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Alitalia Flight 4128

1978 aviation accident

Summary

1978 aviation accident

Field	Value
name	Alitalia Flight 4128
image	I-DIKQ DC-9-32 Alitalia.jpg
caption	I-DIKQ, the aircraft involved in the accident
date
summary	Controlled flight into water, pilot error
occurrence_type	Accident
site	Tyrrhenian Sea, off Palermo, Italy
coordinates
aircraft_type	McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32
aircraft_name	Isola di Stromboli
operator	Alitalia
IATA	AZ4128
ICAO	AZA4128
callsign	ALITALIA 4128
tail_number	I-DIKQ
origin	Leonardo da Vinci Airport, Rome, Italy
destination	Palermo International Airport, Palermo, Italy
occupants	129
passengers	124
crew	5
fatalities	108
injuries	20
survivors	21

Alitalia Flight 4128 was a scheduled flight from Leonardo da Vinci Airport, in Rome, Italy, to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Italy, with 129 on board. On 23 December 1978, it crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea about 3 km north of Palermo while on approach.

As a result of the accident, out of 129 people (between passengers and crew), 108 perished and 21 survived, rescued by nearby fishing boats. At the time of the incident, it was the second-deadliest air crash in Alitalia's history behind Alitalia Flight 112 which had crashed 6 years earlier whilst operating the same route.

Cause

The accident was attributed to the flight deck crew believing they were nearer to the runway than they were, and therefore making a premature descent. The initial part of the approach was instrumental until the flight was 2 mi from Palermo International Airport. The crew then stopped the descent at 150 feet (46 m) above the sea, as though trying to locate the final approach area, thinking they were close to the runway because of the airport lights. In the final nine seconds, the aircraft flew almost level with the sea at 150 kn; then, because of the wind, the aircraft lost its final altitude and impacted the water with its right wing. 108 of the 129 passengers and crew on board were killed.

According to what was later stated by some pilots, the accident could have been caused by an optical illusion ("black hole approach") that would have drawn in error the pilots: at night, with particular weather conditions (low altitude cloud cover), runway lights can be reflected on clouds and water, giving the impression that the runway is a few hundred meters before its real location. This optical illusion could have contributed to the accident, together with inadequate lighting and the unavailability of ILS on runway 21. Non-optimal radio communication between crew and ATC introduced further uncertainty about the estimated location of the aircraft.

References

Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 I-DIKQ Palermo".
(2018-12-23). "L'incidente aereo di Punta Raisi, quarant'anni fa".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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