While in its holding pattern, the flight was instructed to descend through the minimum holding altitude of 6,800 feet. As it descended, its Ground Proximity Warning System gave off several audio warnings, which the crew did not react to for approximately ten seconds. Three seconds before impact, the crew increased engine power and attempted to climb, but were unable to clear the terrain. One of the aircraft's wings collided with the summit of Mont San-Pietro and broke off. The aircraft then went into an uncontrolled dive and violently crashed on the other side of the mountain eight seconds later, killing everyone on board. The time of the accident was 8:53 a.m. local time (07:53 UTC).
The subsequent investigation into the disaster revealed that control mistakenly believed that Flight 1308 was out of its holding pattern, believing it was already located over the sea, while in reality it was located inland, over the mountainous terrain of Corsica. The crew, apparently surprised at the instruction to descend, repeated several times that they were still in the holding pattern, which the control acknowledged. The crew was unfamiliar with the airport and its vicinity, as this was the first flight of Inex-Adria Aviopromet to Corsica. The investigation determined that the imprecise language used by the crew of the MD-81 and the air traffic controller played a significant role in the accident. Air traffic control in Ajaccio was cleared of all charges. The air traffic controller in charge of Flight 1308 was transferred to another airport in France.
At the time of the accident, the Ajaccio airport had no radar system. As a direct result of the accident, the equipment was upgraded and the approach pattern changed.
Some debris and human bodies were removed from the crash site after the accident in 1981. In 2007, POP TV (a TV station in Slovenia) did a news report on the accident. They visited the crash site in Corsica and found many of the airplane's parts still scattered on Mont San-Pietro, in rugged and inaccessible terrain. Subsequently, the Government of Slovenia, Adria Airways and Kompas (the Slovenian travel agency that organized the fatal trip in 1981) organized and funded a clean-up operation. A Slovenian team of about 60 soldiers, mountain rescuers, civil protection and rescue service members, medical personnel, and other volunteers removed about 27 tons of aircraft remains in May 2008. The removed debris included one aircraft engine and large wing parts. Some of the parts were so large they needed to be machine cut before transporting them from the mountain by a helicopter. Several human remains were also found, and were either sent for further identification tests, or were properly disposed. A commemorative plaque was installed at the site of the initial wing impact.
Werner Bardenhewer
Joseph Werner Bardenhewer (30 January 1929 − 10 April 2019) was a German Catholic priest and philanthropist. He served as the Dean of Wiesbaden, the state capital of Hesse, from 1974 to 1996. In 1999, he founded the Wiesbaden chapter of the charity organisation africa action. The charity gives help to the health care and education in countries of the Sahel region. In 2016, he was awarded the highest national honour of Burkina Faso. He was born in Arnsberg, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Bardenhewer died on 10 April 2019 in Wiesbaden. He was 90.
Stanley Plumly
Stanley Plumly (May 23, 1939 – April 11, 2019) was an American poet. He wrote many poetry collections. He was the director of the University of Maryland, College Park creative writing program. He was very fond of John Keats and many other British poets from the Romantic era. He wrote a book about Keats called "Posthumous Keats", published in 2008.
Plumly was born in Barnesville, Ohio. He grew up in Ohio and Virginia.
Plumly died of multiple myeloma on April 11, 2019 in Frederick, Maryland. He was 79.
Tony Buzan
Anthony Peter Buzan (2 June 1942 – 13 April 2019) was a British author and educational consultant. He was best known for making the thinking and writing skill called mind mapping popular. He was author or co-author of more 80 books altogether. He was also nominated for two Nobel Prizes, the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel Prize in Economics. He was born in Palmers Green, Middlesex.
In April 2019, Buzan had a heart attack and struck his head when he fell at his Oxfordshire home. He died on 13 April 2019, at the age of 76.
῾Eta
The ῾eta, also called by several other names, is a unicameral consonant letter used within the Latin script to mark the phonemic glottal stop, as it is used in many Polynesian languages.
Neus Català
Neus Català i Pallejà (6 October 1915 – 13 April 2019) was a Spanish Resistance fighter and political activist. She was a member of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia (, PSUC) during the Spanish Civil War. She was the only Catalan survivor of the concentration camp of Ravensbrück.
Català was born in Els Guiamets, Catalonia. She turned 100 in October 2015. She died on 13 April 2019, at the age of 103.
Paul Raymond (musician)
Paul Martin Raymond (16 November 1945 – 13 April 2019) was an English keyboardist, guitarist and songwriter. He was known as a member of the rock band Savoy Brown and more notably UFO. He started his career in 1964 as a jazz musician. He was born in St Albans.
Raymond died of a heart attack on 13 April 2019. He was 73.
D. Babu Paul
Daniel Babu Paul (; 11 April 1941 – 13 April 2019) was an Indian civil servant and writer. He was a member of the Indian Administrative Service. He was also member ombudsman for local self-government institutions of Kerala during 2000–01. He served as vice-chancellor of the University of Kerala. He wrote books in Malayalam language. At the time of his death, he was serving as the independent member of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board.
Bab Paul's wife Anna Babu Paul (Nirmala) died in 2000. The couple had two daughters. On 13 April 2019, Babu Paul died of multiple organ failure in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was 78.
Yvette Williams
Yvette Winifred Corlett ("née" Williams, 25 April 1929 – 13 April 2019) was a New Zealand athlete. She won the gold medal in the women's long jump at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. This made her the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal. She was also the first New Zealander to hold the world record in the women's long jump. She was a national champion and a medallist at the Commonwealth Games in long jump, javelin, shot put and discus. On the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand in 1987, she was named "Athlete of the Century".
Williams was born in Dunedin. She married Canadian-born New Zealand sportsman Buddy Corlett in 1954. He died in 2015.
Williams died on 13 April 2019, at the age of 89.
Ivor Broadis
Ivan Arthur "Ivor" Broadis (18 December 1922 – 12 April 2019) was an English professional footballer. He played as an inside forward. His career lasted from 1946 to 1960. He played for clubs Carlisle United (two stints), Sunderland, Manchester City, Newcastle United and Queen of the South. He also played for England 14 times, including at the 1954 FIFA World Cup. He scored eight goals for his country in the early 1950s.
Broadis was born in the Isle of Dogs, Poplar in East London. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living English international footballer. He died in 2019, at the age of 96.
Billy Mainwaring
William Thomas "Billy" Mainwaring (born Gwilym Thomas Mainwaring; 24 January 1941 – 3 April 2019) was a Welsh rugby union player. He played as a second row. He played for Wales in 1967–68. He appeared for his country six times. He played for amateur teams Taibach, Aberavon, Bridgend and the Barbarians. He was born in Port Talbot. He worked as a steelworker.
Mainwaring died after a long illness on 3 April 2019, at the age of 78.
Barnesville, Ohio