The 22nd anniversary of the Linate aircraft disaster will be commemorated on Sunday 8 October. On the morning of 8 October 2001, a tragedy occurred at the Milan airport, which we celebrate every year as the Italian Day "Lest We Forget", established in 2021 on the proposal of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) to raise awareness on the issue of aviation safety. There are many initiatives to remember that dramatic day.

It was Monday at 8:10am. There was a thick fog. A McDonnell Douglas MD-87 aircraft (registration SE-DMA) of the Scandinavian Airlines company was on runway R6 ready for take-off (flight SK686) towards Copenhagen, Denmark. At the same time, a Cessna Citation CJ-2 aircraft (registration D-IEVX) took the same runway, finding itself in the middle of the path of the MD-87, which was traveling in the opposite direction at 270 kilometers per hour. The collision was inevitable.

The small aircraft was hit squarely: the four occupants were killed instantly. The Scandinavian Airlines plane, seriously damaged, continued its sad route off the runway, until it crashed into a warehouse at the Milan airport. Inside there were dozens of workers busy sorting baggage. The impact was tremendous. The full fuel tanks of the MD-87 triggered a huge fire that caused the death of four airport workers, all 104 passengers on board and the six crew members. The toll from the plane crash is 118 victims. The only survivor of the disaster is Pasquale Padovano, a former baggage sorter.

Like every year, there will be a private mass on Sunday 8 October at 5pm, where we will gather in prayer at the Church of Santa Maria della Passione, located in Piazza del Conservatorio. Then at 6:30 pm the classical music concert at the nearby Milan Conservatory, an institutional event organized and promoted by the "8 October Foundation" and the Municipality of Milan.

On the same topic, see also the article published by AVIONEWS.