[Music] on the 3rd of February 1998 an aircraft returned to the American Aviano Airbase in Italy it had sustained severe damage to One Wing and struggled to make an emergency landing the crew believed that they might have hit something but were unsure what it could have been at the time according to the crew they did not know that they had just been responsible for the deaths of 20 innocent people cavaly is a town at the base of the alpe ches a mountain which is known for its many and varied opportunities for skiing and snow Sports from November to April when the mountain is covered with snow tourists flock to the region many of them stay in calesi and use a system of cable cars and ski lifts to reach the upper slopes of the mountain each day the system of cable cars and ski lifts was built in the 1960s as tourism became more and more important for the town in 1976 a serious accident took place on the cable car a cable was severed and a fully loaded Gondola fell to the ground resulting in the deaths of 42 people there was only one Survivor from this accident a 14-year-old girl named alisandra vasana Alesandra recovered from the injuries she sustained in the fall but remained troubled by her memories of the disaster for the rest of her life despite this horrifying accident the cable car system was rebuilt and continued to operate for many years each day hundreds of people would use the system to ride to or from the upper slopes of the mountain on the 3rd of February 1998 at around 2:30 p. m. a.
m a routine training flight departed from Aviano Airbase in Italy Aviano was an American airbase and the plane an EA 6B Prowler jet aircraft was part of a squadron from the United States Marine Corps on board were Captain Richard J Ashby and Navigator Joseph Schweitzer along with two other crew members the four crew members would be spending the day carrying out a series of low altitude exercises intended to hone their ability to fly at very low Heights at the same time as the aircraft was departing on this routine training Mission dozens of skiers were preparing to ascend to the upper slopes of alp ches for an afternoon on the slopes 19 of them boarded the cavaly cable car along with one operator and began an Ascent at around 3:13 p. m.
