The flight that lasted only six minutes, the tragedy of the helicopter of Lorenzo Rovagnati

In the Emilian campaign, the land marks the exact point in which the Augusta Westland helicopter touched Earth. That’s where, on February 5, they lost their lives Lorenzo Rovagnatithe 42 -year -old entrepreneur, and the two pilots Leonardo Italiana and Flavio Massa. A furrow, dug from the front wheel, about one and a half meter long75 centimeters deep. A little further on, the wreck.

The dynamics of the accident begins to outline thanks to the Preliminary report released by the National Agency for Flight Security. “The first point of contact with the ground was identified between the take -off pitch and the final position of the wreck”, reads the document. “No parts of the aircraft were found between the first point of contact with the ground and the take -off pitch.” The traces are compatible with an initial impact of the muzzle, which would have generated the furrow. The wheel was found at the beginning of the forefront, while the main part of the wreck was 25 meters ahead. The cabin was the most damaged area. The tail rotor, on the other hand, had minor signs and was still relatively intact.

The flight lasted just six minutes: from 18:45 to 18:51. But the time actually spent in flight was less than three minutes. Then the silence of the on -board system, which stopped transmitting data. At that moment, The area was surrounded by a dense fog: “At 18:50 fog was scheduled with horizontal visibility at 100 meters and invisible sky”, specifies the agency, remembering that the sunset had already occurred at 18:33.

At the moment, No official hypothesis on the causes of the accident: technical failure or human error. It will be the insights of the consultant Stefano Benassi, a former aeronautical commander, and the Carabinieri del Ris to try to give answers, as part of the guidance for manslaughter open by the Parma prosecutor. Meanwhile, The fuel is present and recoverable for analysis, without signs of fire, and the flight documentation of the two pilots is in order.

But this tragedy has also rekindled another story, more submerged, which many in Noceto remember sadly. That of Castelguelfo Castle, which for over thirty years seems to have been marked by an adverse fate.

Lorenzo Rovagnati is in fact not the first owner of the estate to die suddenly and violently. January 12, 1992, Giacomo Bonati, then 49 -year -old president of the sunshine, lost his life a few meters from the castlecrashing with his Ferrari against a plane tree. He had just come out of the estate. The next day, Corriere della Sera spoke of “burning acceleration” that would have betrayed the entrepreneur from Piacenza. Also in that case, a life broken in an instant.

A few years later, In 1994, the castle passed to Paolo Rovagnati, father of Lorenzoman symbol of the Italian food industry and creator of the famous great biscuit. He went there every Sunday with his family and Wednesday for work. After his death, in 2008, the estate was frequented less assiduously, until Lorenzo resumed to attend it with greater constancy. A home that has been able to cross the centuries but which, twice over thirty years, has been the scene of broken destinies.