The EA-6B 158808 later crashed 35 km south of Oak Harbor, Washington (USA), during a training flight on 28 December 1982 while in service with VAQ-129. Right, a mock up of the memorial destined for Oak Harbor. Initially, all four men on the plane were charged, but only the pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, actually faced trial, charged with twenty counts of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. After the disaster, Ashby reported the altimeter did not alert, but this is disputed and highly unlikely. Italian prosecutors wanted the four marines to stand trial in Italy, but an Italian court recognized that North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) treaties gave jurisdiction to U.S. military courts. I really like the Grumman EA-6B Prowler DLC Add-On. [15][16][17][18], In their appeal, Ashby and Schweitzer asked for a re-examination of their trial and for clemency, challenging their dismissals in order to be eligible for military benefits. [5] The disaster, and the subsequent acquittal of the pilots, strained relations between the U.S. and Italy.[6]. [citation needed] 1. USS Enterprise CVN-65 - S-3 viking lands, then EA-6B Prowler lands crashing into the Viking. [13][14] He was released after four and a half months for good behavior. They claimed that during the first trial the prosecution and the defense secretly agreed to drop the involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide charges, but to keep the obstruction of justice charge, in order to satisfy the requests coming from Italy. [26] His last training mission of that kind was flown over six months before, on July 3. The document reports a camcorder aboard the flight, but it was blank after Schweitzer had taken the original cassette and burned it afterwards. http://www.joebaugher.com/navy_serials/thirdseries20.html, http://web.archive.org/web/20171103001143/http://www.ejection-history.org.uk:80/aircraft_by_type/a6_prowler.htm, https://www.flickr.com/photos/dougsheley/5692169395, http://www.gendisasters.com/florida/16678/jacksonville-fl-shore-jet-crashes-on-uss-nimitz-may-1981?page=0,1, Updated [Cn, Operator, Location, Country, Phase, Destination airport, Source, Narrative], Updated [Time, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative], Updated [Time, Operator, Location, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Embed code, Narrative], Unless otherwise stated: copyright © 1996-2021 Aviation Safety Network (ASN). The cable was severed causing the cabin from Cermis with twenty people on board to plunge over 260 feet (80 m), leaving no survivors. This information is added by users of ASN. Kim Martin, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station public affairs officer, said investigators haven’t been able to determine the cause of the engine failure. On February 3, 1998, an EA-6B Prowler, BuNo (bureau number) 163045, 'CY-02', callsign Easy 01, an electronic warfare aircraft belonging to Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2) of the United States Marine Corps, was on a low-altitude training mission. A USMC EA-6B Prowler, BuNo 163045, from VMAQ-2 caused the Ca… His agreement prevented him from serving any prison time, but it did not prevent him from receiving a dismissal. A handout photo courtesy of Stan Dammel shows an aerial view of the crash site in Lincoln County, Washington where a Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler, a … The investigation was led by General Michael DeLong, along with Italian Colonels Orfeo Durigon and Fermo Missarino. Grumman EA-6B Prowler, BuNo 159910/'610' of VMAQ-2 Detachment Y, crash landed on flight deck of USS Nimitz, off the Florida coast, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others (some reports say 42, some 48). The Cavalese cable car massacre of 1998, also known as the Strage del Cermis (Italian: Massacre of Cermis), occurred on February 3, 1998, near the Italian town of Cavalese, a ski resort in the Dolomites some 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Trento. The EA-6B jet was assigned to Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 130, based at Whidbey. U.S. military and Italian prosecutors are both investigating why the EA-6B Prowler surveillance plane was flying low enough on a training run near Cavalese in the Italian Alps to slash the wires. Thank you. "Seconds From Disaster", National Geographic documentary S04 E05, 2011 (Schweitzer interview). A detailed review of the accident, released by the Navy’s Pacific Fleet headquarters in San Diego, found mechanical failure did not cause the crash last March 11 of the Navy EA-6B Prowler, … At 15:13 local time it struck the cables supporting the cable car from Cavalese. The aircraft was flying at a speed of 540 miles per hour (870 km/h)[citation needed] and at an altitude of between 260 and 330 feet (80 and 100 m) in a narrow valley between the mountains. New content will be added above the current area of focus upon selection Hello. [28], 1998 disaster in which a U.S. Navy aircraft flew into ski lift cables in Cavalese, Italy, This article is about the 1998 disaster. The radar altimeter was checked and reported in normal condition. The EA-6B prowler is a radar-jamming jet used by U. S. air forces to confuse or disable ground missile sites. The electronic warfare plane carries a pilot and three tactical crew members who can jam enemy radar and communications while providing countermeasures to defend against radar-guided guns and missiles, according to the Naval Historical Center site. In March 1999, the jury acquitted Ashby,[3] outraging the Italian public. The investigation team suggested that disciplinary measures against the flight crew and commanding officers should be taken, that the U.S. had to bear the full blame for what happened, and that victims' relatives were entitled to receive a monetary settlement.[24]. [23], The Marine aircrew was determined to be flying too low and too fast, putting themselves and others at risk. 2009)", "United States v. Schweitzer, 08-0746/MC (C.A.A.F. US Navy Photo The Navy has identified the three sailors killed in a Monday crash … On 26 May 1981, a USMC EA-6B crashed onto the flight deck of the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) and caused a fire, killing 14 crew men and injuring 45 others.The Prowler was fuel-critical after a "bolter" (missed approach), and its crash and the subsequent fire and explosions destroyed or damaged eleven other aircraft. The cable was cut at a height of 360 feet (110 m). [1][2], The pilot, Captain Richard J. Ashby, and his navigator, Captain Joseph Schweitzer, were put on trial in the United States and found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide. The crash of an EA-6B Prowler in a remote area of northeastern Oregon March 3 was caused by “catastrophic failure of the right engine,†according to a Navy public affairs officer. [23], Ashby was qualified for low-altitude flights and prohibited diving below cables at all times. [22] The document was kept secret until the Italian newspaper La Stampa legally obtained a copy from the U.S. archives and published it on July 13, 2011. Three crew members were killed. The existence and destruction of this videotape only came to the attention of military investigators in August 1998; the other two members of the crew, Captains Chandler P. Seagraves and William L. Raney, received testimonial immunity and elected to disclose "the truth about everything. At the flight controls was the squadron's leader, Commander James G. Wallace, 44, of Jacksonville, Florida, and Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Kirk A. Schneringer of Cardiff, California. Neither ASN nor the Flight Safety Foundation are responsible for the completeness or correctness of this information. The commission found that the squadron was deployed at Aviano on August 27, 1997, before the publishing of new directives by the Italian government forbidding flight below 2,000 feet (610 m) in Trentino-Alto Adige. NORFOLK - A crash that claimed four aviators' lives aboard the carrier Enterprise last year was the fault of the landing crew entrusted with bringing the jet aboard the ship safely, ... by ejecting from their idling S-3 Viking just as an EA-6B Prowler slammed … [27] On February 3, 1998, an EA-6B Prowler, BuNo (bureau number) 163045, 'CY-02', callsign Easy 01, an electronic warfare aircraft belonging to Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2) of the United States Marine Corps, was on a low-altitude training mission.At 15:13 local time it struck the cables supporting the cable car from Cavalese. The Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler is a two-engine, four-seat electronic warfare aircraft whose airframe design was derived from the A-6 Intruder. Twenty people died when a United States Marine Corps EA-6B Prowler aircraft, flying too low and against regulations, cut a cable supporting a cable car of an aerial lift. [25], By February 1999, the victims' families had received US$65,000 per victim as immediate help by the Italian government. All the squadron's pilots received a copy of the directive. In May 1999, the U.S. Congress rejected a bill that would have set up a $40 million compensation fund for the victims. When I bring up the 2D main panel through using the shift + 1 command, the FSX: Steam Edition game crashes. The report includes flight tracing from a nearby AWACS airplane. In December 1999, the Italian Parliament approved a monetary compensation plan for the families ($1.9 million per victim). A U.S. Navy Prowler warplane crashed near Harrington, Wash., about 9 a.m. today, killing all three people aboard. Even though the Navy has sent the EA-6B off into the sunset, the Prowler’s last flight is still years away as the USMC continues to fly the aircraft, although on a much smaller scale. Nevertheless, on January 24, they had received a formal warning for flying too low after a training take-off. FORKS – The Navy has started an investigation into the crash of an EA-6B Prowler jet near this Olympic Peninsula town during a routine training exercise from Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Two military planes were in the area at the time of the crash, she said. [7][8], Among the twenty killed, nineteen passengers and one operator, were eight Germans, five Belgians, three Italians, two Poles, one Austrian, and one Dutch.[9]. The EA-6B Prowler was taking off from North Island Naval Air Station at 5:30 p.m. when it crashed and exploded just short of the ocean, killing two of the three crewmen on board. NATO treaties obligated the U.S. government to pay 75% of this compensation, which it did. [23] Directives were irrelevant here, since diving below cables was prohibited at all times anyway. During work ups off the eastern Florida coast a Marine EA-6B crashed on Nimitz’ flight deck, slamming into three Corsair IIs spotted forward before crashing into a nearby Tomcat, pushing it into two adjacent F-14As. [19] Decisions from the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces were made available in August 2009. The plane had wing and tail damage but was able to return to Aviano Air Base. For the 1976 disaster, see. Ashby's trial took place at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. Schweitzer made a plea agreement that came to full light after the military jury deliberated upon sentencing. Ken Pease, a spokesman at the Navy’s Norfolk, Va., Naval Station…. "US Congress decision not acceptable for Cavalese victims' lawyer", "Families of victims in Italian ski-lift disaster compensated", Agence France Presse, 26 April 2000, conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman, Marine Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron 2 (VMAQ-2), "Marine fliers to get hearing in ski accident", "Marine pilot is found not guilty in ski tragedy", http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/cronaca/2012/01/20/news/cermis-il-pilota-confessa-1.39576, "Death in the Alps: a special report. The then-U.S. In Italy, where the event received the name of Strage del Cermis, the low-level flight was strongly criticized and some politicians called for a re-evaluation of rules or a complete ban of such exercises, though low-level flight was already illegal.[8]. What is the best solution for this issue? The letter was later found, unopened, in the cockpit of the EA-6B along with maps marking the cable car ropes. Pilot Killed 20 on Ski Lift", "Italian Government Calls American Pilots Criminal", Judgement of the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Court of Criminal Appeals, "Marine pilot found guilty of obstruction", "Jury gives pilot 6-month sentence for video swap", Jury Sentences Marine in Ski-Lift Incident to Dismissal, "Navigator dismissed from Corps for destroying videotape", "Cermis, patto segreto dietro il processo", "United States v. Ashby, 08-0770/MC (C.A.A.F. Twenty civilians in the gondola were killed when the cable snapped. Information on aircraft gives the type, and if available, the serial number of the operator in italics, the constructors number, also known as the manufacturer's serial number (c/n), exterior codes in apostrophes, nicknames (if any) in quotation marks, flight callsign in italics, and operating units. 2009)", "Investigators Blame Marines for Cable Car Accident", "Il rapporto finale sul Cermis [The final report on the Cermis]", Pakistan International Airlines Flight 544, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cavalese_cable_car_disaster_(1998)&oldid=1004564573, Accidents and incidents involving United States Navy and Marine Corps aircraft, Aviation accidents and incidents in Italy, United States Marine Corps in the 20th century, Articles with Italian-language sources (it), Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from March 2020, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 20 dead (1 cable car operator, 19 passengers), This page was last edited on 3 February 2021, at 06:22. On February 2, Schweitzer planned the flight route for a low-altitude training mission using obsolete documents. One of the most significant peacetime mishaps involving a Prowler was in 1998, when a Marine EA-6B flying low over terrain cut the cable line for a gondola in Cavalese, Italy. The restrictions in effect at the time required a minimum flying height of 2,000 feet (610 m); Ashby said he thought they were at 1,000 feet (305 m). "This tragic mishap was the direct result of a failure in communications and coordination between Primary Flight and the Landing Signal Officer Platform, as well as lapses in judgment and the loss of situational awareness by key personnel," the Navy investigators said. [20][21], In a formal investigation report redacted on March 10, 1998 and signed by Lieutenant General Peter Pace, the U.S. Marine Corps agreed with the results of the Italian officers. 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