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Skyguide Managers to Get Suspended Sentences
Prosecutor Bernhard Hecht gave the opening speech yesterday in the trial over the collision of a Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 and a DHL Boeing over Boden Lake on July 1, 2002. He demanded suspended sentences of 6 to 15 months for Skyguide supervisors. Relatives of the children who died in the crash of the Bashkirian Airlines plane were not given a chance to appear at the trial. The court ruled that their testimony would not add anything to the case.
Hecht spoke in detail of the roles of the eight Skyguide supervisors are accused of negligence leading to the catastrophe. They eight are accused of failure to perform their duties, negligence and technical errors. Flight dispatchers were not informed of changes in telephone service during an equipment upgrade. Also, there was only one dispatcher on duty during the difficult situation before the collision because the other dispatcher was on break. The prosecutor said that they failed to follow instructions to find out about their working conditions in advance.
The most dramatic moment in the court session was listening to the recording of dispatcher Peter Nielsen trying to call Friedrichshafen Airport to agree on the landing of an Airloyd flight. The pilot of that flight was in contact with Nielsen several times. It was at that time that Nielsen noticed the dangerous situation with the Russian plane and the DHL plane. The dispatcher then talks to the Russian pilot but is interrupted by the Airloyd pilot. At the same time, the DHL pilot informed him that he was coming in for a landing. The dispatcher did not notice his message. The Russian craft also began its descent, on the instructions of the dispatcher. At the same moment that the collision takes place, the Airloyd pilot informs the dispatcher that he has established contact with Friedrichshafen and no longer needs his assistance.
In the second half of the day, the lawyer for the victims of the crash, relatives of the children who died on the flight, voiced an emotional protest against the court's refusal to allow them to testify.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 23, 2007
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