A Perfect Storm of Mistakes! And how Heroic Pilots Almost solved it.

The Linate Airport disaster occurred at Linate Airport in Milan, Italy on the morning of Monday, 8 October 2001. Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 686, a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 airliner carrying 110 people bound for Copenhagen, Denmark, collided on take-off with a Cessna Citation CJ2. business jet carrying four people bound for Paris, France. All 114 people on both aircraft were killed, as well as four people on the ground. In this video I will go through all of the different factors who led up to this disaster as well as what happened afterwards. As Always I hope you will find the video interesting and let me know your questions in the comment-section below.

Below you will find the links to videos and sources used in this episode. Enjoy checking them out!

Sources
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Final Report:

Cessna 152 on Apron: bali

Business Jet: TASS

Linate Aerial: Konstantin von Wedelstaedt

Linate 1930: UNKNOWN

Linate 1973: US Geological Survey

Damaged Taxiways 1: FAA

History of Linate 1:History of Milan

History of Linate 2: History of Milan

Crash 1: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

Crash 2: UNKNOWN

Crash 3: AP Photo/Luca Bruno

Crash 4: ICAO

CHAPTERS
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00:00 - Intro
00:30 - The Central Airport
02:53 - Unorthodox Taxiway
04:24 - Taxiway Lighting
07:08 - Incoming Cessna
09:20 - MD-87 Requests Startup
10:53 - Both Aircraft Underway
13:36 - Miscommunications
15:01 - Another Witness
15:43 - Perceptions
16:38 - Recap
17:20 - Not Where They Should Be
19:41 - Cleared For Takeoff
22:03 - The Inevitable Happens
24:29- ”It Sounded Like An Explosion”
25:53 - Delayed Response
27:29 - Initial Findings
29:17 - Closing Statements

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#LinateAirport #Italy #Disaster #Milan #McDonnellDouglas

[MentourPilot]

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[Hartbreak]

These kinds of accidents hit the hardest, where a crew was operating by the book and still got doomed because of stuff outside of their control.

[NicolaW]

This was not the failure of the safety management - this was the complete absence of a safety management.
Thank you very much for bringing up this tragic story!

[MrGyngve]

I work as a train driver, and I have learned the hard way how respect for the signals basic color and meaning is of utmost importance. The infrastructure developer where I once worked, had to rebuild the signals on the entire freight train terminal which used to be my base, many years ago.

To get it done quicker, they cut corners and got my company to agree on doing things differently than the rule books said.

Usually when you build a new signaling system, once installed but not in use yet, you turn the signals away from the drivers view and put a large "X" on them, clearly marking them as "not in service". With my companies blessing, the infrastructure developer skipped these steps, turned the signals on 24/7 during the construction period (for testing etc.), and told us drivers to ignore them (pass them even if they say "stop").

Having done the EASA ATPL-H exams, I knew from the syllabus of Human Factors, that this was a bad idea, so I protested, but to no avail. We had some bad mishaps because of it, derailments and what not, once the signaling system was put to use.

Cutting corners has never been good for safety.

[Boyso]

It’s incredible that the pilots of the MD-87 were smart enough to not only input their controls seconds after the collision but they also made the correct inputs and kept that plane from hitting the terminal. They probably didn’t even have enough time to register what had actually happened but we’re still able to make clear and correct decisions in the few seconds they had left. Unbelievable piloting. I can’t even begin to imagine how many people would’ve been killed if that plane hit the terminal at that speed.

[Night_Stary]

When u mentioned the stop light, it made my blood boil. I've seen something simmilar happen before on a train station, where the sound signal sometimes wouldn't play on train approaching and sometimes play out when there was no train approaching at all. So ppl were used to ignoring the signal, which led to death of a young boy. What is more outrageous, is that this issue wasn't fixed even after the incident.

[newoldbrain]

I have personally lost friends and colleagues in that perfectly avoidable accident.
I still remember the unreal atmosphere at work that fateful morning.
My blood boils every time I hear the amount of carelessness and sloppiness that managed to kill 118 persons.
A big thank you to Mentour Pilot for his clear and always tactful description of the events.

[salernolake]

This accident is a direct result of "normalizing deviance". A facility that requires workers to violate safety norms (in this case cross a red line), has set their workers up to have an accident.

[HomebrewHorsepower]

The quality and detail in these videos are unmatched. I'm an engineer by trade, and the detailed, factual approach to these investigations and reports speaks directly to my engineering brain.

[dk]

Aircraft engineer here. The total lack of safety measures and bad practices that lead to this accident are just beyond me. I can not overstate just how important it is to have a mental map of the airport you're operating on as well as being crystal clear in communication with ground control. I remember back in the day when taxiing an RJ to the tech platform for an engine run up i got clearance to cross the runway yet the stop bar was lit. It was a super foggy morning and this was an active runway. I read back "unable to cross, lit stop bar, (AC registration)" followed by a much faster speaking controller who acknowledged and corrected his mistake. One 5 sec read back to clarify the situation was all it took to avoid a possible disaster. Listening to both air and ground, having a clear map of the field, check with crew, ask for confirmation...everything that can build a bigger situational awareness is and always will be absolutely essential.

[PokeMaster]

I can't believe how much of a shitshow this was - the tower not being informed of runway/taxiway markings, leading to major confusion around a plane's location, then the tower not activating 'emergency mode' after a phone call about an explosion and injured people, then the tower not being made aware of fire trucks racing to the baggage -building fire.
What the hell, Italy?!

[thomasfriberg]

I will never forget 8th of October 2001...
My girlfriend and I was flying from CDG to CPH with SAS, but on the way to the airport, we heard on the radio that a SAS aircraft had crashed in Milano, and they were unsure if it was due to a terrorist attack. Remember this was shortly after 9/11.
The ground crew in CDG were obviously chocked, our plane was cancelled and everything was chaos,
After 5-6 hours of wait, we were booked on a SAS flight from CDG to ARN, and from there we flew ARN to CPH.
The atmosphere on these flights were very depressed, and seeing the crew keeping up their duties was impressive in every way, considering they had lost some of their colleagues earlier that day.
RIP all onboard SK686.

[Mark-ojwj]

As a fellow pilot I also feel so deeply for the sas crew.
I can't imagine anything worse than being given no chance because of another person's mistakes.

[ellicel]

Considering the conditions and practices at the airport, it is a wonder that an accident didn’t happen sooner. Such a tragedy, but it’s clear that without a major incident all these improprieties would simply have continued.

As a very nervous flyer, I would never have believed it if someone had told me a year ago that this channel would become my favorite and most consistently consumed form of media. But everything from the production values to the writing and presentation is top notch. I have learned so much and even feel better about flying.

[crazyguy]

So many similarities to Tenerife. Limited visibility, confusion of taxi directions, lack of ground radar, non-standard communication language/phrases, complacency with non-regulation procedures and everybody thought things were fine until a shape comes looming out of the fog. However at Tenerife both sets of pilots knew there was another plane on the runway and it was a case of pilot error assuming the runway was clear, disaster could have been averted with a single additional radio call or better CRM. Here the pilots did everything right, having no indication whatsoever of any issues but still payed the ultimate price. The technology was there, it used to work, but was never repaired after failing, a simple taxiway sign could have prevented tragedy, cost cutting and complacency at its worst. The events of 24 years earlier were lost on the airport management, who did not learn from history and were doomed to repeat it.

[daffidavit]

The work that went into the production of this video was "first class". It's absolutely amazing how these sad events were so accurately depicted in such a professional way. Honestly, as a GA pilot for over 50 years, it boggles my mind to consider the complexity of what professional pilots must go through on a daily basis. It's not always an easy and glamorous job.

[Richardincancale]

I was working in Stockholm at this time on the design of a new 3G mobile network, commuting from France each week. One of my radio planning colleagues commuted from Milan. He was on this plane, and never made it. We later had a memorial plaque for him in our office. Operating an airport in fog with no ground control radar was criminal.

[robsmith]

In the late 1990s & early 2000s I used to fly in and out of Linate fairly regularly. Twice we were just starting the take-off run along the runway when we stopped very suddenly, on one of those aborted take-offs I could see another aircraft crossing the runway ahead of us. Scary or what.

[Shadowfax-]

This reminded me of the TF Greene Airport runway incursion that occurred many years ago. In that instance, it was a foggy night and a plane got lost and ended up back on an active runway, but what compounded the situation was an impatient tower controller that was clearing other planes for takeoff despite the lost plane saying they were on an active runway. Thankfully another pilot stood his ground when given takeoff clearance which probably saved many lives. It would be a good topic for a future episode.

[Sunsmasher]

I love your very informative videos and the value of your comments from the viewpoint of a professional pilot. Thank you very much!