Italian Demo Team in Midair Collision, All Pilots Survive
Three aircraft collide during airshow performance, but all land under control.
MBB-339 Number Eight of the Italian air force Frecce Tricolori demonstration team veered off the runway on landing following a three-ship midair collision. Credit: Aviation Safety Network
During a May 6 airshow performance, a midair collision involving three Aermacchi MB-339 jet aircraft of the Italian air force Frecce Tricolori (“three-color arrow”) demonstration team ended with all aircraft landing under control, though one of the three veered off the runway due to suspected nosewheel damage. Of the three pilots involved, one was hospitalized for a reported leg fracture. No one on the ground was injured.
The collision occurred during the so-called “piercing the heart” maneuver, in which two sections of the 10-ship team separate during a formation vertical climb and form a heart shape with smoke and a single aircraft flies through the middle of the heart. The collision occurred as the section of four aircraft were beginning their descent. The three aircraft involved in the collision can be seen in online videos making contact and tumbling momentarily out of control. There was unconfirmed reported damage to some of the three aircraft’s tail sections and wings.
The performance was during the Pantellaria Airshow. Pantellaria is a small island located about midway between Sicily and the North African coast near Tunis. The Frecce Tricolori team has been in existence since the 1920s and has been flying the MB-339 since the early 1980s.
