Bristol 170 Freighter accident at Ravello, Italy, 18 Nov 1947 (SE-BNG)

Accident narrative

The aircraft was returning to Stockholm with a crew of four and 21 Swedish pilots who delivered Saab B-17 to the Ethiopian Army in Addis-Ababa. It left Catania Airport at 1428LT bound for Rome. After passing over the Island of Stromboli, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with thick clouds. To avoid this area, the crew modified his route but few minutes later, while flying at an insufficient altitude of 1,040 meters in poor visibility, the aircraft hit tree tops located on the Mt Cerro near Ravello. The captain tried to avoid a ground collision so he increased engine power and attempted a 180 turn when the left wing hit the Santa Maria del Monte Peak. The aircraft crashed in flames and was destroyed. Four occupants were rescued while 21 others were killed.

Probable cause (official findings): There is no reason to believe that the engines or instrument were not operating normally. The cause of the accident must have been the pilot's failure to realize that his aircraft was in mountainous territory. The surviving passengers could not give an account of what happened immediately prior to the accident as they all were asleep when it occurred.