San Miniato (Pisa), 9 June 2024 – Sunday tragic toairfield Tuscany Flight Of via Cavane, in the hamlet of Chain a San Miniatoin the province of Pisa. Paolo Fagiolini59 years old, and Riccardo MontanariI’m 41 years old dead during the landing phase of hang glider on which they were located. It happened in the late morning of June 9th. The aircraft crashed before the disbelieving eyes of about forty people. He was driving the hang glider Green beans, resident in Ponsacco where he was the owner of an upholstery shop, an expert pilot and a member of the airfield. The passenger was instead Mountaineersresident in Chianni but originally from Bientina where he had a bar.
The accident occurred around 11.30am. Pain and dismay among the friends and members of the flying club who cannot explain how this could have happened. The accident is being investigated carabinieri. According to an initial reconstruction, the most probable hypothesis is that the aircraft had an unexpected accident broken down in flight which made it ungovernable and then crashed to the ground at high speed leaving the two occupants no escape.
The intervention of the firefighters was necessary to free the bodies stuck in the pilot cell. Numerous witnesses to the fall noticed almost immediately after take-off that something was wrong: “It wasn’t clear exactly” what happened. «We saw him coming down and we don’t know if it was a problem with the vehicle or if he might have had an illness, something… We can’t understand it either – said the president of Tuscany Flight of San Miniato, moved. Franco Castellani in a video by Local Team and Rtv38 -. Someone already saw him from above, someone else, like me, when he got close to the ground. I saw the last ten meters of what happened. We immediately understood that there was a serious problem because she hit the ground really hard. We immediately alerted 118.”
That of Fagiolini and Montanari should have been thelast flight of the morning. According to the managers of the airfield and friends of the pilot, the weather conditions had been good for years and allowed for flights without problems. «He was an expert pilot to the max, a guy who really knew what he was doing – underlined Castellani again – This morning we made several flights and they all ended in an absolutely regular manner. They were overflights of the area, all of rather short duration, 5-10 minutes at most.”
The request for help was immediate witnesses who also requested the activation of the 118 helicopter and then canceled it when they realized that there was nothing left to be done for the two occupants of the aircraft. The 118 staff of the ASL center who arrived by land were unable to do anything but confirm the death of the two men while the carabinieri carried out the investigations and collected the testimonies.
The Tuscany Flight airfield was born over twenty years ago thanks to the work of a group of enthusiasts which also included the pilot of the hang glider that crashed this morning: it is a small center suitable only for ultralights who intend to carry out short overflights of the area . They will be there technical expertise on the remains of the destroyed hang glider, which will be entrusted by the prosecutor’s office in the next few days, to clarify what the causes of the accident were.
Condolences and closeness to the families and friends of the two men who lost their lives in the accident this morning were expressed by the President of the Regional Council Antonio Mazzeo, on behalf of the entire Legislative Assembly of Tuscany. The president, as explained in a note, hoping for clarity on the causes of the accident, also wanted to express his closeness to the members of the Tuscany Flight association, which manages the Casa Bonello airfield, and to which the pilot of the small aircraft.
Condolence was also expressed by the mayor of Ponsacco, Francesca Brogi: “Unfortunately this morning our fellow citizen Paolo Fagiolini lost his life in the tragic flight accident in San Miniato – he wrote on social media – Terrible news that we would never have wanted to receive. Paolo was a cornerstone of Cionini upholstery, a company that we had recently awarded on the occasion of the companies’ grand gala. A generous person, he was a sports enthusiast and in his life he had also made an important contribution to the Ponsacco gymnastics club, becoming president for a period. We offer our most sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family and all his loved ones.”
