Alberto had grown his wings very early. He was 14 years old when he wrote a letter to his father, who perhaps wished he could follow in his footsteps and dedicate himself to information technology. “I know that in a certain sense I have displeased you, but ‘unfortunately’ I have realized that being a pilot is my greatest aspiration”, he confessed. “Already then Alberto had very clear ideas. Flying was his passion, the dream that he later realized”, says Filippo Nassetti, Alberto’s brother, a courageous, strong, sincere but unlucky young aviator. In 1989, at the age of 23, Alberto Nassetti (originally from Bologna) was among the youngest Alitalia pilots: active, enthusiastic, capable, a lover of photography, painting and mountaineering, he also found himself fighting against a brain tumor and he then managed to return to the cockpit. But fate awaited him on a summer day. On 30 June 1994, in Toulouse, Alberto Nassetti and his colleague Pier Paolo Racchetti were invited on the test flight of a new Airbus: they were not at the controls of the plane but observers, sent to France by the pilots’ union. A few seconds after leaving the runway, the aircraft crashed and there was no escape for the seven people on board. “I have seen many eagles in flight. Majestic wings challenging the ground – Alberto had written in a poem –. I will see them for a long time to come. Then, with them, I will die”. Almost prophetic, unfortunately. Thirty years have passed since the tragic accident, and the example of Alberto Nassetti (awarded the gold medal for civil merit in 2005) continues to inspire those who only have the desire to fly. “Many eagles I have seen in flight” is also the book (published by Baldini and Castoldi) that his brother Filippo Nassetti, journalist, dedicated to the story of Alberto and other extraordinary aviators.
Was flying almost a vocation for Alberto?
“Yes, and he expressed it very early. At the time we lived in Ozzano Emilia, in the Bologna area, yet he immediately wanted to enroll at the Baracca Aeronautical Institute in Forlì, which at the time was one of only three state schools in Italy for this specialization: to reach him , every day, he had to take three buses, yet his dream was stronger than any sacrifice. When we then moved to Rome, he completed his studies at the ‘De Pinedo’ course and then ranked first He was hired and assigned to medium-range flights on the DC9s”.
And in 1991 the terrible diagnosis, brain tumor…
“Of which, in the family, he practically kept us in the dark. To avoid making us worry, he didn’t reveal the real seriousness of the operation: he presented it to us as a small routine operation.” Alberto also overcame that obstacle. And then?
“He began to fight to return to piloting. At the time there was no precedent for pilots who had undergone brain surgery to return to the stick: he also faced this with all his strength. In 1992 he resumed flying in command courses, i.e. with crews made up of three pilots After a year and a half he obtained full qualification again.”
How did the tragedy happen in France?
“Alitalia was evaluating the purchase of new aircraft. The pilots’ unions instructed Alberto and his colleague to go to Toulouse to evaluate a new Airbus model. They boarded the test flight on 30 June: unfortunately it ended painfully”.
What remains of Alberto and his example?
“His willpower, his determination, his sense of responsibility. Many young pilots, despite not having met him, see in him a reference for these values. Two streets at Fiumicino airport have also been dedicated to him and Racchetti and two Boeing 777s from the Alitalia fleet. On 30 June we will remember Alberto in Sarteano, in Val d’Orcia, where he rests in the family chapel”.
Was there compensation for the accident?
“Yes, and as a family we donated it to two associations: Emergency, which dedicated the pediatric ward of the hospital in Sierra Leone to Alberto, and Mani Amiche, which created a craft workshop in Guatemala. Thus Alberto continues to fly there too “.
