[2] At around 10:30 on the day of the accident, following an uneventful flight from Nice, the aircraft prepared to land at Florence's Peretola airport, where the weather was reported as CAVOK, that is good visibility and no cloud; the wind was light and variable.

[3] The aircraft was an ATR 42-500 twin turboprop, with French registration F-GPYE, powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127 engines.

[7] The prosecutor determined that the final approach was conducted at an excessive speed and rate of descent, even triggering the associated on-board warning system, which was ignored.

The responsibility for the crash was ultimately placed on the instructor captain, and his "imprudent" decision to proceed with the landing despite the unsafe approach.

[8][9] The accident highlighted the limitations of Florence's Peretola airport, which is geographically constrained between the A11 motorway and 930-metre-high (3,050 ft) Mount Morello.