[1][2] The pilot and two senior air force officers were later put on trial and found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, receiving a sentence of 2+1⁄2 years in prison, but were subsequently acquitted on appeal.

[3] The MB-326 took off at 9:48 a.m. on 6 December 1990 from Verona Villafranca Airport, around 100 km (62 mi) north of Bologna, on a mission to test the effectiveness of an anti-aircraft radar system.

After attempting to steer the aircraft towards open fields, he ejected and landed near Ceretolo, a village next to Casalecchio di Reno, suffering three fractured vertebrae.

[6] The ejection and the flight of the aircraft for the following few seconds were also captured on video by the cameraman of a local TV station, Rete 7, who was filming in the area and happened to notice the unfolding disaster.

[8] At 10:33 a.m., the pilotless aircraft crashed through the window of a first-floor classroom of the Gaetano Salvemini Technical Institute, a high school in Casalecchio, where a German class was about to finish.

The fuselage and engine careered across the room and crashed through the back wall, sending flames and smoke through the rest of the building and trapping several people on the upper floor.

[16] At the time of the event, Italy's aviation safety agency (Agenzia Nazionale per la Sicurezza del Volo) had not yet been established, and the investigation into the accident was carried out by the public prosecutor's office.

[17][8] The prosecution argued that as soon as the engine started developing troubles, while near Ferrara, the pilot should have directed the aircraft to the east towards the Adriatic Sea and then ejected, instead of heading south towards Bologna airport, close to a densely populated area.

The gaping hole in the wall left by the impact was preserved, closed only by a glass pane, and the classroom hit by the aircraft was turned into a memorial to the victims.