You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (November 2020) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
View a machine-translated version of the Italian article.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Volo Aero Trasporti Italiani 460]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|it|Volo Aero Trasporti Italiani 460}} to the talk page.
Icing conditions existed at the time and fifteen minutes after takeoff, while climbing through FL147 (14,700 feet (4,500 m)) in IAS hold mode (constant speed set at 133 knots (246 km/h; 153 mph)) the aircraft rolled left and right before crashing nose down into a 700-metre-high (2,300 ft) mountain following an uncontrolled descent. All 37 onboard the aircraft were killed.
Accident
Flight 460 took off from Milan-Linate airport at 7.13 pm, 53 minutes later than scheduled due to traffic and poor weather conditions. Fifteen minutes after taking off, the aircraft was climbing to an altitude of 14,700 feet (4,500 m), in IAS mode, at a constant speed of 133 knots (246 km/h; 153 mph), when it began a rotation movement to the right and left: 41° to the right, 100° to the left and then 105° to the right before another 135° roll to the left. During the movements, three anomalous pitch trim movements were made setting the elevator pitch to down, preventing a recovery. Moments before the aircraft disappeared from radar, the pilot contacted air traffic control to declare a mayday. The aircraft crashed nose down into Mount Crezzo, near Lake Como, following an uncontrolled descent.[1][2]
Flight 460 had a crew of three. Lamberto Lainè (43) was the pilot, Pierluigi Lampronti (29) was the co-pilot and Carla Corneliani (35) was the flight attendant.[5]
Originally, 46 seats on the aircraft had been sold however only 30 passengers with reservations arrived on time. With the delay, a further 4 passengers were able to board the aircraft.[6] One notable passenger was German racing driver and two time Nürburgring 24 Hours champion, Axel Felder.[7]
Investigation
Local eye-witness reports suggested that the aircraft had crashed into a mountain in the Mount Crezzo area of the alps, near Lake Como and the towns of Magreglio and Barni. Local weather conditions at the time were poor, heavy rain in the area of the crash. Early searching for the aircraft was completed by rescue workers beaming a spotlight on the mountainside from the lakefront at Onno.[8][9]
By the day following the crash, investigators located the aircraft and all 37 passengers and crew. They confirmed there were no survivors. At the same time one of the two black boxes was recovered.[10] The following day, the second black box was recovered from the crash site.[11]
Investigations by the Carabinieri Investigative Unit of the Provincial Command of Como and the Air Force showed that the weather conditions had caused the formation of ice on the wings of the ATR 42. The crew had failed to understand that the ice and the low speed would have stalled the plane. Instead, some of their manoeuvres to regain speed, likely combined with poor management of the trim, led the plane to point towards the ground until it crashed into the mountain.[12]
An investigation of the judiciary led to a trial that saw the designer of the ATR 42 aircraft, Jean Rech, and three senior executives of ATI convicted for manslaughter.[13] However, in 1995 these sentences were annulled and all four men were acquitted.[14][15][16]