Accident in LIN involving a SAS aircraft.
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From the Nando Times
[URL=http://www.nandotimes.com/world/story/126140p-1329348c.html]Nando Times[/URL
]
[ 08 October 2001: Message edited by: gofer ]
[URL=http://www.nandotimes.com/world/story/126140p-1329348c.html]Nando Times[/URL
nullBy VICTOR L. SIMPSON, Associated Press
MILAN, Italy (October 8, 2001 10:17 a.m. EDT) - A SAS airliner collided with a small private jet while taxiing before take-off on an airport runway in Milan on Monday. The SAS plane plowed into a building and burst into flames, killing all 114 people on both aircraft.
Government officials ruled out terrorism. The Interior Ministry said the accident was most likely the result of human error as well as poor visibility from heavy morning fog at Milan's Linate airport.
The SAS plane, an MD 87 with 104 passengers, six crew members and a tank full of fuel, hit the twin-engine Cessna, swerved off the runway and ran into a baggage handling depot, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The airliner had not yet started taking off.
The Interior Ministry said the private jet, a Cessna Citation II, was on the wrong runway.
Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi put the death toll at 114 with four ground workers missing. Fifty-six of the SAS victims were Italians, the rest other nationalities, he told an airport news conference.
"The cause seems for now attributable to human error," he said, refusing to say who was to blame. He said the investigation was in the hands of a magistrate.
Four of the dead were aboard the smaller Cessna aircraft, which was destroyed by the fire. The two Cessna pilots were German, and the two passengers on the eight-seater plane were Italian, said Alessandra Tripodi, a spokeswoman at the Milan Prefect's office.
"Unfortunately the toll is bound to rise," she said.
She said the Cessna had stopped in Milan while en route from Cologne, Germany to Paris.
More than 35 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, as firefighters worked to contain the blaze, Tripodi said. Access to the fuselage and cabin of the jetliner was made difficult because the plane hit a cement beam as it plowed into the baggage storage building, causing the roof to collapse.
Rescue crews using a crane lifted the roof off but "the scene is not encouraging in terms of finding survivors," she said.
Thick smoke filled the air around the crash site, and charred pieces of the shattered airplane stuck out of the red-and-white checked building as firefighters tried to board. Fire trucks were clustered around the scene and the ground was covered with mounds of white, fire-retardant foam.
The airport was closed until at least midnight.
"I heard three or four booms and a few moments later a crash and then flames dozen of meters (yards) high," an unidentified airport worker told private TG5 television. He said he was awaiting word of his colleagues, some 20 of whom were believed to be in the building.
Two of the injured from the baggage depot were taken to Niguarda hospital, and were listed in serious condition, spokesman Savino Bonfanti said. Another airport worker was taken to San Raffaele hospital for shock, said spokesman Luca Esotti.
"It's a terrible tragedy that fills us with pain and mourning and comes at an already difficult time in the international context," said the provincial president, Roberto Formigoni.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily, who spoke to his Italian counterpart after the blaze, called the Linate crash a "tragic accident" and said terrorism had been ruled out.
The worst-ever runway incident happened in 1977, when 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, said Chris Yates, of Jane's Airport Review.
SAS, or Scandinavian Airlines System, said the aircraft, Flight SK686, had been scheduled to take off at 7:35 a.m. Monday for Copenhagen. The incident occurred at 8:10 a.m.
"SAS is doing everything possible to help passengers and to assist Italian authorities at this time," the airline said in a statement. The airline sent experts to Milan to assist in the rescue operation and investigation.
At Copenhagen's airport, about 20 relatives and friends of the passengers who had been expected to arrive were being gathered and offered the opportunity to talk with psychologists. Relatives at Linate, Milan's second airport after its main hub in Malpensa, were kept in a room away from the press and special hotlines were set up for those seeking information.
MILAN, Italy (October 8, 2001 10:17 a.m. EDT) - A SAS airliner collided with a small private jet while taxiing before take-off on an airport runway in Milan on Monday. The SAS plane plowed into a building and burst into flames, killing all 114 people on both aircraft.
Government officials ruled out terrorism. The Interior Ministry said the accident was most likely the result of human error as well as poor visibility from heavy morning fog at Milan's Linate airport.
The SAS plane, an MD 87 with 104 passengers, six crew members and a tank full of fuel, hit the twin-engine Cessna, swerved off the runway and ran into a baggage handling depot, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. The airliner had not yet started taking off.
The Interior Ministry said the private jet, a Cessna Citation II, was on the wrong runway.
Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi put the death toll at 114 with four ground workers missing. Fifty-six of the SAS victims were Italians, the rest other nationalities, he told an airport news conference.
"The cause seems for now attributable to human error," he said, refusing to say who was to blame. He said the investigation was in the hands of a magistrate.
Four of the dead were aboard the smaller Cessna aircraft, which was destroyed by the fire. The two Cessna pilots were German, and the two passengers on the eight-seater plane were Italian, said Alessandra Tripodi, a spokeswoman at the Milan Prefect's office.
"Unfortunately the toll is bound to rise," she said.
She said the Cessna had stopped in Milan while en route from Cologne, Germany to Paris.
More than 35 bodies had been pulled from the wreckage, as firefighters worked to contain the blaze, Tripodi said. Access to the fuselage and cabin of the jetliner was made difficult because the plane hit a cement beam as it plowed into the baggage storage building, causing the roof to collapse.
Rescue crews using a crane lifted the roof off but "the scene is not encouraging in terms of finding survivors," she said.
Thick smoke filled the air around the crash site, and charred pieces of the shattered airplane stuck out of the red-and-white checked building as firefighters tried to board. Fire trucks were clustered around the scene and the ground was covered with mounds of white, fire-retardant foam.
The airport was closed until at least midnight.
"I heard three or four booms and a few moments later a crash and then flames dozen of meters (yards) high," an unidentified airport worker told private TG5 television. He said he was awaiting word of his colleagues, some 20 of whom were believed to be in the building.
Two of the injured from the baggage depot were taken to Niguarda hospital, and were listed in serious condition, spokesman Savino Bonfanti said. Another airport worker was taken to San Raffaele hospital for shock, said spokesman Luca Esotti.
"It's a terrible tragedy that fills us with pain and mourning and comes at an already difficult time in the international context," said the provincial president, Roberto Formigoni.
German Interior Minister Otto Schily, who spoke to his Italian counterpart after the blaze, called the Linate crash a "tragic accident" and said terrorism had been ruled out.
The worst-ever runway incident happened in 1977, when 582 people were killed when a KLM Boeing 747, attempting to take off, crashed into a Pan Am 747 on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, said Chris Yates, of Jane's Airport Review.
SAS, or Scandinavian Airlines System, said the aircraft, Flight SK686, had been scheduled to take off at 7:35 a.m. Monday for Copenhagen. The incident occurred at 8:10 a.m.
"SAS is doing everything possible to help passengers and to assist Italian authorities at this time," the airline said in a statement. The airline sent experts to Milan to assist in the rescue operation and investigation.
At Copenhagen's airport, about 20 relatives and friends of the passengers who had been expected to arrive were being gathered and offered the opportunity to talk with psychologists. Relatives at Linate, Milan's second airport after its main hub in Malpensa, were kept in a room away from the press and special hotlines were set up for those seeking information.
[ 08 October 2001: Message edited by: gofer ]
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Firstly condolences to those remaining.
Secondly My God - it's happened again - the foggy runway takeoff accident. To my knowledge it happened to Swissair in Vienna (involving a light aircraft rolling incorectly from the other end) in Tennerife and now in Linate. There are probably other cases.
In VIE correct voice procedures were used by the SR DC9 but the little aircraft's transmissions were partially blocked. We know the history of TRF. What went wrong in LIN we don't know yet.
Short of inventing a ground radar warning matrix and an RT tell tale whenever crossed transmissions occur - especially in Low Vis Procedures, it seems that VHF procedures will always be less than fully safe.
Secondly My God - it's happened again - the foggy runway takeoff accident. To my knowledge it happened to Swissair in Vienna (involving a light aircraft rolling incorectly from the other end) in Tennerife and now in Linate. There are probably other cases.
In VIE correct voice procedures were used by the SR DC9 but the little aircraft's transmissions were partially blocked. We know the history of TRF. What went wrong in LIN we don't know yet.
Short of inventing a ground radar warning matrix and an RT tell tale whenever crossed transmissions occur - especially in Low Vis Procedures, it seems that VHF procedures will always be less than fully safe.
I am a figment of my own imagination
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Use Linate quite frequently and think well of the radar and tower operators. The main runway is 36R which is usualy used for departure. Left Linate yeterday afternoon at 1220 on the 7th having gone in couple of days earlier. There has been low vis down at times to minimums and it seems to have been persisting.
The taxiway R6 which is generaly used, (though they can taxi you the long way around the top via R5), from the Private terminal on the West Apron intersects the main runway about two thirds of the way up from the departure end of 36R. A Citation II would not have used 36L which is for light aircraft only.
They generaly cross you at this point via R2 to continue on the opposite side down the parrallel taxiway to the holding point of 36R at R4. There is line of red stoplights set across the taxiway before the entering the runway.
R6 is a long taxiway with a couple of curves and passing bays and in low vis he might have become disoriented as to where he was along that taxiway.
A tragedy for all concerned our thoughts to those who have been involved.
The taxiway R6 which is generaly used, (though they can taxi you the long way around the top via R5), from the Private terminal on the West Apron intersects the main runway about two thirds of the way up from the departure end of 36R. A Citation II would not have used 36L which is for light aircraft only.
They generaly cross you at this point via R2 to continue on the opposite side down the parrallel taxiway to the holding point of 36R at R4. There is line of red stoplights set across the taxiway before the entering the runway.
R6 is a long taxiway with a couple of curves and passing bays and in low vis he might have become disoriented as to where he was along that taxiway.
A tragedy for all concerned our thoughts to those who have been involved.
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Nick Figaretto and Flap5: What reasoning makes you think that a "light aircraft" (Cessna Citation II business jet) should not be permitted to manoeuvre during low vis. operations??!!
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Gulfpilot4,
You are making the assumption that I was aware that it was a Cessna Citation. I was told that it was a new light Cessna being tried out by Signore Forsatti who is the owner of the Star food factory in Agrate Brianza near Milan. It would appear that not all of the information I had received was correct.
However having flown LVP ops many times myself I am aware that you do not continue down taxi ways unless you are absolutely sure where you are. Furthermore if transmissions from the Citation were being blocked the Cessna should have stopped to ensure that ATC were fully aware of what they were doing.
You are making the assumption that I was aware that it was a Cessna Citation. I was told that it was a new light Cessna being tried out by Signore Forsatti who is the owner of the Star food factory in Agrate Brianza near Milan. It would appear that not all of the information I had received was correct.
However having flown LVP ops many times myself I am aware that you do not continue down taxi ways unless you are absolutely sure where you are. Furthermore if transmissions from the Citation were being blocked the Cessna should have stopped to ensure that ATC were fully aware of what they were doing.
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My thoughts go to the passengers and crew of the airplanes involved.
But I can't stop to think after every accident what could we have done...
In my company we select the transponder ON when cleared to line up or Take-off, and we check for Runway/ Approach clear both visualy and on TCAS especialy in LVP.
1- Did the Cessna have the Transponder ON.
2-Would it be a good idea to ask all operator to select Transponder ON and not Auto when LVP in progress.
But I can't stop to think after every accident what could we have done...
In my company we select the transponder ON when cleared to line up or Take-off, and we check for Runway/ Approach clear both visualy and on TCAS especialy in LVP.
1- Did the Cessna have the Transponder ON.
2-Would it be a good idea to ask all operator to select Transponder ON and not Auto when LVP in progress.
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Along with FG & the fact that the MD was running late (a well-known CRM issue), another factor could have been the 3 different nationalities involved. Though everyone was speaking a supposably correct english, ATC was Italian, the C550 guys were German & the MD guys Scandinavians. This could have lead to some lack of communications monitoring by both aircrafts, that is... if they were on the same frequency ! Any rwy crossing should always B double-confirmed when approaching it, even if a previous clearance has been issued, & especially in such poor conditions.
MF
MF
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Some info from the Corriere della Sera, net edition.
Cessna Citation, belonging to Luca Giovanni Fossati, president of Star & Findim. 2 Pilots german.
THE RADAR THAT WASN'T THERE. The accident has relit the discussion about the ground radar that hasn't functioned since november 1999. <the inefficiency of the ground radar mihgt notably have contributed to causing the eventual human error> declares Mario Marinelli, president of the pilot union, also remembering that <also in the past the union has pointed out this situation>
According to Michele Bufo, president of the ATCO union, Linate's SMGCS <has long been antiquated and it's substitution had been decided on by the Enav about 2 years ago> but hasn't been completed yet.
Food for thought...................
Saw snippets from Kastrup airport on tv just now, SAS personel grieving for lost colleagues. Had to switch it off.
Condolences to all SAS ppruners.
Thoughts are with you.
-----------------------
......How fragile we are.........
Cessna Citation, belonging to Luca Giovanni Fossati, president of Star & Findim. 2 Pilots german.
IL RADAR CHE NON C'ERA - L'incidente ha acceso ancora una volta le polemiche relative al radar di terra che non funziona dal novembre 1999. La cui mancanza ha provocato diversi esposti in procura. «L'inefficienza del radar di terra potrebbe aver contribuito notevolmente a causare l'eventuale errore umano». Č quanto ha dichiarato Mario Marinelli, presidente dell'Unione piloti , ricordando anche che «gią in passato l'organizzazione sindacale aveva segnalato la situazione».
Anche per Michele Bufo, presidente della Licta , l'associazione sindacale dei controllori di volo, il sistema SMGCS (Surface Mouvement Ground Control System) di Linate «era ormai antiquato e la sua sostituzione č stata decisa dall'Enav circa due anni fa», ma non č stata ancora portata a termine
Anche per Michele Bufo, presidente della Licta , l'associazione sindacale dei controllori di volo, il sistema SMGCS (Surface Mouvement Ground Control System) di Linate «era ormai antiquato e la sua sostituzione č stata decisa dall'Enav circa due anni fa», ma non č stata ancora portata a termine
According to Michele Bufo, president of the ATCO union, Linate's SMGCS <has long been antiquated and it's substitution had been decided on by the Enav about 2 years ago> but hasn't been completed yet.
Food for thought...................
Saw snippets from Kastrup airport on tv just now, SAS personel grieving for lost colleagues. Had to switch it off.
Condolences to all SAS ppruners.
Thoughts are with you.
-----------------------
......How fragile we are.........
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The ground radar indeed was u/s in foggy conditions. In addition to Maxflex55 I would like to add that, in my eyes, Italian ATC is simply appaling, promotes unsafe situations, and I would not be supprised to learn that ATC has played a contributing factor in this tragic accident. 
Although I do not fly to Linate, I do fly a lot to Lugano (talking to Milano appraoch on 126.750), Olbia, Genoa, and Florence. Non standard clearances, incomprehensible use of English, an irritated responce if requested to read back (an unreadable) clearance and a general carelessness…..the list goes on and on ! Just take one look at the NOTAMS page for Malpensa or Linate…
My condolances to all those affected by this tragedy.
Although I do not fly to Linate, I do fly a lot to Lugano (talking to Milano appraoch on 126.750), Olbia, Genoa, and Florence. Non standard clearances, incomprehensible use of English, an irritated responce if requested to read back (an unreadable) clearance and a general carelessness…..the list goes on and on ! Just take one look at the NOTAMS page for Malpensa or Linate…
My condolances to all those affected by this tragedy.
Still behind the curtain
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First of all my deepest sympathies to the crew, passengers and their next of kin.
Second, it is a travesty on the part of Italian airport authorities to have not had ground radar operational for the past two years, as BBC claims. I have flown from both Milan airports and both tend to get fog and bad visibility, including snow. Following is the BBC excerpt from their web story;
"It was later revealed that the airport's ground radar system, which tracks planes as they move around the airport, had been out of action for anything up to two years."
Do pilots know this when flying in and out?
Second, it is a travesty on the part of Italian airport authorities to have not had ground radar operational for the past two years, as BBC claims. I have flown from both Milan airports and both tend to get fog and bad visibility, including snow. Following is the BBC excerpt from their web story;
"It was later revealed that the airport's ground radar system, which tracks planes as they move around the airport, had been out of action for anything up to two years."
Do pilots know this when flying in and out?
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The following is the bad news when reporting lives lost. According to the Swedish newspaper, Expressen, the following were the crew casualties aboard the SAS plane that crashed in Milan today:
-- Capt. Joakim Gustaffson, 36, Swedish, who had been working for SAS for 14 years. Stationed in Copenhagen. He had 5,624 flight hours in his career. Was employed by SAS in 1987.
-- F/O Anders Hyllander, 36, Swedish, who had been working for SAS for four years and had a total of 2,370 flight hours.
-- Stewart Olaf Jakobsson, 49, Swedish, who had worked for SAS since 1976 and had 15,143 flight hours.
-- Purser Lise Lott Andersen, 57, who had been with SAS since 1971.
-- F/A Janne Penttinen
-- F/A Eiler S. Danielsen
-- Capt. Joakim Gustaffson, 36, Swedish, who had been working for SAS for 14 years. Stationed in Copenhagen. He had 5,624 flight hours in his career. Was employed by SAS in 1987.
-- F/O Anders Hyllander, 36, Swedish, who had been working for SAS for four years and had a total of 2,370 flight hours.
-- Stewart Olaf Jakobsson, 49, Swedish, who had worked for SAS since 1976 and had 15,143 flight hours.
-- Purser Lise Lott Andersen, 57, who had been with SAS since 1971.
-- F/A Janne Penttinen
-- F/A Eiler S. Danielsen
A few years ago the threat was CFIT (Controlled Flight into Terrain). With all the advances in GPS navigation and EGPWS this accident scenario is becoming less common. Now it seems accidental runway incursions will take centre stage. We had the Streamline accident at CDG last year and a very close near thing in the States a couple of months ago. So what will be the industries response. All the flight crew reading this will be doubly carefull this winter but will airport operators like LIN look at their configuration and rue the fact that Ground movement radar costs nothing in comparison the cost in lives of this type of accident.
Condolences to all and lets be careful out there....
Condolences to all and lets be careful out there....
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Yes, ground radar would help, but it's not the only solution to what is fast becoming aviation's #1 operational menace.
1. Electronic charts with gps position overlay - I've tested them (and my airline's testing them now, I believe), and you can follow a little aircraft symbol accurately around an airport diagram (Jepp airport diagrams are to scale). So no excuses for getting lost there...
2. An electronic warning system that sets off the caution system on the a/c upon approaching/entering the active (when on the ground), and requires positive cancelling action by the crew. All a/c cleared for lvp could be fitted with this.
Ah, the costs of all this........well, hundreds dead makes it seem a bargain, to me.
Condolences to all, especially the SAS crew, who faced one of my nightmare scenarios. Poor folks - RIP.
1. Electronic charts with gps position overlay - I've tested them (and my airline's testing them now, I believe), and you can follow a little aircraft symbol accurately around an airport diagram (Jepp airport diagrams are to scale). So no excuses for getting lost there...
2. An electronic warning system that sets off the caution system on the a/c upon approaching/entering the active (when on the ground), and requires positive cancelling action by the crew. All a/c cleared for lvp could be fitted with this.
Ah, the costs of all this........well, hundreds dead makes it seem a bargain, to me.
Condolences to all, especially the SAS crew, who faced one of my nightmare scenarios. Poor folks - RIP.