Air controller was distracted in moments before crash


As relatives visit the crash site, the events in the control tower are slowly emerging [Keystone]


The lone Swiss air traffic controller on duty when two planes collided in mid-air on Monday was battling with technical problems.

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http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1221004
Audio / Video / Links


German air safety investigators said on Friday that Skyguide – the Swiss government owned air traffic control company - was working on its telephone and radar systems on the night that a Russian Tupolev jet slammed into a Boeing 757 cargo plane at 11,000 metres above Lake Constance.

The revelation has added weight to growing criticism of Skyguide’s role in the disaster, which left 71 people, including 45 children, dead.

According to the German Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, Skyguide’s Zurich-based air traffic controller was using a temporary line while technicians worked on its regular system.

Around the same time Skyguide’s radar data processing system momentarily went out of action.



Pre-crash problems

“The problems emerged just prior to the collision of the two machines,” the bureau said.

The problems meant the air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring two frequencies and two radar monitors. At the same time the two aircraft were on a collision course.

Between 2325 and 2333 the air traffic controller repeatedly attempted to contact an aircraft that was landing at the German port of Friedrichshafen.

Shortly afterwards, at 2334, the controller made contact with the Tupolev – just 44 seconds before it collided.

Skyguide cuts capacity by 20 per cent


Skyguide's controllers have been feeling the pressure since last Monday's accident


The Swiss air traffic control agency, Skyguide, has cut its work capacity by 20 cent following Monday’s mid-air collision over southern Germany.


According to Felix Hitz, Skyguide’s chief of staff, the agency’s controllers have been under severe stress since the accident between a Russian Tupolev and a DHL cargo jet. Skyguide wants to take some of the pressure off its employees.

The reduction of work capacity went into effect on Friday at midnight until further notice. Delays are expected at Zurich airport.

The lowered capacity will be taken into account by the European air traffic control centre in Brussels. It concerns both departures and arrivals at Zurich airport, as well as flights over the sector controlled by Skyguide.



Technical problems

The announcement comes just one day after German investigators said the lone air traffic controller on duty in Zurich when the two planes collided in mid-air on Monday was battling with technical problems.

The investigators said on Friday that Skyguide was working on its telephone and radar systems on the night that two aircraft slammed into each other at 11,000 metres above Lake Constance.

The revelation has added weight to growing criticism of Skyguide’s role in the disaster, which left 71 people, including 45 children, dead.

http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1221884

German controllers tried to alert Swiss about impending collision


Skyguide's controllers have been under pressure since last Monday's accident.


German aviation officials had allegedly tried to alert Swiss controllers about the impending collision between two aircraft that left 71 people dead last Monday.


The German "Spiegel" magazine reported on Sunday that air traffic control in Karlsruhe tried to get in touch with Skyguide's lone controller just two minutes before the crash, after noticing the planes were getting dangerously close to one another.

Their efforts to warn Zurich however failed because they could not telephone through, and just seconds later the Russian Tupolev 154 passenger jet and the DHL Boeing 757 cargo plane collided over southern Germany.

At the time, the Swiss controller was using a backup line while routine maintenance work was being carried out by on the main telephone system according to the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Investigations (BFU).



Technical problems

German investigators said the lone air traffic controller on duty in Zurich when the two planes collided in mid-air on Monday was battling with technical problems.

They said on Friday that Skyguide was working on its telephone and radar systems on the night that the two aircraft slammed into each other at 11,000 metres above Lake Constance.

The revelation has added weight to growing criticism of the role of Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control agency, in the disaster, which left 71 people, including 45 children, dead.

According to the Germans, Skyguide’s air traffic controller was not only without his main telephone line, but around the same time Skyguide’s radar data processing system momentarily went out of action.

The problems meant the air traffic controller was simultaneously monitoring two frequencies and two radar monitors. At the same time the two aircraft were on a collision course.

More at:

http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1222608

Russian pilots given contradictory instructions


The Russian pilots were ordered to descend while their own systems were telling them to go the other way [Keystone Archive]


Voice recorders from last week’s air disaster show that the Swiss traffic air controller unwittingly set the two planes on a collision course.

Audio / Video / Links


The recorders show the Swiss air traffic controller contradicted the Russian jet's cockpit warning systems. Seconds earlier the pilots had been told to gain altitude because the oncoming Boeing 757 cargo plane had been ordered to descend by its own warning systems.

The Russian pilots obeyed the air traffic controller, and began to descend, not realising that the Boeing was doing the same.

Swiss aviation analyst, Sepp Moser, said the Russian pilots were wrong to listen to the controller, and should have followed the instructions of their own system.

“Both traffic collision avoidance systems were working properly, and the Russian pilots made a mistake because in such cases it is common, and standard procedure, that the pilot obeys the computer and not the air traffic controller," he told swissinfo.



Russians sceptical of computers

"However, we have to take into account that this was a Russian pilot, and Russian pilots have a tendency to obey the computers less than humans because their computers usually are not very reliable.”

Moser added that “the prime responsibility rests with [Swiss air traffic control] Skyguide because the warning system is just a supplementary system – an added safety net.”


http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1223715

Solo controllers banned at Skyguide


Skyguide staff will not be allowed to man the controls on their own.


Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic controller at the centre of last week's air disaster, has been ordered to maintain at least two officers on duty at all times.


The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation on Tuesday banned Skyguide from any "single manned operations" at its air traffic control centres.

Skyguide is facing growing scrutiny of its operations after two planes collided in Swiss-controlled airspace above southern Germany, killing 71 people, most of them children.

The government-owned company had only one man on duty in its Zurich control centre when the crash occurred. A second operator was away on a break.

The civil aviation office also announced on Tuesday that the officer on duty at the time of the collision has been suspended from work until further notice.

But Swiss authorities said the suspension of the Skyguide employee did not imply that the aviation authority was holding him responsible for the accident.

On the morning after the crash, the company said it maintained a minimum of two controllers on duty at all times.

However, the company has not explained why only one man was on duty at the time of the tragedy.

The Swiss aviation authority also said it had told Skyguide in May to allow single manned operations only in very unusual circumstances during the day and Skyguide had agreed to this.

Georg Auf der Maur, an aviation expert and former air traffic controller at Zurich airport, told swissinfo that Skyguide has failed to adequately explain its minimum staffing regulations.


More at:

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German air traffic control says Swiss phone line was busy when they tried to warn of collision

By TONY CZUCZKA
The Associated Press
7/8/02 6:32 AM

BERLIN (AP) -- German air traffic controllers said Monday they tried to warn a Swiss control tower by phone two minutes before two planes collided, killing all 71 people on board, but the only available line was busy.

German controllers in the southern city of Karlsruhe made the call to the Zurich tower -- which was in charge of directing the planes -- after receiving an automatic radar warning that a cargo plane and a Russian charter jet were on course to crash over southern Germany, Axel Raab, a spokesman for the Karlsruhe control center, told The Associated Press.

Investigators are focusing on the actions of Swiss air traffic controllers and whether they gave the Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 enough time to descend before it collided with the DHL International Boeing 757 just before midnight July 1 at 35,000 feet.

Under the division of airspace along the German-Swiss border, the planes were being directed by controllers in Zurich, Switzerland. Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation to determined whether anyone can be charged with negligent homicide.

German investigators said last week that the telephone system at the Zurich control center was being worked on at the time of the crash and that the lone controller on duty was working on a reserve phone line. In addition, the center's collision-warning system was out of service of maintenance.

Investigators say the Zurich tower was making phone calls to the airport in Friedrichshafen, Germany, to coordinate another flight -- the last one 98 second before he gave a first warning to the Russian plane. But Joerg Schoenberg, the lead German investigator at the crash site on the shores of Lake Constance bordering Switzerland, said this did not play a role in the accident.

All 69 people aboard the Russian aircraft, including 45 students headed for a Spanish beach vacation, and the two DHL pilots were killed.

Most of the wreckage has been recovered and brought to the Friedrichshafen airport for investigation. A German lab in Braunschweig is examining the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of both planes.

http://www.nj.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/cgi-free/getstory_ssf.cgi?a0482_BC_Germany-AirlinerCrash&&news&newsflash-international

Anguished Swiss Controller Cites Errors in Crash
Sat Jul 13, 9:41 AM ET
By Michael Shields

ZURICH (Reuters) - The anguished Swiss air traffic controller on duty when two jets crashed in mid-air last week, killing 71 people, acknowledged on Saturday that errors in the traffic control network contributed to the disaster.


"On the night of the accident I was part of a network of people, computers, surveillance and communications equipment, and regulations," the unidentified Skyguide controller said in a statement sent to Swiss news agency SDA and seen by Reuters.

"All these pieces must work together seamlessly and without error and be coordinated to one another. The tragic accident shows that errors cropped up in this network," he added.

"As an air traffic controller it is my duty and responsibility to prevent such accidents," he said.

He promised full cooperation with investigators probing the July 1 crash near the Swiss-German border in which a Russian passenger jet carrying dozens of children to a beach holiday and a DHL cargo plane collided.

"This means giving the authorities complete information about what happened before the crash so that the network can be set up in the future in such a way that the errors that emerged cannot be repeated," he said.

He said he had already spoken with German officials leading the probe and had full confidence that they would be objective in their work of finding out just what had happened.

STRICKEN BY CHILDREN'S FATE

A Skyguide spokesman confirmed the statement was authentic but did not name the controller, who went into shock after the jets went down, their transponders still showing up on radar screens for 30 seconds after impact but their radios silent.

"I mourn with the relatives and express my deep sympathy for them. I am especially stricken by the fact that many children had to lose their lives. Many hopeful prospects were wiped out. Their parents will miss their laughter and warmth.

"As a father, I know that this loss leaves a hole that will hurt into the future as well. But I am also thinking of the families of the crews and people accompanying (the children). They have also suffered irreplaceable losses," he said.

Investigators say the controller was monitoring two radar screens and two radio frequencies alone while his partner took a break given relatively light traffic close to midnight.

Swiss controllers said their collision alert system was out of action for maintenance, and work on their telephones meant a warning call from German colleagues never got through.

German investigators have established that the Russian pilot was told by Swiss air traffic control to descend barely a second after his onboard computer told him to climb to avoid a collision with the cargo plane flying at the same altitude.

The Boeing's computer told its pilot to dive. The Russian pilot followed the controller's command and both planes slammed into each other as they descended.

The controller's colleagues, friends and family had given him much-needed support in the days after the disaster, and Skyguide immediately arranged counseling for him, he noted.

"I thank everyone for this support. This and my family are helping me come to grips with my shock and my grief."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=586&e=2&cid=586&u=/nm/20020713/wl_nm/crash_germany_controller_dc_2

NY Times:

Amateur Hour in Zurich
July 10, 2002, Wednesday
Editorial Desk - 347 words

Investigators looking into last week's midair collision over southern Germany have discovered evidence of a particularly disturbing kind of human error. It appears that mistaken instructions from a Swiss air traffic controller probably caused the disaster, which killed 52 children and 19 adults. The collision occurred when Zurich's air traffic control center was understaffed and plagued by technological breakdowns. Without the tower's wrong guidance, the Russian passenger plane's crash-avoidance system would probably have led its pilot to maneuver above the oncoming DHL cargo jet.


The initial findings belie Switzerland's carefully cultivated image as a model of efficiency. The Swiss air traffic control company, Skyguide, rushed to blame the Russian pilot for the crash. Apologies are now warranted. The Swiss reputation for perfection never fit contemporary reality. In recent years the country has suffered a succession of public embarrassments.

First came revelations that its banks had profited from dealings with the Nazis and had retained funds belonging to Jewish depositors. Last year a gunman opened fire in a regional parliament, killing 14 officials; a fiery truck collision shut down the St. Gotthard Tunnel in the Alps; and business mistakes brought down the national airline, Swissair.

In this latest case, the Zurich control center's automated alarm system was shut down for maintenance and its principal phone line was out of order as the two planes streaked toward calamity. One of the two available controllers was somehow allowed to go on a break. That left the other controller trying to monitor five planes and two radio frequencies simultaneously. German controllers trying to warn Zurich that the two planes were on a collision course never got through.

The details of this deadly breakdown must be thoroughly investigated and appropriate measures taken to prevent any repetition. Skyguide was right to impose an emergency 20 percent reduction in air traffic over Switzerland even though that will delay flights across Europe. More controllers should be hired and trained, with stronger supervision. A more tightly integrated European air traffic control system would also help.

Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic controller at the centre of last week's air disaster, has been ordered to maintain at least two officers on duty at all times.


The Swiss Federal Office for Civil Aviation on Tuesday banned Skyguide from any "single manned operations" at its air traffic control centres.

Skyguide is facing growing scrutiny of its operations after two planes collided in Swiss-controlled airspace above southern Germany, killing 71 people, most of them children.

The government-owned company had only one man on duty in its Zurich control centre when the crash occurred. A second operator was away on a break.

More at:

http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1224842

Controller realised planes were going to collide


Skyguide staff will not be allowed to man the controls on their own [Keystone]


The Swiss controller on duty when two planes crashed over Lake Constance realised in the final seconds that a collision was imminent.

Audio / Video / Links


German investigators said on Friday that the cockpits recorders revealed that both the Swiss air traffic controller and the pilots of the doomed aircraft were aware in final seconds that a collision was imminent.

The two planes crashed into each other at 11,500 metres above Lake Constance on the night of July 1, killing all 71 people on board, most of whom were Russian schoolchildren.

Investigators said that shortly after the controller twice instructed a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger plane to descend to avoid a collision with a Boeing cargo jet, the pilot of the cargo jet told the controller his Boeing was also heading lower.

“The crew of the Boeing reported to the controller that they were descending in accordance with a command from the TCAS [on-board warning] system,” said the German BFU air accident investigation agency.

He added that the report had been made 13 seconds before the collision.

continued at:


http://www2.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=1237514