Alitalia Flight 112

Alitalia Flight 112

An Alitalia Douglas DC-8 similar to the one of flight 112
Accident summary
Date	5 May 1972
Summary	Pilot error, CFIT
Site	Mount Longa, near Palermo, Italy
Passengers	108
Crew	7
Fatalities	115 (all)
Injuries (non-fatal)	0
Survivors	0
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-8-43
Operator	Alitalia
Registration	I-DIWB
Flight origin	Fiumicino – Leonardo da Vinci International Airport (IATA: FCO, ICAO: LIRF), Rome, Italy
Destination	Falcone–Borsellino Airport (IATA: PMO, ICAO: LICJ), Palermo, Italy

Alitalia Flight 112 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 115 on board. On 5 May 1972, it crashed into Mount Longa, about 5 km (3 mi) south-west of Palermo while on approach. Investigators believe that the crew had 3 miles (4.8 km) visibility and did not adhere to the established vectors issued by air traffic control. It remains the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy, and currently the second deadliest behind the Linate Airport disaster in 2001.

A memorial has been erected at the site of the crash.

On 5 May 1972, the aircraft I-DIWB of Alitalia (a Douglas DC-8-43) started the flight AZ 112 from Rome to Palermo, taking off 36 minutes late. Captain Roberto Bartoli, was in charge of the radio assistance, while First Officer Bruno Dini flew the aircraft. The times and locations have been precisely recovered from the recorder of Rome Control, which had a time recorder, while Palermo Approach did not.

The flight AZ 112 contacted Palermo Approach around 9:10 PM stating to be at 74 nautical miles (137 km) from VOR (which is installed on Mount Gradara, above the municipality of Borgetto, with a frequency of 112.3 MHz, around 10 miles (16 km) south of the airport of Punta Raisi).

Around 10:23–24 PM, the aircraft (coming from Ponente-lato Terrasini) hit a crest 935 meters (1,980 feet) high, about 300 feet (91 m) below the top of the mountain, and slid for a long time on the ground with its wings, its fuselage, and its four engines, until it disintegrated in the successive hits against the rocks of the crest. Part of the debris and bodies of the victims rolled on the mountain side (Carini side) from where the kerosene fire was witnessed. The wreckage was strewn across a 2.5-mile (4.0 km) area, so wide it took rescue teams three hours to reach it. Later on, some witnesses at Carini said that they had seen the aircraft on fire before the crash.

Of the 115 passengers, almost all were Italian; the only known foreigners aboard were a Belgian stewardess and a French couple. The travelers were, for the most part, returning home to vote in the Italian national elections that weekend. Among the victims of the crash were the noted film director Franco Indovina and Cestmir Vycpalek, the son of the then-coach of the Juventus team.