Thursday July 1, 2004
Skyguide Air Crash Compensation Agreed
June 30, 2004
Relatives of Russian children killed in a mid-air jet collision in July 2002 have reached a settlement with Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control firm that directed the aircraft, their lawyers said on Wednesday.

Skyguide said last month it accepted responsibility for errors that helped cause a DHL cargo jet and a Russian passenger aircraft carrying 52 children to Spain to collide above Ueberlingen, southern Germany.

In all, 71 people were killed in the collision, one of Europe's worst peacetime air accidents.

German lawyer Michael Witti, acting for 28 victims' families, said Skyguide had agreed to pay a "low, six-figure US dollars" sum as part of an out-of-court settlement.

"After more than a year of negotiations, the prevailing feeling on all sides is one of relief," his office said in a statement.

Skyguide lawyer Alexander von Ziegler confirmed a settlement had been reached, but said it applied for now to only 25 of the 28 families and details still needed to be worked out.

Witti's statement noted lawyers representing families of 28 other victims were continuing to press for a court settlement.

http://news.airwise.com/stories/2004/06/1088629367.html

The Swiss air traffic control agency, Skyguide, says it has reached a settlement with the families of Russian children killed in a mid-air collision two years ago.

The announcement came the day before the second anniversary of the July 1, 2002, crash of a Russian passenger plane and a cargo jet in Swiss-controlled airspace, in which 71 people died.


Crash report blames controller and Russian pilots
Skyguide starts to pay crash victim families




Last month Skyguide admitted it was partly to blame for the collision.

Just one air traffic controller was on duty at the time of the accident, which occurred over überlingen in southern Germany.

German lawyer Michael Witti, acting for 28 families of victims, said Skyguide had agreed to pay a "low, six-figure US dollars" sum as part of an out-of-court settlement.

Skyguide confirmed a settlement had been reached, but said it applied to only 25 of the 28 victims' families.

"Relief"

"After more than a year of negotiations, the prevailing feeling on all sides is one of relief," Witti said in a statement.

"As far as the legal aspects go, it's over. Psychologically, it's helping [the families] to find finality."

Last November Skyguide started making compensation payouts to relatives of some of those who died in the crash, after reaching an out-of-court settlement with the families of 12 victims.

But it stressed that work was ongoing to agree compensation with other victims' relatives.

A report published in May by German investigators laid blame for the collision at Skyguide's door, saying human error was the main cause.

It found that the solitary Swiss air traffic controller on duty on the night of the crash gave the planes instructions to avoid a crash only 43 seconds before impact.

His instructions also contradicted those of the planes' onboard warning systems.

The Skyguide controller, Peter Nielsen, was stabbed to death outside his home in February.

A Russian man, who lost his wife and both children in the crash, is the chief suspect.

swissinfo with agencies

http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=5051718

I found this on the Yahoo Aviationsafety2 board:

From Aero-News.net

"Russian Families Sue US Companies for Plane Crash

TCAS gives pilots correct instructions, controller does not, but
lawyer says TCAS at fault... sound familiar?

The families of six Russians who perished as a result of a mid-air
collision over Germany have decided to sue Honeywell and other
aviation equipment manufacturers in the US, blaming the TCAS systems
on both aircraft for the crash that killed 71 people in 2002. This,
even though all investigations have pointed to an error on the part of
the Swiss controller -- had the pilots both followed the TCAS
commands, there would have been no accident.

A total of thirty Russian families have filed suit against Honeywell
and four other companies. The six lawsuits, filed Thursday in Miami,
allege that the companies failed to provide adequate procedures,
instructions and training.

The Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 collided with a DHL International cargo
aircraft on July 1, 2002 less than a minute after receiving a radio
transmission from the one and only controller on duty at the Zurich
ATC center. The Russian jet was transporting 45 students and their
families to Barcelona, Spain.

The lawsuit claims that the collision warning system told the Russian
jet to climb while the Swiss controller told it to descend. Instead of
following the correct command from the TCAS collision avoidance
system, the Russian pilot followed the controller's instructions and
descended. At the same time, the DHL pilot was correctly commanded
twice by the TCAS system to descend. Obviously, had both pilots
followed the commands of the TCAS systems, there would not have
been a mid-air collision.

Nevertheless, Gustavo Fuentes, a Miami attorney representing the
families behind the six lawsuits, claims that "the Russian pilots did
not have sufficiently clear instructions as to what to do when this
alarm system started to give them instructions at the same time that
the air traffic controller was giving them conflicting instructions."

Honeywell International has released a statement where it said it had
not seen the lawsuit and could not comment on it. However, the company
has reiterated that the investigation into the crash concluded that
the TCAS equipment functioned properly, and that the only reasonable
explanation was that the accident was the pilots' fault for failing to
follow the system's commands.

According to Fuentes, more lawsuits were to be filed in California,
New York, New Jersey, and Washington.

The controller on duty in 2002 was Peter Nielsen -- he was fatally
stabbed outside his home on Feb. 24. Swiss police arrested a Russian
architect whose wife, son and daughter died in the crash."

Friday 11.02.2005, CET 05:02



Outside expert to investigate air crash

swissinfo February 10, 2005 9:59 PM




An overhead view of the crash site in souther Germany (Keystone)
Swiss and German officials have drafted in an Austrian expert to determine who was to blame for a collision in Swiss-controlled airspace in which 71 people died.

The move is designed to ascertain the exact role of Swiss air traffic control agency Skyguide in the accident, which took place in July 2002 over Lake Constance.



Jens Gruhl, the public prosecutor for the German town of Constance, said on Thursday that the decision had been made in conjunction with his Swiss counterpart in Winterthur.

He said that it was intended to find out if errors were made by Skyguide employees on July 1, 2002.

During the night in question, a Russian charter aircraft carrying more than 40 children en route to Spain collided with a DHL cargo jet over the German town of überlingen. There was only one air traffic controller on duty at the time.

Human error

A report by German investigators published last May partly blamed Swiss air traffic control. But it also said that the crash was caused primarily by human error.

The report found that the controller gave the planes instructions to avoid a collision only 43 seconds before impact.

But it added that the Russian pilots were also partly at fault as they obeyed the controller's instruction to descent, but ignored their on-board collision warning system which advised them to climb.

Skyguide later admitted accepted responsibility for the chain of events that led to the crash. It has since reached a settlement with the families of the Russian children killed in the collision.

The Skyguide controller, Peter Nielsen, was stabbed to death outside his home last February.

A Russian man who lost his wife and both children in the crash is the chief suspect and is currently being detained in a Swiss psychiatric unit.

swissinfo with agencies



http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=5530687

Sunday 22.05.2005, CET 02:11



Claim against Skyguide filed in Switzerland

swissinfo May 21, 2005 4:18 PM




The families of 30 victims who died in an air crash in Swiss-controlled airspace over Germany in 2002 have filed a civil suit against Skyguide in Switzerland.

The claim comes after an attempt to file the suit in Barcelona was reportedly rejected by the Spanish courts.


The two planes - a Bashkirian Airlines plane and a DHL cargo jet - collided over southern Germany on July 1, 2002, near the town of überlingen. The crash killed all 71 on board, including many Russian children.

Skyguide, the Swiss air traffic control agency, said on Friday that the claim was being made in the name of the families by American law firm Podhurst.

According to media reports, a suit filed by Podhurst in Barcelona in February has been rejected by Spanish judges on the grounds that the claim was not within the court's competence. The Miami-based law firm filed the suit in Spain as it was the final destination of the Bashkirian Airlines plane.

Skyguide lawyer Alexander von Ziegler said he had encouraged the relatives to file the claim in Switzerland. He said that this was because the families would otherwise only be eligible for $27,000 (SFr33,303) in damages per passenger as is usually the case under international air traffic regulations.

Settlements have already been made with Skyguide by other families. The families of 28 victims reached an agreement with the agency last June, while an earlier settlement with the relatives of 15 victims was signed in November 2003.

Compensation has been reported to be between $100,000 and $150,000 per victim.

Partial responsibility

A report from Germany's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau published last year partially blamed Swiss air traffic control for the accident. But it also said that the crash was caused primarily by human error.

The report found that the air-traffic controller on duty at the time gave the planes instructions to avoid a collision only 43 seconds before impact.

It added that the crew of the Bashkirian Airlines jet obeyed the controller's instruction to descend, but failed to listen to their on-board collision warning system, which advised them to climb.

Skyguide came in for criticism for having only one controller in charge of air-traffic surveillance at the time of the crash. The company has since admitted responsibility for the chain of events that led to the accident.

The controller was stabbed to death in front of his wife in February last year. The Swiss authorities said on Thursday that his alleged killer, a 49-year-old Russian architect who lost his family in the crash, would stand trial for manslaughter.

Meanwhile, investigations into the collision by Switzerland and Germany are still underway.

swissinfo with agencies


http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=5805475&cKey=1116685089000