Air Algerie - Lockheed L-100-30
Piacenza, Italy
13th August, 2006

Piacenza, Italy The cargo plane took off from Algiers, Algeria, and was en route to Frankfurt, Germany, when it crashed in the vicinity of Milan, Italy.

The aircraft was in contact with Milan Air Traffic Control but lost contact as it descended through 13 500 ft (4100 m) for an unknown reason. A few minutes before the accident, the pilot would have warned air traffic controllers in Milan that there had been a loss of engine power.

The impact of the crash was devastating, creating a crater at the point of impact and scattering pieces of the aircraft over several kilometres.

Witnesses’ reports are contradictory: some witnesses have reported seeing the aircraft engines in flames before it crashed; others said the plane exploded in flight. However all of them reported a "loud noise" and an aircraft flying at a "low altitude".

All the 3 crew members perished in the accident. The crash did not injure anyone on the ground. The analysis of the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are necessary to understand what happened.