1998 Cavalese cable car crash
EA-6B BuNo 163045, the aircraft involved in the accident, photographed in 1997. | |
| Date | 3 February 1998 |
|---|---|
| Time | 15:13 local time (CET) |
| Location | near Cavalese, Trentino, Italy |
| Cause | Controlled flight into obstacle, caused by pilot error. |
| Casualties | |
| 20 dead (1 cable car operator, 19 passengers) | |
| Accused |
|
| Convictions | |
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The Cavalese cable car crash, also known as Strage del Cermis (lit. 'Cermis massacre'), occurred on 3 February 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort in the Dolomites some 40 kilometres (25 mi) northeast of Trento. Twenty people were killed when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying too low and too fast, against regulations, cut a cable supporting a cable car of an aerial lift.
The pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. Later they were found guilty of obstruction of justice and conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman for having destroyed a videotape recorded from the plane, and were dismissed from the Marine Corps. The disaster, and the subsequent acquittal of the pilots, strained relations between the U.S. and Italy.