    aerolinee itavia flight 870 (ih 870, aj 421) was an italian commercial flight operated by a mcdonnell douglas dc-9-15 which crashed into the tyrrhenian sea between ponza and ustica, killing all on board, while en route from bologna, italy to palermo, italy in 1980. known in the italian media as the ustica massacre ("strage di ustica") â ustica being a small island near the crash-site â the disaster led to numerous investigations, legal actions, and accusations, and continues to be a source of speculation, including claims of conspiracy by the italian government and others. former italian president francesco cossiga attributed the cause of the crash to a missile fired from a french navy aircraft, despite contrary evidence presented in frank taylor's 1994 report. on 23 january 2013 italy's top criminal court ruled that there was "abundantly" clear evidence that the flight was brought down by a missile. to date, this remains the deadliest aviation incident involving a dc-9-10/15 series. == aircraft and details of the flight == {{location map many | italy | width = 300 | float = right | caption = location of crash site; departure and destination airports | alt = location of crash site; departure and destination airports | | label1 =  | label1_size = | position1 = | background1 = | mark1 = green pog.svg | mark1size = | link1 = | lat1_deg = 44 | lat1_min = 32 | lat1_sec = 07 | lat1_dir = n | lon1_deg = 11 | lon1_min = 17 | lon1_sec
1980_in_Italy Accidents_and_incidents_involving_the_McDonnell_Douglas_DC-9 Airliner_accidents_and_incidents_involving_in-flight_explosions Airliner_shootdown_incidents Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_1980 Aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_Italy Marine_salvage_operations Mass_murder_in_1980 Military_scandals Unsolved_airliner_bombings Years_of_Lead_(Italy)