The Alps Ski-lift air disaster was an airplane and ski-lift accident that happened on February 3, 1998. On that day, a U.S. Marines EA-6B Prowler jet was flying near a ski resort area in Cavalese, Italy. The airplane struck two ski-lift cables, one of which had a ski-lift box with 19 passengers and one instructor. The twenty people inside the box plunged an estimated 260 feet to their deaths.
The airplane had four Marines inside, of which captain Richard Ashby was the pilot. The cause of the accident caused much debate, because this specific area had banned airplanes from flying at levels lower than 1,000 feet over ground, but the ski-lift box fell 260 feet, suggesting that the Marines airplane was way under its flying limit. This, in turn, led to more debate about what exactly were the pilots doing flying at 260 feet over the ground in an area where 1,000 feet was the limit set, and many on the media accused Ashby of being hotdogging and such other things.
The incident caused the relationships between Americans and Italians to strain. Many Italians had anti-American protests, others complained about American use of Italian air bases. Italian prosecutors wanted the four Marines to stand trial in an Italian court, but a NATO agreement between the United States and other countries prevented this from happening.
President Bill Clinton apologized for the accident a few days after it ocurred.
The four Marines were court marshalled, however, acussed of various violations. In 1999, Ashby was acquitted of all charges.
The twenty people inside the ski gondole were all of different European nationalities. Among them, there was three Italians, five were Germans and one Pole.
Many in the Calavese area expressed their feeling that this was an accident waiting to happen, since many military pilots practiced their skills near the resort area.
