1998 Cavalese cable car crash

The Cavalese cable car crash, also known as (), occurred on 3 February 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort in the Dolomites some 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.

Details of the disaster

thumb|right|Map of [[Trentino, Italy; Cavalese is located in the north-east of the autonomous province]]

On 3 February 1998, an EA-6B Prowler, BuNo (bureau number) 163045, 'CY-02', callsign Easy 01, an electronic warfare aircraft belonging to Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2) of the United States Marine Corps, was on a low-altitude training mission. At 15:13 local time it struck the cables supporting the aerial lift from Cavalese. The aircraft was flying at a speed of and at an altitude above ground level (AGL) of between in a narrow valley between mountains.

When reaching approximately , the aircraft's right wing struck the cables from underneath. The cable was severed, causing cabin No. 1 from Cermis with twenty people on board to plunge over , leaving no survivors. The plane had wing and tail damage, but was able to return to Aviano Air Base.

Victims

{|class="wikitable floatright" style="float:centre;"

|- valign="top"

! Nationality !! Deaths

|align=center|7

|align=center|5

|align=center|3

|align=center|2

|align=center|1

|align=center|Total

|align=center|20

Among the twenty killed, nineteen passengers and one operator, were seven Germans, five Belgians, three Italians, two Poles, two Austrians, and one Dutch.

Reactions

U.S. President Bill Clinton offered an official apology and promised monetary compensation. Thomas M. Foglietta, U.S. Ambassador to Italy at the time, visited the crash site and knelt in prayer, offering apologies on behalf of the United States.

In Italy, where the event received the name of strage del Cermis, the low-level flight was strongly criticized and some politicians called for a re-evaluation of rules or a complete ban of such exercises, though low-level flight was already illegal. recorded on the plane the day of the disaster. The existence and destruction of this videotape only came to the attention of military investigators in August 1998; the other two members of the crew, Captains Chandler P. Seagraves and William L. Raney, received testimonial immunity and elected to disclose "the truth about everything".

Ashby and Schweitzer were found guilty in May 1999; both were dismissed from the service and Ashby received a six-month prison term. He was released after four and a half months for good behavior. Schweitzer made a plea agreement that came to full light after the military jury deliberated upon sentencing. His agreement prevented him from serving any prison time, but it did not prevent him from receiving a dismissal.

In their appeal, Ashby and Schweitzer asked for a re-examination of their trial and for clemency, challenging their dismissals in order to be eligible for military benefits. They claimed that during the first trial the prosecution and the defense secretly agreed to drop the involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide charges, but to keep the obstruction of justice charge, in order to satisfy the requests coming from Italy. The appeal of Schweitzer was denied in November 2007. Decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces were made available in August 2009.

Schweitzer would later in an interview for the National Geographic series Seconds from Disaster admit to replacing the original tape with a blank one, and from there burning the original tape. This marked the only time he ever spoke publicly regarding the tape.

U.S. official report

In a formal investigation report redacted on 10 March 1998, and signed by Lieutenant General Peter Pace, the U.S. Marine Corps agreed with the results of the Italian officers. The investigation was led by General Michael DeLong, along with Italian Colonels Orfeo Durigon and Fermo Missarino. The document was kept secret until the Italian newspaper La Stampa legally obtained a copy from the U.S. archives and published it on 13 July 2011.

The Marine aircrew was determined to be flying too low and too fast, putting themselves and others at risk. The investigation team suggested that disciplinary measures against the flight crew and commanding officers should be taken, that the U.S. had to bear the full blame for what happened, and that victims' relatives were entitled to receive a monetary settlement.

The commission found that the squadron was deployed at Aviano on 27 August 1997, before the publication of new directives by the Italian government forbidding flight below in Trentino-Alto Adige. All the squadron's pilots received a copy of the directive. A copy of the directive was later found, unopened, in the cockpit of the EA-6B along with maps marking the cable car wire route. Schweitzer confessed in 2012 that he had burned the tape containing incriminating evidence upon returning to Aviano Air Base.

Compensation

By February 1999, the victims' families had received per victim as immediate help by the Italian government.

In May 1999, the U.S. Congress rejected a bill that would have set up a $40 million compensation fund for the victims.

In December 1999, the Italian Parliament approved a monetary compensation plan for the families ($1.9 million per victim). NATO treaties obligated the U.S. government to pay 75% of this compensation, which it did.