2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash
Private Rockwell Commander 112TC · Collision with building
From Locarno Airport (LSZL) to Milano Linate Airport (LIN)
Event
- NTSB case
- DCA02WA033
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 3 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 2
- Occupants
- 1
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 0 serious · 0 minor (NTSB)
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- General aviation
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Visual Meteorological Cond
Rockwell Commander 112TC
- Aircraft type
- Rockwell Commander 112
- Category
- Airplane
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- HB-NCX
- Operator
- Private
- Onboard fatalities
- 1 (occupants minus survivors)
- Route
- From Locarno Airport (LSZL)To Milano Linate Airport (LIN)
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Not recorded
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Not recorded
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Task performance
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 18 April 2002, a privately operated single-engine Rockwell Commander 112TC flying from Locarno Airport, Switzerland, to Milan Linate Airport, Italy, crashed into the upper floors of the Pirelli Tower in Milan, Italy. The pilot – the aircraft's sole occupant – and two building employees were killed, and 60-70 others were injured.
Although initial suspicions pointed to a terrorist attack, owing to the crash occurring a few months after the September 11 attacks, investigators stated that the crash was likely an accident. Despite ensuing suspicions that the pilot had intentionally flown the aircraft into the tower, the theory was ruled out. A subsequent investigation by the ANSV found that the pilot was likely unable to "adequately manage the final phase of the flight in the presence of technical, operational, and environmental issues."
Accident
At 17:45, the aircraft crashed into the deck beams of the 26th and 27th floor of the Pirelli Tower, resulting in the explosion of the aircraft's fuel tanks placed near the wings.
The crash killed the pilot and two lawyers who were in the tower. At the time of the crash, most of the region's workers had left their offices; 300 people were in the Pirelli Tower compared to an average of 1300 people.
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, metro station and the Linate airport were closed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The National Agency for the Safety of Flight (ANSV) was first notified of the crash by a journalist. The ANSV then formed an investigative team and proceeded to the crash site to begin their investigation.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash” (revision 1344698255, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash
- Revision
- 1344698255 · 2026-03-22 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q3797640
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record DCA02WA033
- Event ID
- 20020419X00550
- Case number
- DCA02WA033
- Dataset
- historical-pre2008
- Source SHA-256
- 89e2df6d848e7ab3b42e7d7c7a03ff403303057a26ca04c95b3ea67201c3ce74
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash" (page 6245599, revision 1344698255); merged with NTSB case DCA02WA033 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record DCA02WA033
- Operation
- operator given as a private owner in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: total_fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia infobox: ground fatalities
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2002 Pirelli Tower airplane crash" and NTSB case DCA02WA033, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.