Lt. Col. B.E. Broners, the wing's director of safety and standards. Scott Roys testified Tuesday that he believed pilots had to fly at altitudes of 500 to 2,000 feet during training. The gondola cable was strung 370 feet above the ground. Roys is operations officer for the squadron involved in the cable car accident. According to testimony on Monday, the Italian government had imposed a 2,000-foot minimum altitude restriction, but squadron pilots didn't know about it until after the tragedy.
Prosecutors contend the crew was flying recklessly.
Instead, he heard to the effect that you may never operate out of Italy again. Blickensderfer, operations director at the Marine Corps Air Station at Cherry Point, was a member of the investigative board sent to Italy the day after the accident. Mishap board proceedings, convened to determine the technical reasons for military accidents, are secret. Air crews cannot be prosecuted for anything they say while such boards are in session. U.S. officials feared that any suggestion of secrecy might lead Italian officials to close their bases to U.S. military jets, Blickensderfer said.