The pilot of the Cessna aircraft that collided with a SAS airliner carrying 110 people - killing 118 people in all - probably passed two red lights, aviation expert Aldo Rossi said on Monday.
Italy's Civil Aviation Authority Enav blamed pilot error for the crash.
"Though he had confirmed an instruction from the flight controller, he took a wrong turning and went directly onto the runway," Enav said.
If Rossi's theory is correct - the pilot must have passed at least two red lights before reaching the runway where he collided with the Copenhagen-bound SAS plane that had just reached take-off speed, Rossi said.
"It's possible that if the pilot did not know the airport he could have used the same route he used when landing," said Rossi.
Osvaldo Gammino, who represents the air companies that use Linate, said that the pilot of a small plane like a Cessna - there were two crew - might have had difficulty seeing red lights in the early-morning fog.
"The signals were clear but there was a lot of fog," he said. "But being in a small cockpit in a small plane he can not see what a pilot in a bigger plane can see."
Gammino said that it was never necessary for a plane at Linate to cross the runway with aircraft following each other in a circular route.
"You can always see the plane in front of you. We never cross the runway, it is not necessary."
Gammino also added that he believed that had the SAS flight had less passengers that a collision may have been avoided.
"Perhaps he was too heavily loaded [to avoid the Cessna]. Perhaps if he had been not so loaded he could have taken off earlier and avoided it [the Cessna]," said Gammino.
He believed the fog might also have prevented the control tower from noticing anything was wrong.
"The controllers in the tower could not have seen it [the Cessna] with such low visibility," said Gammino who had earlier confirmed that the ground radar had been "out of service" -- MILAN (AFP)
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