A Brief History
On February 3, 1998, a bizarre aircraft accident occurred on the ski slopes of Italy when a USMC EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare jet flew below allowable altitude and cut the cable to a cable car carrying skiers.
Digging Deeper
The cable car was carrying an operator and 19 passengers, all of whom were killed as the car fell 300 feet from the severed cable. The pilot and navigator of the jet were uninjured, and the damaged jet made a safe landing.
The accident happened in the Dolomite mountains at Cavalese, and of course, the Italian public and government were outraged by the reckless flying of the Marines. The jet’s crew were acquitted of involuntary manslaughter and negligent homicide in an American court, but were convicted of obstruction of justice for destroying a videotape of the incident, resulting in dismissal from the Marine Corps.
Families of the victims were paid $65,000 each by the US government.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Melampy, Jake. The Modern Prowler Guide: The Grumman EA-6B Exposed. Reid Air Publications, 2020.
Rushforth, James. Ski Touring and Snowshoeing in the Dolomites: 50 Winter Routes. Cicerone Press Limited, 2017.
The featured image in this article, a photograph of an aerial cable car in Italy in the 1970s, is in the public domain in Italy, because its copyright term has expired. According to Law for the Protection of Copyright and Neighbouring Rights n.633, 22 April 1941 and later revisions, images of people or of aspects, elements and facts of natural or social life, obtained with photographic process or with an analogue one, including reproductions of figurative art and film frames of film stocks (Art. 87) are protected for a period of 20 years from creation (Art. 92). This provision shall not apply to photographs of writings, documents, business papers, material objects, technical drawings and similar products (Art. 87). Italian law makes an important distinction between “works of photographic art” and “simple photographs” (Art. 2, § 7). Photographs that are “intellectual work with creative characteristics” are protected for 70 years after the author’s death (Art. 32 bis), whereas simple photographs are protected for a period of 20 years from creation.
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