It is utterly clear that the crews of the Tu-154 passenger jetliner and the Boeing 757 cargo plane, which had a crash above the Bodensee on the night of July 2, received mutually exclusive manoeuvering commands from their on-board automatic crash-warning systems, on one hand, and the air traffic controller, on the other hand.
This is seen from a second-by-second plane movements chart drawn up by the German flight accident department in Braunschweig, which is engaged in official fact finding.
RIA Novosti was told at the department that specialists have established the following:
- at 23:34:42, Greenwich mean time, automatic crash warning systems warn their crews of dangerous movements in the flight sector, - seven seconds later the air traffic controller of the Swiss Skyguard center issues a command to the Tu-154 for a rapid descent to 35,000 feet (echelon 350). No confirmation followed from the Russian crew, - another seven seconds later, the Boeing crew receives a descent recommendation from its on-board crash-warning system. The Tu-154 received an ascent recommendation from its own. The Boeing abides without delay. The Tu-154 "for some time" remains in the former echelon 360, - seven seconds later, the flight dispatcher reiterates the rapid-descent command to the Russian jetliner, which means the 35,000-feet altitude. The Tu-154 confirms at once and begins to go down.
Soon afterwards the flight control officer says another plane is found in echelon 360.
Seven seconds after that the Boeing is instructed by its on-board system to boost descent and nine seconds afterwards the Boeing reports descent in line with its crash-warning instructions.
Five seconds later the Tu-154 receives on-board instructions to boost ascent.
After eight seconds the two planes come into collision.
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