On 18 April 2002, at 17:48 (local time), a

Rockwell Commander 112 The Rockwell Commander 112 is an American four-seat single-engined general aviation aircraft designed and built by North American Rockwell (later Rockwell International) starting in 1972. In 1976, they introduced the turbocharged version 112TC an ...

crashed into the upper floors of the

Pirelli Tower Pirelli Tower (Italian: ''Grattacielo Pirelli'' – also called "''Pirellone''", literally "Big Pirelli") is a 32-storey, skyscraper in Milan, Italy. The base of the building is , with a length of and a width of . The construction used approxim ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, Italy, for reasons still unclear. The crash killed the pilot and two others in the building. Sixty more people sustained injuries in the building and on the ground. The crash raised fears of a terrorist attack because of the similarities with the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

, which had occurred seven months earlier. A subsequent investigation ruled out terrorism as a motive.

Incident

The airplane, piloted by 65-year-old Luigi Fasulo, took off from

Locarno Airport Locarno Airport, german: Flugplatz Locarno, french: Aéroport de Locarno , mil ICAO code LSMO, also known as Locarno-Magadino Airport, is an airport located near the city of Locarno, Ticino, Switzerland. It is a mixed civilian and military air ...

Magadino Magadino is a former municipality in the district of Locarno in the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. On 25 April 2010, the former municipalities of Caviano, Contone, Gerra Gambarogno, Indemini, Magadino, Piazzogna, San Nazzaro, Sant'Abbondio an ...

, Switzerland, eighteen minutes before the crash. Later, as the airplane flew over

, Italy, the pilot radioed to the control tower at

Linate Airport Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest a ...

that there was a problem with the retractable landing gear. The tower began arranging an emergency landing. The plane crashed into the upper floors of the

. The vibration of the impact caused shop windows to break and littered the surroundings with debris and glass in offices. The pilot and two others present inside the building died. Between thirty and forty people were taken to the hospital with moderate injuries, while fire-fighters contained the fire that resulted from the crash. Immediately after the crash, the nearby

Milan central railway station Milano Centrale ( it, Stazione Milano Centrale) is the main railway station of the city of Milan, Italy, and is the largest railway station in Europe by volume. The station is a terminus and located at the northern end of central Milan. It was o ...

metro station A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the system in t ...

and the

Linate airport Milan Linate Airport is the third international airport of Milan, the second-largest city and largest urban area of Italy, behind Malpensa Airport and Orio al Serio Airport. It served 9,233,475 passengers in 2018, being the fifth busiest a ...

were closed.

Investigation

Italian officials conducted an investigation after the crash. The cause of the crash was never exactly determined or confirmed, but the most plausible reason is an accident or a suicide. The pilot had been the victim of a scam that brought him close to bankruptcy, so the possibility of a public suicide is plausible.

Aftermath

The crash aroused fears of a terrorist attack since it occurred seven months after the

. Because of this, stock markets around the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

fell sharply and business trading in

was suspended. The fears ended when investigators concluded that the crash was not an act of terrorism.BBC News
Markets rattled by Milan plane crash
18 April 2002. URL Accessed: 4 August 2006

Incident

Investigation

Aftermath

References

See also