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Skyguide Blamed for Tu-154 Crash of July 1, 2002
Eight employees of Skyguide air traffic control agency of Switzerland face the carelessness and duty neglect charges. On July 1, 2002, Russia’s Tu-154 of Bashkir Airlines with 69 people aboard crashed into a cargo jet of DHL at the altitude of 11,300 meters, leaving no survivors.
No one survived the collusion that tragic day, including 49 children and teenagers flying to Spain on holiday aboard Tu-154 airliner. The overall death toll reached 71.
In 2004, Vitaly Kaloev of Russia, who had lost his wife and two children in the collision, stabbed to death the air traffic controller on duty in Zurich in time of the crash. Kaloev was found guilty of killing.
Now, the Zurich District Court has two weeks to determine the extent of the guilt of Skyguide employees. Seven of them still work for the agency, but the eighth has retired.
Prosecutor Bernhard Hecht insists on suspended sentences of six to 15 months for the accused. Hecht lambasted Skyguide’s management for procedures leaving just a single controller directly on duty after 11 p.m.
Moreover, the controllers on duty on that tragic evening weren’t informed about the technical problems. They didn’t know that, because of the maintenance work, the radar system wasn’t completely effective and that the telephone system wasn’t functioning properly.
As a result, the controller gave instructions to pilots to avoid a collision only 43 seconds before it. Tu-154 followed the instructions to descend, though the plane's onboard warning system told the pilots to climb.
www.kommersant.com
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