Italy's Civil Aviation Authority blamed pilot error for the runway collision between a Scandinavian Airlines airliner and a Cessna plane on Monday which killed 118 people at Milan's Linate airport.
The authority, Enav, said the German pilot of the Cessna had taken a wrong turning onto the runway being used by the airliner as it was approaching takeoff speed.
"In a first reconstruction of events, it seems that the pilot of the Cessna, though he had confirmed an instruction from the flight controller, took a wrong turning and went directly onto the runway," Enav said.
"The instruction given by the flight controller would have taken the plane onto the correct waiting position for takeoff," the authority said.
All 110 people aboard the Copenhagen-bound SAA airliner, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-87, and the four people aboard the Cessna, died in the crash. Four Linate airport ground staff also perished when their building was hit by the airliner -- ROME (AFP)
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