount Longa, about 5 km (3 mi) south-west of Palermo while on approach. Investigators believe that the crew had 3 miles visibility and did not adhere to the established vectors issued by air traffic control. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy.

A memorial has been erected at the site of the crash.

The accident

May 5 1972, the aircraft I-DWIB of Alitalia (DC-8/43) started the flight AZ 112 from Roma Fiumicino to Palermo Punta Raisi, taking off 36 minutes late. The captain Roberto Bartoli was in charge of the radio assistance, while the First Officer Bruno Dini flew the aircraft. The times and locations have been precisely recovered from the recorder of Roma Controllo, which had a time recorder, while Palermo Approach did not.

The flight AZ 112 contacted Palermo Approach around 9:10 PM stating to be at 74 nautical miles from VOR (which is installed Mount Gradara, above the municipality of Borgetto, with a frequency of 112.3 MHz, around 10 miles south of the airport of Punta Raisi).

Around 10:23-24 PM, the aircraft (coming from Ponente-lato Terrasini) hit against a crest of 935 meters (1,980 feet high), about 300 feet below the top of the mountain, and slid for a long time on the ground with its wings, its fuselage, and its four engines, until it disintegrated in the successive hits against the rocks of the crest. Part of the debris and bodies of the victims rolled on the mountain side (Carini side) from where the kerosene fire was witnessed. The wreckage was strewn across a 25 mile area, so wild it took rescue teams 3 hours to reach it. Later on, some witnesses at Carini said that they had seen the aircraft on fire before the crash.

Of the 115 passengers, almost all were Italian - the only known foreigner aboard was a Belgian stewardess. The travelers were, for the most part, returning home to partake in the Italian national elections that weekend. Among the victims of the crash was the noted film director Franco Indovina, as well as Cestmir Vycpalek, the son of the then coach of the Juventus team.

The crash occurred on the 25th anniversary of Alitalia, who started operations with a single G12 plane on loan from the Italian air force.

After the accident

The trial represented the official version of events. The trial targeted the pilots for not following the guidelines of the flight controllers. The reason for the crash was labeled as 'pilot error' and a controlled flight into terrain (CFIT) (describes an unintentional crash by an airworthy aircraft into the ground).

There is another version of the accident held by some of the victims’ relatives. Mrs. Maria Eleonora Fais, sister of Angela Fais, who died in that plane, was able to find, after many years, the report of the Vice-Chief of Police Giuseppe Peri that says that the plane exploded because of a bombing. Peri accuses an alliance of people having ties with the Mafia and with a subversive group from the Right with the responsibility for this bombing. It must be remembered that three days after the accident the political elections would be held in which a strong rise of the Right was foreseen. The National Association of Italian Pilots (ANPAC) sided with the pilots, refusing the possibility of a mistake due to their long experience and due to the fact that the accusation of an intoxication to prove their “exclusive” responsibility had been denied. Other problems have been raised on the bad position of the airport of Punta Raisi. (On the position of the airport, see the accusations raised by Giuseppe Impastato)

There is an urban legend that in the crash of Montagna Longa a mythical first wife or partner of the songwriter Francesco De Gregori found her death. But it is only an unfounded conjecture deducted from the words of the song Buonanotte Fiorellino, which seems to make allusion to the tragedy. In reality, the song is inspired by “Winterlude” of Bob Dylan.

The 2001 publishing of the Aircraft Accident Report for Air India Flight 182 by John Barry Smith at first promotes two possible explanations for the dismemberment of the aircraft at approximately 31,000 feet (this fact is not disputed, but rather all investigations agree on this). Either there was severe structural failure, or some kind of explosion (he specifically suggests a bomb) incapacitated the aircraft. Smith elaborates on the investigations, the data - and even includes the facts about Air India Flight 182, which was destroyed by the detonation of a bomb midair ( is this relevant ?).

Bibliography

• Antonio Bordoni. "Piloti malati - Quando il pilota non scende dall'aereo". Roma, Travel Factory S.r.l., Dicembre 2008.
• Giorgio De Stefani. "Navigazione Aerea Manuale Giuridico Amministrativo". Roma, Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato, 1985.
• Edoardo Rebulla. "Sogni d'acqua". Sellerio Editore Palermo.
• Renato Azzinnari e Leone Zingales. "Anni difficili". Casa Editrice Istituto Gramsci Siciliano.

See also

• List of accidents and incidents on commercial airliners

External links

• Accident description at the Aviation Safety Network
• Air disaster Flight Alitalia AZ 112