Jet Crew Caused Cable Car Fall, U.S. Probe Finds

Military investigators have concluded that errors by the pilot and crew of a Marine Corps Prowler jet caused their aircraft to sever the wires of a cable car and send 20 people plunging to their deaths at a popular ski resort in Italy last month.

The preliminary findings, to be announced today at a U.S. military base in Aviano, Italy, could help ease the Italian government’s demand that the fliers be turned over to Italian authorities for prosecution.

The conclusion also could set the stage for an internal Marine Corps criminal investigation in this country to determine whether the crew should face the ultimate ignominy: being court-martialed for the deadliest military training incident on record since the end of the Cold War.

Such an action would be unparalleled in U.S. military history. In the most similar case in recent memory, seven Air Force members were initially charged in the 1994 downing of two helicopters they mistook for hostile Iraqi aircraft, killing 26 people. Only one captain was court-martialed, and he was acquitted.

“They’re going to recommend disciplinary actions and administrative actions for the crew,” a senior Pentagon source said Wednesday of the cable car disaster. “And that goes for all four of them,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The source added: “They’re concluding that it was pilot error that contributed to this tragedy. They were simply flying too low.”

How sweeping the recommendations will be could not be determined. But Pentagon officials said the fact that the recommendations are being made this soon after the incident, coupled with the large loss of life in Italy’s Dolomite Alps, strongly suggests that there will be serious repercussions.

The four crew members were identified as Capt. Richard J. Ashby, 30, of Mission Viejo, a pilot with 783 flight hours, and his three flight officers--Capt. Joseph P. Schweitzer, 30, of Westbury, N.Y.; Capt. William L. Raney II, 26, of Englewood, Colo.; and Capt. Chandler P. Seagraves, 28, of Nineveh, Ind.

Now grounded at Aviano, Ashby and his crew were part of the 31st Air Expeditionary Wing, based in northeastern Italy, that was running North Atlantic Treaty Organization training missions.

Bruno Malattia, an Italian lawyer who is representing the four crewmen should they face criminal charges in Italy, said Wednesday that he was encouraged by indications that pilot error--rather than deliberate, reckless action--was behind the disaster.

“If the conclusions are those anticipated from Washington, then this is a balanced judgment devoid of the emotional and partly irrational one that initially portrayed the pilot’s conduct as criminal,” the lawyer said in a telephone interview from Aviano.

Malattia was referring to statements by the Italian prosecutor in Trent, the city nearest the scene of the disaster, who is investigating charges of multiple manslaughter against the crew.

Under NATO directives, the U.S. crew was not supposed to fly below 2,000 feet. However, many Italian leaders as well as the general public in Italy have complained that U.S. airmen often fly much lower.

The Prowler jet’s tail, or possibly a wing, hit the electric suspension cables for the gondola on Feb. 3, sending the cable car and the 20 people inside it 300 feet to the ground.

The crew members realized the aircraft had hit the cables but did not know of the consequences until they had returned safely to Aviano, Malattia has said.

The U.S. military investigation was headed by Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Michael DeLong, who is expected to refer the case today to Lt. Gen. Peter Pace of Norfolk, Va., commander of Marine Forces in the Atlantic.

Sources said Wednesday that Pace will review the case file and more than likely order what is called an Article 32 hearing for the four crew members. That system is similar to a grand jury proceeding; a commanding officer would review the evidence and listen to testimony, then make a recommendation to Pace on whether a formal court-martial should be conducted.

“That’s up to Gen. Pace,” said a Pentagon official. “But we know they were in the plane, and we know they were flying low. So just in that, there is some error, isn’t there?”

Another Pentagon source close to the investigation said that the four crew members would be returned to the United States once the case was brought here for further review.

“Since the accident,” he said, “their careers have been placed on hold. But they are participating in the investigation.”

Alessandro Di Franco, first counselor at the Italian Embassy in Washington, said his government is eager to see the Marine Corps report today and will reserve comment until learning the official recommendations.

“We trust American justice,” he said.

That tempered reaction contrasted sharply with Italy’s initial demand: that the four crew members be turned over to Italian authorities despite a NATO agreement that says acts by military personnel in the course of duty fall under the jurisdiction of their own country.

The Italian government, citing what it called a “strong desire that justice be carried out in our country,” asked the United States last month to waive its prerogative to prosecute the crewmen.

U.S. officials have said they will consider the Italian request but noted that no NATO member has ever surrendered jurisdiction in such a case.

Serrano reported from Washington and Boudreaux from Rome.