Human error blamed for fatal Crossair crash

swissinfo December 1, 2003 12:59 PM




Pilot errors were likely cause of Crossair crash


The plane was heading for Dresden in Germany when it crashed shortly after taking off from Zurich airport, killing the three crew members and seven passengers on board.

The report identified five causes for the accident, all related to the actions of the flight crew, who lost control of the aircraft, causing it to spiral and nosedive into the ground.

It ruled out technical problems and turbulence as factors contributing to the crash.

In particular, the report found that the flight crew reacted inappropriately to new instructions from the control tower, telling them to turn left after take-off.

More at:

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=4505738

This comment from the article is interesting:

The final report had been delayed after the former Crossair chief, Moritz Suter, managed to block it in March this year, claiming it contained errors. However, the version made public on Monday had not taken Suter's remarks into account.

A poster on Airdisasters said the same type of thing held up the sr111 final report following the release of the draft though we haven't been able to verify that.