Linate Airport Disaster

The Linate Airport Disaster was a collision that took place on 8 October 2001 at 08:10 local time at Milan Linate Airport, with a final death toll of 118. It was the plane crash with the highest number of fatalities ever in Italy, while limited to collisions during take-off it was only surpassed worldwide by the 1977 Tenerife Airport Disaster  .

On October 2001 a private Cessna Citation CJ2, registered as D-IEVX, erroneously entered the main runway of the Milan airport and collided with a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 operated by Scandinavian Airlines taking off. The impact killed all occupants of the Cessna and caused severe damage to the MD-87 which crashed into a baggage handling building located on the runway extension. The impact and the subsequent fire (which worsened due to the delay of response caused by the thick fasdog) caused the death of all occupants in both aircraft and four baggage handlers. A fifth baggage handler, Pasquale Padovano, although severely burned, was saved, being the only survivor of the disaster.

Subsequent investigations revealed that the collision was caused by structural deficiencies of the airport and a series of human errors by the Cessna pilots and air traffic controllers. Considering also the fact that, just 24 hours before the tragedy, there was an accident with the same circumstances, and that already on average once a week at Linate a plane invaded the main runway for reasons identical to those mentioned above, the entire Linate airport was subsequently made the subject of extensive restructuring.

Aircraft and Crew
The first aircraft involved in the collision was a McDonnell-Douglas MD-87. The cockpit crew consisted of Captain Joakim Gustafsson and First Officer Anders Hyllander, both aged 36. The Captain was hired by SAS in 1990 and had more than 5,800 hours of flight time. He had logged approximately 230 hours in the MD-87. The first officer was hired by the airline in 1997. At the time of the accident he had more than 4,300 total flying hours. He was more experienced in the aircraft type than his captain, having logged 2,000 hours of flight time in the MD-87.

The second aircraft was a Cessna Citation 525-A. There were two German pilots aboard. The captain, 36, had approximately 5,000 total flight hours logged, of which roughly 2,400 were accumulated in the Citation. The first officer, 64, had approximately 12,000 flight hours' experience, of which 2,000 hours were in the Citation.

Accident
On the morning of 8 October 2001, the area of ​​the Milan Linate airport was shrouded in thick fog and visibility on the main runway was reduced to less than 200 meters.

The adverse weather conditions caused delays to various arriving and departing flights. Scandinavian Airlines Flight 686, which was originally scheduled to depart at 07:35, had received a CTOT (calculated take-off time) of 08:16. The Cessna Citation D-IEVX, a private flight that was scheduled to leave for Paris at 07:45 had instead received a CTOT for 08:19.

At 07:54 the pilots of Flight 686 received from the ground movement controller the authorization to taxi from the northern apron to the CAT 3 waiting point, passing through the R4 junction. At 07:59 the ground controller told Flight 686 to communicate with the tower controller when passing by the airport fire station. At 08:01 the Flight 686 passed the fire station and contacted the tower controller. Four minutes later the Cessna D-IEVX, parked in the west apron, was instructed to taxi northwards, take the R5 junction, and then updated with the tower as soon as it reached the waiting point placed before the extension of the 36R header of the main runway.

Collision
Flight 686 was taxiing to the main runway. The fog over Linate Airport had decreased visibility. The Cessna was on the main runway. Flight 686 was cleared for take off on the runway.

Crash
As Flight 686 Takes Off It Collides With the Cessna on the runway. As The MD-87 of SAS 686 loses a engine it loses the front landing gear it descended with the nose up into a baggage hanger. The crash killed everyone aboard Flight 686 and on the Cessna.