OUR 9TH MEMORIAL DAY

SPEECH OF THE PRESIDENT PAOLO PETTINAROLI AT BASILICA OF SANT AMBROGIO OF MILAN
October 8, 2010

I wish to thank His Excellency Monsignor Giuseppe Merisi for celebrating this Holy Mass, Monsignor De Scalzi for welcoming us in this magnificent basilica for our ninth anniversary, and Archbishop Cardinal Tettamanzi and His Eminency Cardinal Martini for their much appreciated and touching messages.
I also want to thank the Romagnano Sesia Abbey Choir, conducted by Maestro Gilberto Negri and accompanied at the organ by Professors Andrea Del Mastro and Brugo Carlo, for adding much to this memorial service.  
We sincerely salute all the mayors and authorities in attendance.
I want to salute Lance-Corporal Gennaro Brigliadoro of the Financial Police,  who is too often forgotten and who, with great courage and altruism, saved Pasquale Padovano from certain death on that terrible morning.
I am happy to be here with all of you.
Life is always full of unexpected obstacles. Sometimes, to remind us that it is in charge, Life puts us to the test.
Sometimes our health fails us and makes us think that the prospects are not very rosy, which is what happened to me recently. However, dreams are not always impossible. Mind you, this is not a complaint!  
We are all in the hands of God, who also takes care of mosquitoes and grasshoppers.  He gave me a push and, of course, I chose the future!
I would like to mention a dear friend and generous member of our Technical Task Force, Mr. Vittorio Floridia, who passed away in August. I invite everyone to think of him, because it is as if he were here with us today.
We will never forget Vittorio. His resolution and wisdom will continue to guide us to overcome the many difficulties we encounter in our work to ensure air transportation safety.
Today we are commemorating the ninth anniversary of the Linate disaster with 118 victims and a seriously injured survivor.
It is a sad story that we experienced and still carry deep within our hearts.
The October 8 Committee and Foundation continue their pledge to never forget and to work selflessly so that no one can ever control and manipulate other people to their advantage, disregarding the past and disrespecting the people forced to endure it.
Trivializing tragedies is the danger today, and it also loses the lessons from which we can learn.
For this reason, our Foundation insists on divulging and checking facts, caring about other people’s freedom and responsibility in choices, actions, and interests.
There is a great need for good sense and truth. Above all, we must not confuse life with a futile exercise in philosophy.
Thinkers define truth rather than find it.
And the truth is that today we need even more courage so that we do not forget it.
Now, as every year, is the moment of our visit to our Bosco dei Faggi memorial site.  
hank you

 

SPEECH OF THE MAYOR OF MILAN Mrs. LETIZIA MORATTI AT THE SCALA THEATRE
October 8, 2010

Dear Friends,
our presence here in the hallowed temple of Milanese and worldwide music to rekindle
the memory and pain of Milan for the 118 victims of the tragedy of Linate, means
performing together an act of hope, of faith, of shared affection.
The pain for the victims is still now very much alive throughout the city.
Today, as Mayor I turn to you, dearest family members of the victims, to each and
every single one of you.
I would really like this music to be the voice of Milan for you. A voice that invites you
to hope, to continue to fight as you have always done, for the truth, for justice, for the
safety of all.
Your commitment through the years, the commitment of the 8 October Committee and
of its President, Paolo Pettinaroli along with all the families, is a true example of
dedication to the city.
And the goal of this dedication is not only to commemorate the victims; it is also, and
above all, to actively work with the institutions to improve air safety.
Yours is an example of citizenship that young people must know. Every time a
Milanese person boards a plane they also owe their safety – whose level is now one of
the best in the world – to you.
Which is why Milan thanks you and continues to stand by your side. Nobody can bring
the victims of Linate back to us, but together we can hold the torch of life high. We
can feel united. We can work together. We can explore and extend our collaboration
and friendship, we can nourish the sense of a community that lives and works to
remember and to improve, we can do what you have done: turn your individual pain
into a commitment for the community good.
Milan is with you; it is here this evening. And it also asks you to stick with Milan. A
city that to a great extent still counts on your testimony of civil commitment.
I would like to end with a proposal: let us work together to tell the story of the tragedy
of Linate, along with your commitment, the story of your Committee, your
collaboration with the Municipality of Milan and with SEA over these years. I have in
mind a publication, an exhibition, a documentary that tells young people about all the
good things that have emerged from that 8 October of pain.
Thank-you all, thank-you for everything you have done to date and for what you can
still do for Milan.

Address by the president of the Committee and Foundation 8th October Paolo Pettinaroli
8th October 2010

Good evening.
It is very moving to see once again your presence here, in such great
numbers.
My heartfelt thanks go to Mayor Letizia Moratti, to the City Council, to the
management and Orchestra of La Scala.
I also wish to renew our thanks to SEA and SAS for their continuing, precious
support and their unfailing demonstration of closeness. I also acknowledge
the courteous and constant presence of the Civil, Military, Religious and
Political Authorities.
Greetings to our friends from abroad, from Scandinavia and other parts of the
world! A friendly welcome to the Capogallo association from Bari who again join
us for the commemoration, and to representatives of the associations of
relatives of victims of aeroplane accidents in Italy.
We have reached the ninth year of our celebration – nine years! Today,
the go-cart team of Scandinavian boys who died in the accident would
have been a team of young men!
Writing about these emotions, I realised they became twice as strong –
and I was unable to continue: I was obliged to stop.
So I will only say this: let everyone, in his heart, give free rein to his dreams
and his memories.
We are living through difficult times in our country: complicity and
openly dishonest behaviour, people who pretend to be different
from what they really are. Terrible behaviour is tolerated as if it
were a “lifestyle”. We have reached the stage of taking for granted
that “everyone does it”, as they say – and we shut our eyes.
But it is not so. And it must not be like this!
We well know the result of such behaviour: 118 deaths and a serious
invalid!
The Foundation 8th October 2001 obstinately refuses to accept this, to do as
everyone does, to acquiesce and to tolerate: we focalise on the technical
aspects, the context, the courage and moral qualities of the various
institutions, organisations and negotiations.
We also often clash against something unclear, something shady, and we find
it hard to comprehend political jargon and its logic!
At this point, allow me to remember a friend, Vittorio Floridia, one of the
founders of our Technical Task Force, who since August is no longer with
us. With great sincerity and kindness of heart, mind and expression, he
gave his wise opinion as to how things should have been and what
needed to be changed.
With his example, his moral rectitude and dedicated intelligence, Vittorio
continues to guide us. We will not forget him. Ever.
Our Foundation’s activity wins ever-greater consensus.
I should like to recall our participation at the European convention organised
with ACI Europe in Istanbul last week.
The Flight Safety Foundation, the world’s most prestigious air safety
organisation, has entrusted to us the organisation of the IASS (International
Air Safety Seminar) annual world convention, to be held in Milan from 2nd to
5th November. Approximately 600 delegates from 52 countries will take part.
The IASS is the world’s most important annual event concerning Flight Safety
and is attended or followed by all world Aviation representatives.
This key event pays honour to our credibility at the international level and
brings great gratification to our work.
All these initiatives, may I add, are organised in partnership with the Centro
Studi Demetra in Rome, with which we share common objectives.
We also continue to promote the naming of public places after the Linate
tragedy. The latest in April was a splendid walk in Romagnano Sesia. At the
end of this month, a park in Bollate will be named. Before the end of the
year, there will be a park in Novara.
Nine years on, our message is unchanged, clearer and stronger with each
year that passes: we will not stoop to compromise as far as truth and
rectitude are concerned, for this is a deception which, sooner or later, brings
a price to pay.
Nine years on, our activities are the same: to inform, to act, to prevent. And
all of this is summed up in only two words: do not forget.
I fear I may be tiresome, but this is my life.
This is what guides us, this is what we of the Foundation do.
It is pointless to ask “how could it have happened”, when a human tragedy
has taken place.
We are here to remember our loved ones, with music from the Chamber
Orchestra of La Scala. As we listen, in our minds we walk hand in hand
with Laura, Andrea, Kevin, Joakin, Lorenzo, Jessica, Simone, Barbara and
al l of them.
Enjoy the concert
Thank you