Hetfield wrote:-
Very fast CIR
(Corporate Identity Removal)
But also, as it turns out, spectacularly ineffective CIR. There's hardly an Italian newspaper this morning that doesn't have before-and-after photographs of the aircraft prominently displayed, usually with appropriately acerbic commentary attached.
Additional information from the Italian media:-
Sig. Turrą now says that the windspeed was 25 kt at the time of the accident (last night, on TV interviews, he was saying "25-35 kt").
The local (Civitavecchia) prosecutor's office has taken custody of the aircraft and had it removed by crane and low-loader to a secure location. No indication of whether he or the accident investigators gave permission for the overnight paint job, which was done at Alitalia's request. (Although I'm not an expert in either field, it seems extraordinary to me that either should have agreed to this.)
Turrą said that no. 1 runway at FCO (16R/34L, apparently) was closed last night because spray from the sea was blowing over it, so the only runway available was 16L/34R. When asked whether this meant the airport should have been closed and traffic diverted elsewhere, he emphatically disagreed, saying that it was the pilot's decision whether to land or divert. Another ENAC guy, Quaranta, added that no other aircraft had gone off the runway last night. Listening to them both, there seemed to be a strong element of "nothing to do with me, guv'" in their responses to questions.
Anpav, one of the Italian flight attendants' unions, has demanded that Carpatair's sub-contracting arrangement with Alitalia be ditched permanently and is doing a great deal of "we told you so." It describes the arrangement as "a clumsy attempt to reduce costs with no obvious benefits." It reminds people (no idea whether this is true or not) that in the Pisa fuel-leak incident of December 11 last year, it was two members of the airside ground staff that saw fuel flowing out while the aircraft was taxiing to the runway; got on the 'phone to the control tower; and had the latter bring the flight back when it was already in the air. The implication seems to be that the flight crew was remiss in not realising how much they were losing. Bearing in mind that it took two hours to clean the spilled fuel from the Pisa runway, it does seem to have been a matter of more than a few drips here and there.
Under Law 231/2001, criminal and civil liability in this matter, it is claimed, rests in the Italian legal system with Alitalia, not Carpatair.