Celebrity News

Missoni family demands answers over missing CEO

Shaken members of the iconic Italian Missoni fashion family are demanding to know why Vittorio Missoni was flying in a 44-year-old Britten-Norman Islander plane that vanished just after New Year’s.

The plane, carrying the 58-year-old head of the Missoni fashion house and four others — including his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni — disappeared after it took off from Venezuela’s Los Roques Islands, where the group had been vacationing, heading to Caracas on Friday.

Nearly 400 rescuers yesterday searched an area of 1,700 square miles for a fifth day from the air and in the sea off the Venezuelan coast. The area has been described as the “new Bermuda Triangle” because there have been at least 15 accidents there since the mid-1990s.

The Aviation Safety Network said the BN Islander twin-engine plane had a serial number that indicates it was flown in the United States until recently being sold in Venezuela.

Brian J. Alexander, a leading aviation attorney and a pilot, told us, “There have been a number of accidents with this type of plane over the years, more frequently with the older planes, which have fatigue issues. But the weather could have been a big factor.” A fellow pilot reported he saw the plane heading into a huge cumulus cloud and “it must have been a lightning bolt.”

The Missoni family was silent yesterday while still clinging to hope that the plane was hijacked. A source tells us, “Questions are also being asked why he used this type of plane, who was the pilot and how well-maintained the plane was.”

Another source added that the Missoni house will continue “business as usual” and will go ahead with its menswear presentation this month. But privately, there are questions about how the siblings will run things if Vittorio — who was the face of the brand and responsible for selling it on a global market including deals with Estée Lauder and Target — is confirmed dead.

The source added, “There is no succession plan in place. Nobody expected this to happen.” A family rep had no comment last night.

UPDATE:

Harro Ranter, the president of the Aviation Safety Network, provided the following details of the Islander plane involved.

The particular aircraft has experienced past mishaps, including a hard landing in Maui on 1977 and on May 3, 1982 an event in Redmond, Oreg. which the FAA described as “left brake and wheel caught fire on taxi for takeoff. Worn brake lines caused overheating.” Ranter said these incidents do not point to any specific safety problems with that aircraft.

According to Ranter, the plane is/was the third oldest Islander in service, built in 1968. It flew for several owners in the U.S. since delivery to the U.S. in 1968. In the 1981-1985 period, it flew for Rajneesh (Bhagwan) organizations like the Chidvilas Rajneesh Meditation Center and the Rajneesh Neo-Sannyas International Community. It also flew for the Oregon State Police from 1988 to 1992. The plane was sold to Venezuela in 2009. Some 1200 Islanders have been built over time.

“We have 259 Islanders on record that are lost as a result of accidents,” Ranter said. The number excludes aircraft lost in hangar fires, hurricanes, etc.

Ranter added, “It may also be of interest to know that on the same date (Jan 4) in 2008, another aircraft went missing on the same route but in the opposite direction, from Caracas to Los Roques. This airplane also carried Italian tourists. It was never found.”