Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870
I-TIGI, the aircraft involved in the accident, seen at Munich-Riem Airport in 1972.
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 27 June 1980 |
| Summary | Disputed. Main theories: shot down - proposed by the Italian Government; terrorist bomb - proposed by British AAIB) |
| Site |
Tyrrhenian Sea near Ustica, Italy |
| Passengers | 77 |
| Crew | 4 |
| Fatalities | 81 (all) |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 |
| Operator | Aerolinee Itavia |
| Registration | I-TIGI (previously N902H) |
| Flight origin | Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ) |
| Destination | Palermo International Airport (PMO) |
Coordinates: 38°50′22″N 13°25′31″E / 38.839494°N 13.425293°E
Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 (IH 870, AJ 421) was an Italian commercial flight operated by a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 which crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea between Ponza and Ustica, killing all on board, while en route from Bologna to Palermo in 1980. Known in the Italian media as the Ustica Massacre ("Strage di Ustica") – Ustica being a small island near the crash-site – the disaster led to numerous investigations, legal actions, and accusations, and continues to be a source of speculation, including claims of conspiracy by the Italian government and others. Former Italian President Francesco Cossiga attributed the cause of the crash to a missile fired from a French Navy aircraft, despite contrary evidence presented in the Tribunale di Roma's 1994 report. On 23 January 2013 Italy's top criminal court ruled that there was "abundantly" clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a missile. To date, this remains the deadliest aviation incident involving a DC-9-10/15 series.
The aircraft involved in Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15, was acquired on 27 February 1972 with the serial number CN45724/22 and registration I-TIGI (formerly N902H, operated by Hawaiian Airlines). The aircraft was manufactured in 1966. A regularly scheduled transit from Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Bologna to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Sicily, on 27 June 1980, it departed 1 hour and 53 minutes behind schedule at 20:08 CET (19:08 UTC). The flight was carrying 77 passengers, with Captain Domenico Gatti and First Officer Enzo Fontana at the controls, with two flight attendants. The flight was designated IH 870 by air traffic control, while the military radar system used AJ 421.
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