DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
German observers of the 8 October Milan Linate Airport collision inquiry are concerned the interim factual report fails to include crucial detail about another relevant aircraft movement taking place.
While the doomed aircraft - a Cessna CitationJet and a Scandinavian Airlines Boeing MD-87 - were about to collide in 100m (330ft) visibility, an Italian Bombardier Learjet pilot, who had been informed in Italian that he would be following the CitationJet on the northerly R5 taxiway, told ground control he could not see the Cessna at the position it had reported it was in.
The Cessna pilot had taken the south-easterly R6 taxiway from the start despite an unambiguous clearance north via R5. According to the Italian investigators' interim report, the Cessna pilot had reported twice that he was at "Sierra 4 approaching the runway". Sierra 4 is on the southern R6 taxiway, but the ground controller did not notice - despite the Learjet pilot's report that he could not see the Cessna on R5 - and cleared the Cessna to "continue taxi [via the] main apron". The CitationJet pilot failed to query this unlikely instruction and continued across the main runway.
Meanwhile, the MD-87, on tower frequency, had been cleared to take-off and the two collided at the intersection, killing 114 people.
Source: Flight International
