A Lesson in Ski-Lift Tragedy

A five-week investigation has concluded there was no excuse for the behavior of a Marine air crew whose plane flew too low over northern Italy last month, clipped a cable car line and caused the crash of the gondola, killing the 20 occupants. Based on that report, the commander of Marine forces in the Atlantic has ordered a pretrial investigation--the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing--of the four-man crew, along with other officers involved in the training mission. Further judicial action is likely, possibly including charges of involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide.

The allegations raised by the investigation paint a grim picture of multiple orders being violated as the crew of the EA-6B Prowler surveillance plane was returning to its base at Aviano. According to Marine Maj. Gen. Michael DeLong, the crew members “aggressively maneuvered their aircraft, exceeded the maximum air speed and flew well below 1,000 feet,” the altitude set in their preflight briefing. Last year, Italy established a minimum altitude of 2,000 feet for such flights in the Alpine region.

The cable car was marked on charts used by the crew. The plane hit the cables supporting the gondola at between 364 and 370 feet. An Italian Defense Ministry official says that on at least two legs of the flight the plane exceeded the maximum permitted air speed by 100 nautical miles an hour.

The cable car crash has been a tragedy, first and foremost for the score of vacationers from half a dozen countries who were killed and for their families, to which the United States will pay compensation. The careers of the Marine airmen are probably ended, and they may well face harsher punishment. But if ever there was a case where negligence demanded a firm response, this is it.

Constant training of the kind that the air crew was undergoing is imperative for military efficiency in any branch of service. What is wholly unacceptable is a mission that becomes an occasion for stunting, for needless risk-taking, for thrill-seeking. The Marine flyers have so far refused--as is their right--to talk to investigators. Soon, though, they will be called into a forum to explain what they were thinking and doing in the minutes before 20 lives were so terrifyingly snuffed out.