Massacre of Cermis – US pilot kills 20 in Italy
In European mountains this summer I’ve taken a lot of cable cars.
Each and every time I’ve cursed the U.S. military for an incident in 1998 the Italians call the Massacre of Cermis.
The Cavalese cable car disaster of 1998 (as distinct from the similarly named disaster of 1976), occurred on 3 February 1998 near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort located in the Dolomites, some 40 km north-east of Trento. The disaster, which led to the death of 20 people, occurred when a U.S. military plane cut a cable supporting a gondola of an aerial tramway. …
The pilot of that military jet, Captain Richard J. Ashby, was only found guilty of “obstruction of justice” and “conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman” for having destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane.
He was dismissed from the Marines as was navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer.
Flying at 500 MPH in the busy Dolomites. I’d shoot Ashby myself if I got the chance.
… The restrictions in effect at the time required a minimum flying height of 2,000 feet (610 m); the pilot said he thought they were 1,000 feet (300 m). The cable was cut at a height of 360 feet (110 m). …
Bloody American military!
The worst cable car accident ever was not the Massacre of Cermis. But it was at that same ski resort in Italy, in 1976.
… 42 people including 15 children died when the steel cable of their cable car broke. … The cabin fell some 700 feet (200 m) down a mountainside, and then a heavy overhead carriage assembly fell on top of it. Only one passenger survived, a 14 year old girl. …
I was there in 1998. The SOB and his crew should have done 20 a piece in Levenworth but once again the U.S. Military covers the ass of it’s commisioned officers.
Dan
October 16, 2010 at 12:34 am