Alitalia Flight 1553
A Minerva Airlines Dornier 328, similar to the one involved in the accident
Accident
Date25 February 1999 (1999-02-25)
SummaryRunway overrun on landing
SiteGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport
44°24′51″N 8°49′29″E / 44.4141°N 8.8246°E / 44.4141; 8.8246
Aircraft
Aircraft typeDornier 328-110
OperatorMinerva Airlines
IATA flight No.AZ1553
ICAO flight No.AZA1553
Call signALITALIA 1553
RegistrationD-CPRR
Flight originCagliari Elmas Airport, Cagliari, Italy
DestinationGenoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport, Genoa, Italy
Occupants31
Passengers27
Crew4
Fatalities4
Survivors27

Alitalia Flight 1553, operated by Minerva Airlines in Italy, was a regularly scheduled commercial passenger flight from Cagliari to Genoa. On 25 February 1999, the Dornier 328 serving the flight lost control and overran the runway while landing at Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport. Of the 31 occupants on board, three died, including the flight attendant;[1] another passenger later died in hospital.[2] The aircraft was damaged beyond repair.[3]

Flight history

Flight 1553 departed Cagliari for an 85-minute flight to Genoa on 25 February 1999, operated by Minerva Airlines on behalf of Alitalia, with a crew of four on board.[2] The aircraft was under the command of 35-year-old Captain Alessandro Del Bono, an experienced pilot with 6,000 flight hours, 2,000 of which were on the Dornier 328.[4][5] Also in the cockpit were First Officer Walter Beneduce and a student pilot.[5] In the cabin, there was one flight attendant.[1]

Accident

The aircraft approached and touched down on runway 29 at Genoa Airport with a 15- to 18-knot tailwind at approximately 11:30 am UTC (12:30 pm local time).[3][2] Eyewitnesses reported seeing the aircraft touch down very far down the runway, bouncing several times, then veering right, crashing into the retaining wall and collapsing the front landing gear before plunging into the nearby sea.[6][3] Airport crash response crews were quickly contacted and arrived on site after just 70 seconds.[2]

There were three immediate deaths—two passengers and the flight attendant—along with eleven injured. Most passengers were taken to the hospital with hypothermia, with one passenger later dying in the hospital, bringing the fatality count to four.[2] It is believed that the number of deaths would have been far greater had a 15-year-old member of a swim team not rushed to open the emergency exit door.[4]

Investigation

Despite the fact that the accident occurred on the same day that the Italian Parliament voted to create the National Agency for the Safety of Flight (ANSV, Italian: Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo), the Italian Air Safety Board, the ANSV did not investigate this accident as they had not commenced operations yet. Instead, the Italian Civil Aviation Authority launched an inquiry into the accident.[7][2] Captain Del Bono was stripped of his pilot's license and sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for negligent homicide,[8] with two court-appointed experts stating: "Pilot error was the predominant factor. The captain landed faster than expected, did not effectively counter the crosswind, and failed to select [the braking and control systems of the aircraft during the landing phase]." Moreover, he "did not understand that the poor deceleration of the aircraft was not due to mechanical failures, but due to poor control of the aircraft and its systems".[9] In 2002 an appeal was made to the results, claiming that the aircraft's thrust reversers were jammed on landing and that the aircraft had veered right because Captain Del Bono had shut off power to the right engine in an attempt to slow the plane down.[10] In 2003, Del Bono's sentence was reduced from two years and eight months in prison to two years on probation. Del Bono's defense cited the Civil Aviation Authority's final report, which found that the thrust reversers were not functioning and that pilot error could be excluded as a cause.[11]

Aftermath

Aircraft remains in a field
The scrapped remains of D-CPRR in 2013

The Dornier 328 was damaged beyond repair.[3] Minerva Airlines ceased operations four years later, in 2003.[12]

Alitalia continued to operate the flight number AZ1553 as a Cagliari-Milan Malpensa flight, operated with an Airbus A320, but this flight number was retired in 2019.[13]

References

  1. 1 2 "Genova: aereo in mare quattro morti, 27 feriti" [Genoa: plane at sea four dead, 27 injured]. la Repubblica (in Italian). la Repubblica. 25 February 1999. Archived from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Italian Plane Overshoots Runway". www.airdisasters.co.uk. Archived from the original on 18 August 2000. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Dornier 328-110 D-CPRR Genoa-Cristoforo Colombo Airport (GOA)". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 9 March 2012.
  4. 1 2 Filippo, Grimaldi; Enrico, Valente; Damiano, Basso; Carmelo, Alfonso; Luigi, Alfonso; Aronne, Anghileri; Carlo, Ferraro (26 February 1999). "L'aereo atterra, va lungo: 4 morti" [The plane lands, goes long: 4 dead]. archiviostorico.gazzetta.it (in Italian). Archived from the original on 24 August 2019.
  5. 1 2 Valli, Wanda (26 February 1999). "L' aereo affonda in mare" [The plane sinks into the sea]. la Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "#AccaddeOggi: 25 febbraio 1999, cade in mare un aereo partito da Cagliari" [#AccaddeOggi: 25 February 1999, a plane from Cagliari crashes into the sea]. L'Unione Sarda.it (in Italian). 25 February 2018. Archived from the original on 25 February 2018.
  7. ↑ "Who we are". ansv.it. Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo. Archived from the original on 4 June 2004.
  8. ↑ "Genova. Rito abbreviato per la tragedia dell'aereo della Minerva caduto in mare a Genova il 25 febbraio 1999 Due anni e 8 mesi al pilota del Dornier Al Cristoforo Colombo morirono 3 passeggeri (2 sardi) e una hostess" [Genoa. Shortened rite for the tragedy of the Minerva plane that fell into the sea in Genoa on February 25, 1999 Two years and 8 months for the pilot of the Dornier Al Cristoforo Colombo 3 passengers (2 Sardinians) and a stewardess died]. La Nuova Sardegna (in Italian). 14 November 2001. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  9. ↑ "LA TRAGEDIA DI GENOVA "Il pilota sbagliò la manovra Il muretto a fine pista non c'entra"" [THE GENOA TRAGEDY "The pilot misses the maneuver The wall at the end of the track has nothing to do with it"]. La Nuova Sardegna (in Italian). 4 December 1999. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  10. ↑ ""Il Dornier aveva un difetto al sistema frenante" Genova, il perito scagiona il pilota accusato della sciagura al Cristoforo Colombo" ["The Dornier had a defect in the braking system" Genoa, the expert exonerates the pilot accused of the disaster at the Christopher Columbus]. La Nuova Sardegna (in Italian). 13 December 2002. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  11. ↑ "Aereo in mare, pena ridotta" [Airplane in sea, penalty reduced]. La Repubblica (in Italian). 25 January 2003. Archived from the original on 22 January 2023. Retrieved 21 January 2023.
  12. ↑ Ranter, Harro. "Minerva Airlines". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 14 April 2005.
  13. ↑ "AZ1553 (AZA1553) Alitalia Flight Tracking and History". FlightAware. Archived from the original on 2 July 2014. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
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