Paolo Pettinaroli, a member of Flight Safety Foundation’s Board of Governors, turned the pain of a deep, personal tragedy into more than a decade of working tirelessly for aviation safety and in support of the many families who suffered alongside him following the 2001 crash of Scandinavian Airlines System Flight SK686. Paolo’s death in April following a lengthy illness will be felt keenly by those who knew him.
Paolo’s 28-year-old son, Lorenzo, was among the 118 people killed, including four on the ground, when a McDonnell Douglas MD-87 taking off from Milan’s Linate Airport collided on the runway with a Cessna Citation CJ2 on the morning of Oct. 8, 2001. Following the accident, Paolo resigned from his job in the fashion industry and founded the survivors’ group named the Comitato 8 Ottobre (October 8 Committee) and later the Fondazione 8 Ottobre 2001 (October 8 2001 Foundation), which committed itself to the prevention of future aviation tragedies. Paol…
