Air Littoral Flight 701

On 30 July 1997, Air Littoral Flight 701, an ATR 42 regional turboprop operating a scheduled passenger flight from Nice, France to Florence, Italy, crashed on landing when it ran off Florence Airport's runway and into a ditch next to a motorway embankment. There were no fatalities among the 14 passengers on board, but the cockpit section was severely damaged, and the captain died of his injuries four days later.[1]

Air Littoral Flight 701
The wreckage of F-GPYE
Accident
Date30 July 1997 (1997-07-30)
SummaryRunway overrun on landing due to pilot error
SitePast the end of runway 23, Florence airport, Florence, Italy
43°48′15″N 11°11′45″E
Aircraft
Aircraft typeATR 42-500
OperatorAir Littoral
IATA flight No.FU 701
RegistrationF-GPYE
Flight originNice Côte d'Azur Airport, Nice, France
DestinationFlorence Airport, Florence, Italy
Occupants17
Passengers14
Crew3
Fatalities1
Injuries14
Survivors16

Accident
An ATR 42 of Air Littoral similar to the aircraft involved.

At around 10:30 on the day of the accident, following an uneventful flight from Nice, the aircraft prepared to land at Florence's Peretola airport, where the weather was reported as CAVOK, that is good visibility and no cloud; the wind was light and variable. The crew elected to land on runway 23, which has a 620-metre displaced threshold. Such choice was described as unusual, in the given conditions; eighty percent of the aircraft operating on the airport that day had landed on the opposite runway, runway 05.[2][3]

At 10:36 the aircraft was observed touching down far into the runway and at a much higher speed than usual. It then overran the runway end, crashed through the airport perimeter fence and into a ditch next to the nearby A11 motorway. The right engine stopped when the propeller contacted the ground, but the left engine kept running for the following 45 minutes, while rescue operations were taking place.[2]

All passengers were rapidly evacuated, but due to the damage to the cockpit section, it took about an hour to extricate the two crew members. The captain was hospitalised but succumbed to his injures four days later; the first officer and 13 other passengers were injured.[2]

Aircraft

The aircraft was an ATR 42-500 twin turboprop, with French registration F-GPYE, powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 engines. Air Littoral, the launch customer for the model, took delivery of the aircraft the year before, in 1996.[4]

Investigation and trial

At the time, the Italian air accident investigation agency, the Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo, had not been established yet, therefore the matter was referred to the Italian Civil Aviation Authority and to the public prosecutor.[5]

It emerged that during the landing, the first officer was the pilot flying, and was undergoing line training under the captain's supervision. The prosecutor determined that the final approach was conducted at an excessive speed and rate of descent, even triggering the associated on-board warning system, which was ignored. No technical defects were found in the aircraft.[6]

The first officer and two managers from Air Littoral – the head of training and the head of human resources – were charged with manslaughter and causing an air disaster, but were acquitted in November 2003. The responsibility for the crash was ultimately placed on the captain, and his "imprudent" decision to proceed with the landing despite the unsafe approach.[6][7]

Legacy

The accident highlighted the limitations of Florence's Peretola airport, which is geographically constrained between the A11 motorway and 930 m-high (3,050 ft) Mount Morello. The event was cited during the following years as argument against proposals to further develop the airport, with opponents recommending to expand nearby Pisa Airport instead.[8]

See also

References
  1. "Air Littoral ATR crashes in Florence". FlightGlobal. 6 August 1997. Archived from the original on 24 February 2019.
  2. Fusani, Claudia (31 July 1997). "Il folle volo sull'autostrada". La Repubblica (in Italian). Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  3. Brancoli, Fabrizio (31 July 1997). "Una manovra insolita, dalla parte del monte. Nessuna richiesta di aiuto alla torre E' sceso "lungo": errore o guasto? L'atterraggio più difficile, in virata tra le colline". Il Tirreno (in Italian). Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  4. "ASN Aircraft accident ATR 42-512 F-GPYE Florence-Peretola Airport". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  5. "L'inchiesta sul disastro di Peretola Scatole nere dell'Atr: i dati entro metà agosto". Il Tirreno (in Italian). 5 August 1997. Archived from the original on 27 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  6. "Quando nel luglio '97 l'Atr 42 di Air Littoral finì sulla Firenze-Mare". La Repubblica (in Italian). 14 August 2014. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  7. "Firenze: processo incidente Air Littoral, tutti assolti gli imputati" (in Italian). Adnkronos. 10 November 2003. Archived from the original on 26 February 2019. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  8. Righi, Stefano (14 October 2009). "Peretola in bilico tra rilancio e resa. E il Galilei di Pisa pensa in grande". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Archived from the original on 25 July 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2019.
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