Collision over Germany was not in the course of extraordinary circumstances

Influential aviation expert Zepp Moser commented on previously published provisional results of the TU-154 and Boeing-757 crash over Germany in his interview to the Swiss media.

The TU-154 tried to avoid the collision with the Boeing; the last instruction received from the air traffic controllers and executed by the Russian crew was to change the flight. In Moser’s words, the Skyguide instruction was sent just 44 seconds before the collision, then it was repeated once again. The order contradicted the collision avoidance system instruction. The crew had just a few seconds to choose whether or not to follow the controller or the system. Finally, it was decided to follow the controller’s order. The Boeing pilots followed the air collision avoidance system and several seconds before the TU-154 began to dive, the Boeing also began to dive. Several seconds later, at the height of approximately 11,000 meters, the collision occurred.

Moser, at the same time, disagrees with the German Pilot Trade Union and says that the alarm system is just a subsidiary element: thus, the Skyguide Swiss air traffic control system is responsible for the crash. The tragedy over southern Germany was not “a concourse of extraordinary circumstances” as had been stated by the Skyguide management.

The Swiss air traffic control agency telephone system was down for technical work, and the automatic system warning for planes closing in under Skyguide control was disabled on the day of the tragic accident. The sole Swiss controller tried several times to use the back-up phone in the minutes before the collision to warn the planes of the collision. The mentioned facts are rated as criminal negligence that resulted in a manslaughter. Criminal proceedings have already been initiated on for manslaughter. RIA Novosti informs that the Prosecutor’s Office in Zurich is investigating the role of Skyguide air traffic control agency in the air crash.

According to Die Deutsche Welle, four airborne recorders from the TU-154 and Boeing-757 have been reconstructed; computer cleaning of the records has been accomplished despite the damage to the recorders.

The first reliable information about what really occurred on board the planes before the air crash is likely to be available on Wednesday, although experts say that deciphering the recorders will take not less than a week. It is reported that Boeing recorders hold information about the last 400 km of the flight, while the Tu-154 recorders kept information about a shorter distance.

Sergey Yugov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Maria Gousseva

Read the original in Russian: http://www.pravda.ru/main/2002/07/09/43888.html