Swiss air traffic controllers failed to warn pilots on time

New details have surfaced showing that responsibility for the plane collision in German skies lies with Swiss air traffic controllers, who are trying to shift it off on Russian pilots. In fact, it was the Russian crew that reported the danger of a collision to the Swiss air traffic control office two minutes before the collision with a Boeing cargo jet, reported a source in the commission that investigates the circumstances of the catastrophe.

According to the commission's information, the Russian crew learnt about an approaching aircraft from an air warning system, which detects moving objects from a distance of 22 kilometres and reports their altitude, speed, and movement direction. In a few seconds, the Russian crew reported the danger to the Swiss air traffic control office, the one that guided its flight. This happened 1.5 minutes before the tragedy. Air traffic controllers had to do something quick to forestall a collision. However, they informed the Russian jet of its new flight level only 40 seconds after the crew had warned them of the danger, i.e. 50 seconds before the tragedy.

By that moment, the Boeing had commenced an automatic emergency descent. As a result, both jets descended about 200 meters and smashed into each other at a flight level of 354.

If it were only one jet that descended, there would have been no collision, stressed RIA Novosti's source.

However, the cause of the tragedy and the course of events will be clear in a few days' time, when the commission will have deciphered the records made by the "black boxes." These new details disprove Western media reports that said Russian pilots had "ignored" the air traffic controller's directions.