New details: TU-154 crew informed flight control officers of danger 1,5 minutes before the tragedy

RIA Novosti has just informed with reference to sources in the commission for the air crash investigation, the TU-154 crew itself warned the Swiss flight control officers of possible danger.

The commission informs, approaching of Boeing-757, flying at the same altitude with Russia’s TU-154, was warned about by Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance system TCAS.

In several seconds the crew informed the Swiss surface flight control service that guided the Russian jet of possible danger, the report was sent 1,5 minutes before the collision.

The flight control officers were to have immediately passed a decision to avoid air collision, but a new altitude for TU-154 was determined only in 40 seconds after the warning sent by the Russian crew (it means, 50 seconds before the tragedy). The same very moment, to avoid collision, the Boeing began an emergency automatic descent. As a result, both planes lost height by approximately 200 meters.

The source informs, the tragedy could have been averted if the descent were performed by one of the planes only.

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/04/43664.html