>From Piper to Rockwell..... A twin Rockwell Commander 112TC? ...I guess Italian reporting is just as bad as here in the US. Not to mention this is also an AP report. Walter DCA ----- Original Message ----- From: "W Wilson" <wlw-jr@att.net> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Thursday, April 18, 2002 17:04 Subject: 5 Die As Plane Hits Milan Building > By ANDREW DAMPF > MILAN, Italy (AP) - A small plane, in flames and sending a distress signal, > smashed into the tallest skyscraper in Italy's financial capital Thursday, > raising fears of a Sept. 11-type terror attack. At least five people were > killed and 60 injured, but the Italian government said it was probably an > accident. > > The aircraft punched through the 25th floor of the slim Pirelli building, > gutting two floors and starting a fire that sent smoke pouring out into the > clear blue sky over downtown Milan. Emergency workers helped bloodied men in > business suits while firefighters worked to put out the blaze. > > "I heard something like the engine of a plane dying out, and then I heard a > terrible explosion," said Raffaele Taccogna, who was tending bar at the > nearby Atlantic Hotel. "I certainly thought of the September attacks in the > United States," he said. "It really looked like the same thing." > > The pilot - who was on a 20-minute flight from Locarno, Switzerland, to > Milan - issued a distress signal and reported problems with the plane's > landing gear moments before plowing into the 30-story building at 5:50 p.m., > Milan police officer Celerissimo De Simone said. > > > One witness, Fabio Sunik, said the plane was on fire before it crashed. The > plane did not try to change course, "but just went straight in," said Sunik, > a sports journalist. "Then I saw rubble falling from the building." > > Milan's main train station, about 200 yards away from the skyscraper, was > evacuated for security reasons, and no trains were running from there. > After-hours trading was suspended on the Milan stock market, which was > already closed for the day. > > President Bush was quickly notified of the collision, press secretary Ari > Fleischer said. The FBI was assisting in the investigation. > > In Washington, a senior Bush administration official, speaking on condition > of anonymity, said Italian officials had told the United States that a > mechanical problem not related to terrorism caused the crash. > > Interior Minister Claudio Scajola told reporters in Rome that "initial > reports point to an accident." > > "We believe it isn't a terrorist attack," said police Sgt. Vincenzo Curto, > reached at Carabinieri headquarters. > > Some 1,300 people work in the building, which houses local government > offices, but it was not known how many where still there when the crash took > place - not long after working hours ended. > > The five dead were the pilot, two workers in the building and two > passers-by, said Carlo Leo, a civil defense official. Rescue workers found a > survivor, three hours after the crash, on the 25th floor, where one of the > dead was found. > > The pilot, believed to be the only one in the plane, was identified by > police as Luigi Fasulo, a resident of Pregassona, Switzerland who was > thought to be in his 60s. > > The plane was a Rockwell Commander, said Patrick Herr of the Swiss air > traffic control office SKYGUIDE. Swiss television identified the model as a > Commander 112TC, a twin-engine craft with a 35-foot wingspan not produced > since 1979. > > A woman who worked on the eighth floor said she saw 10 people who were > bleeding. Emergency workers in bright orange uniforms helped a man walk from > the scene, his shirt splattered with blood and his hand covering a gash on > his head. > > An unspecified number of people were rescued from elevators in the building, > the Italian news service ANSA said. Some 20 people were taken to Fatebene > Fratelli hospital, officials there said. Among them was a woman with serious > burns. > > The collision damaged a building seen as the symbol of Milan, the heart of > Italy's financial and industrial world. Built in the 1950s, the > 415-foot-high building once housed the headquarters of the tire giant > Pirelli. > > Smoke continued to pour out of the building for three hours after the crash, > though firefighters quickly controlled the blaze. A large section of an > entire floor lost its walls. Smoke and liquid poured from the gash in one > side of the building. > > Luccheta Antonio, 52, a barber down the block, said: "It was shocking. The > windows shook and the mirrors fell to the floor." > > Police cordoned off the area as people gawked at the skyscraper. > > Senate President Marcello Pera said initially that it appeared the crash was > "most probably" a terrorist attack. But later, Pera's spokesman said the > Interior Minister had advised that apparently was not the case. > > The State Department had warned of possible terrorist attacks in Milan and > three other Italian cities over the Easter weekend. But U.S. authorities had > no recent intelligence suggesting any kind of terrorist attack was imminent > in Milan, said a U.S. official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity. >