1990 Italian Air Force MB-326 crash

On 6 December 1990, an MB-326 military jet of the Italian Air Force crashed into a school building at Casalecchio di Reno, near Bologna, Italy, killing 12 students and injuring 88 other students and staff. The aircraft had been abandoned minutes earlier by its pilot, who ejected following an on-board fire and loss of control.

The pilot and two senior air force officers were later put on trial and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, receiving a sentence of 2½ years in prison, but were subsequently acquitted on appeal.

Accident

The MB-326 took off at 9:48 a.m. on 6 December 1990 from Verona Villafranca Airport, around 100 km north of Bologna, on a mission to test the effectiveness of an anti-aircraft radar system. The only person on board was the pilot, sub-lieutenant Bruno Viviani, 24, with 740 flight hours of experience, of which 140 were in the MB-326.

The planned route involved overflying the village of Borgoforte before heading towards the town of Rovigo. At 10:22 a.m., the engine started developing problems, prompting the pilot to abort the mission and seek to land. The nearest airfield, at Ferrara, had only a 600-metre-long runway, which was insufficient. Therefore, the pilot opted to head for Bologna Airport, around 40 km to the south.

At 10:31 a.m., while approaching Bologna, Viviani reported total engine failure, fire on board and flight controls unresponsive. After attempting to steer the aircraft towards open fields, he ejected and landed near Ceretolo, a village next to Casalecchio di Reno, suffering three fractured vertebrae.

An eyewitness at Bologna Airport reported seeing the aircraft on a normal approach path and with the landing gear extended. He then observed flames and white smoke coming out of the engine nozzle, before seeing the aircraft turning in the opposite direction to the airfield, the smoke turning black, and the pilot ejecting from the aircraft, which the eyewitness managed to photograph. The ejection and the flight of the aircraft for the following few seconds were also captured on video by the cameraman of a local TV station, Rete 7, who was filming in the area and happened to notice the unfolding disaster.

At 10:33 a.m., the pilotless aircraft crashed through the window of a first-floor classroom of the Gaetano Salvemini Technical Institute, a high school in Casalecchio, where a German class was about to finish. At that time, 285 students, 28 teachers and 4 staff were in the building, 17 of whom were in the classroom.