Disaster over Lake Constance: a chronicle of the tragedy. Collision over Lake Constance: how an Ossetian took revenge on a Swiss air traffic controller Air traffic controller error Kaloi plane crash

A recent survey from UBS Bank shows that people continue to be distrustful of automated management systems. In particular, we are talking about airplanes: 54% of respondents said that they would not like to be on an airliner that is capable of completely completing a flight without the participation of a pilot. At the same time, statistics clearly indicate that it is not electronics that need to be feared, but people: Boeing conducted a study and found that the cause of 80% of plane crashes is the human factor. Particularly noteworthy are collisions in the air: as a rule, responsibility for these disasters falls on people, and not on equipment. Onliner.by recalled the most famous and major aircraft collisions.

In 2001, a disaster almost occurred that could easily have broken the grim record of a crash in Tenerife: a Boeing 747 and a DC-10 miraculously missed each other in the skies over Japan. They carried a total of 677 people. Commands from air traffic controllers and the TCAS collision avoidance system were inconsistent. People were very lucky: one of the pilots noticed a plane flying towards him and literally at the last second managed to dive under the DC-10. Due to the sudden maneuver of the Boeing 747, passengers were injured, but everyone survived. After a year and a half, it will become clear that no one has drawn any conclusions from the incident: the system, which is designed to provide additional safety, will become an indirect culprit of the disaster.

Error in priority

On July 1, 2002, the Tu-154 took off from Moscow to sunny Barcelona with 69 people on board, of which 52 were children who received vacation vouchers as a reward for academic success. Around the same time, a Boeing 757 cargo plane with two pilots refueled in Bergamo and departed for Brussels, leaving German controller Peter Nielsen alone (his colleague had gone on a break). Nielsen had to keep track of a large number of airliners, running between terminals. In addition, not all equipment worked.

The trajectories of the Boeing 757 and Tu-154 intersected almost at right angles. Both liners were at an altitude of about ten and a half kilometers. The controller noticed the dangerous approach of the planes late, but at that moment the situation could still be easily corrected. Nielsen gave the command to the Tu-154 to descend, and the crew immediately began to carry it out. Almost immediately after this, the TCAS system signal was issued. She considered that the Tu-154 needed to gain altitude, and the Boeing 757 needed to descend. The problem is that Nielsen gave the Russian plane the opposite command, and the pilots got confused. For some reason, the pilots did not inform the dispatcher about this discrepancy.

The crew's opinions were divided: the co-pilot was sure that the TCAS instructions needed to be followed, but the commander accepted the controller's command and continued the descent. At the same time, the Boeing crew listened to TCAS, which recommended that the cargo plane descend. The crew of the Boeing 757 reported to the dispatcher about the descent, but this did not help: Nielsen was distracted by negotiations with another aircraft. A minute after the first TCAS signal, the Boeing 757's tail crashes into the side of the Tu-154, cutting the airliner in half. No one survived the disaster; 71 people died.

Among the reasons for the crash of the Boeing 757 and Tu-154 were the actions of the crew of the Russian airliner contrary to TCAS recommendations and errors in the work of the dispatcher. Two years after the incident, another victim of these events appeared - Peter Nielsen. He was killed by a man who lost his wife and two children in the disaster. In 2008, he was released from prison early for good behavior. The TCAS system has been improved - now, if one aircraft ignores the recommendations, the advice for the second aircraft can be changed to avoid a collision.

Trainee air traffic controller crashes two planes

Perhaps the collision of two Tu-134s would have been hushed up, as often happened in the USSR, but one circumstance caused the crash to be given special publicity: 17 members of the Pakhtakor football club died in it. The Uzbek team flew to Minsk, where they were supposed to play with our Dynamo. One Tu-134 belonged to Aeroflot and belonged to the Belarusian Civil Aviation Administration (BUGA). The second similar airliner flew to Chisinau.

Air traffic controllers from Kharkov monitored the airspace near Dneprodzerzhinsk. A young trainee was put in charge of the busy sector, and instead of the shift supervisor, as required by the rules, he was assisted by another dispatcher. The Belarusian plane had just taken off from Donetsk and was gaining altitude. The Moldavian Tu-134 was moving at an altitude of 8400 meters, the crew several times requested permission to climb to 9600 meters, but the trainee always refused due to a possible approach to another aircraft.

The dispatcher, addressing the Belarusian plane, said: The following phrase came in response: “Got it, 8400.” For some reason this did not arouse suspicion at the mission control center.

The Tu-134 flying to Minsk reached an altitude of 7200 meters and received the command to climb to 8400. The crew reported that the Dnepropetrovsk radio beacon had just passed, but in fact it was already 13 kilometers away. The dispatcher set incorrect marks on the plane's passage of checkpoints. Now two Tu-134s were flying at the same altitude, and their paths were supposed to intersect. But the Belarusian airliner was not allowed to fly higher: the Il-62 was flying at flight level 9000.

The dispatcher assigned to the trainee noticed the problem and immediately ordered the Il-62 to rise to 9,600 meters, and the Belarusian Tu-134 to occupy an altitude of 9,000 meters. The crew of the Il-62 was positioned at the required altitude, but a problem arose with the Tu-134: another plane burst into the air. The dispatcher, addressing the Belarusian plane, said: “735th, and you will take 9th. Over Dneprodzerzhinsk 8400 intersecting.” The following phrase came in response: “Got it, 8400.” For some reason this did not arouse suspicion at the mission control center.

Due to the fact that the author of the last phrase did not provide his call sign, the commission investigating the causes of the crash doubted which side the remark actually came from: from the Il-62 or Tu-134. According to the official conclusion, the phrase was uttered from the Il-62, and the Belarusian plane allegedly did not react in any way to the dispatcher’s command. However, this conclusion seems strange for a number of reasons. Firstly, a couple of seconds before “Got it, 8400” the IL-62 crew confirmed the ascent to flight level 9600 and actually took it. Secondly, you can hear that the lines “9600, 676th” (with IL-62) and “Got it, 8400” are said in different voices. Thus, there is a high probability that the phrase was uttered from the Tu-134. The crew could only hear the beginning and end of the controller's message, thinking they were being told to stay at flight level.

Be that as it may, the Tu-134 continued its flight at an altitude of 8400 meters and cut the cockpit of the Moldovan twin with its right wing. The plane flying to Minsk suffered less from the impact, but the damage was still too serious. No one survived the disaster; 178 people were killed. The trainee and the dispatcher, who was assigned to help the newcomer, were found guilty. They received prison sentences. According to some reports, the trainee subsequently committed suicide, but there is no reliable confirmation of this.

Lost in translation

The largest air collision in terms of casualties occurred in India. There were 39 people on board the Kazakh Airlines Il-76, while the Boeing 747 carried 289 passengers and 23 crew members. The Boeing took off from the Indira Gandhi International Airport and was gaining altitude while the Il-76 was descending. Takeoff and landing at the airport were carried out along one air corridor. Both sides were monitored by one dispatcher, who separated the planes into different echelons. There should have been 300 meters between them. However, the Il-76 did not remain at its altitude, but continued to descend directly towards the Boeing 747. At the time of the collision, it was even lower than the Saudi Arabian Airlines airliner. All 349 people on both planes were killed.

Usually, when planes collide, the first suspicion falls on the dispatcher. But the commission quickly established that he was not to blame: the dispatcher did not create dangerous situations and sent the planes along routes that were safe for them. Most of the questions arose regarding the actions of the Il-76 crew members, who were found guilty of the disaster. According to official conclusions, the causes of the incident were poor knowledge of English by the Il-76 crew and, as a result, incorrect interpretation of the dispatcher’s commands, as well as low professional skills. It is assumed that the altitude at which the Boeing 747 was flying, named by the dispatcher, was accepted by the Kazakh plane as the flight level they needed.

Often mid-air collisions are fatal for both parties involved in the incident. But in 2006, a rare case was recorded. A small Embraer Legacy 600 crashed into a Boeing 737 carrying 154 people. The planes collided at the tips of their wings in the sky over Brazil. The damage to the Boeing was more serious - it began to rotate and crashed to the ground, no one survived. It is noted that the transmitter on the Embraer was turned off, and the TCAS system did not report a dangerous approach to Boeing. The Embraer managed to make an emergency landing, with all seven people uninjured. This example of the Legacy 600 has been restored and is still in use today.

Fifteen years have passed since the tragedy occurred in the skies over Germany. The 2002 plane crash over Lake Constance killed 71 people, most of whom were children.

Plane crash

The plane crash occurred in 2002 on the night from the first to the second of July in the area of ​​Lake Constance in the skies over Germany. The collision of two planes claimed the lives of 19 adults and 52 children. Almost all of the victims were passengers of the Russian Tu-154m airliner, on which the children were flying on vacation to Spain. The plane belonged to the Bashkir Airlines company; it was performing a charter flight from Moscow to Spain (Barcelona).

The second plane involved in the collision, a Boeing-757 of the international air transportation company HDL, was flying from Italy (Bergamo) to Belgium (Brussels). There were 57 passengers on board the Tu-154M, of which only five were adults, and 52 were children, as well as 12 crew members.

Airplane passengers

Among those killed in the 2002 plane crash over Lake Constance were many children. This is due to the fact that they were flying to Spain on vacation. Talented students were rewarded with a trip for high academic achievements. The UNESCO Committee provided vouchers for Bashkir children.

Random Events

After the collision over Lake Constance, it became clear that the event was preceded by a whole series of fatal accidents, which could not have been noticed if trouble had not happened. The Bashkir children should not have flown that night at all. By chance, the accompanying adults brought them to the wrong airport. Instead of Domodedovo, where their plane took off for Barcelona, ​​they ended up at Sheremetyevo. Naturally, they missed their flight.

Many schoolchildren who went on vacation were children of high-ranking officials. For example, on board was the fifteen-year-old daughter of the head of administration under the President of Bashkortostan, Leysan Gimaeva.

If there were children from ordinary families in the group, they would probably just go home, missing the plane. The schoolchildren, of course, would be disappointed, but they would still be alive.

However, events developed according to a completely different scenario. Influential parents decided to send a Bashkir Airlines plane to Moscow, which could transport their children to Spain on a charter flight. The head of the airliner's crew was Alexander Gross, who had previously flown to Barcelona and knew the route very well.

After the schoolchildren boarded the plane, it turned out that there were still several empty seats available. The decision was made to sell these seven tickets with lightning speed. So gradually the number of future victims increased.

Four tickets were purchased by the Shislovsky family from Belarus, who missed their flight and were therefore forced to fly others. Three more tickets went to Svetlana Kaloeva, a resident of North Ossetia, with two children, who was flying to her husband Vitaly, who was working under a contract in Spain. After the collision over Lake Constance, the names of the accidental passengers were not immediately clear.

How it was...

On the fateful night before the plane crash over Lake Constance, both airliners that subsequently collided were in the skies over Germany itself, but for some reason the management of their movement was transferred to the Swiss company Skyneid, located in Zurich. In this flight center, as a rule, only three people worked at night: an assistant and two dispatchers. However, it was on this terrible night that only one person was on duty. It was Peter Nielsen, who was forced to monitor two terminals at once.

When the controller noticed something was wrong, the planes were already in line at a distance of 36,000 feet, which meant that there were only seconds left before the collision. For what reasons the duty officer discovered the problem so late is unknown, but a plane crash over Lake Constance was already almost inevitable. However, even in this situation it was possible to try to do something to save the situation. But unfortunately, Peter Nelson got it completely wrong. Either he was unprepared for such emergency situations, or he was simply confused... But his erroneous commands led to the death of many people.

Erroneous dispatcher commands

When Peter Nelson realized that the liners' courses were intersecting and they were inexorably approaching each other, he tried to correct the situation. Therefore, he gave the command to the Russian plane to descend. It is worth noting that at this moment the crew themselves noticed the approach of another side from the left side. The pilots were ready to perform a maneuver in order to disperse safely.

However, after a command from the ground dispatcher on board the Russian aircraft, the automatic TCAS system was activated, which warns of the danger of approach. So, she informed about the need to gain altitude.

At the same time, an identical system activated on the Boeing, prompting the pilots to gain altitude. Perhaps the disaster could have been avoided if these commands had been followed on both planes. The co-pilot of the Russian airliner immediately noticed a discrepancy between the dispatcher and TCAS commands, which he immediately reported to the rest of the team. But I received an answer that ground commands would be carried out. Moreover, the order to descend was received again.

Whose mistake caused the tragedy?

It is difficult to blame the pilots for the plane crash over Lake Constance, because they followed commands from the ground, as prescribed by the instructions. Later, the investigation will establish the cause of the disaster - an untimely command from dispatcher Peter Nielsen. He provided erroneous information to the Russian pilots that there was a side to their right. Decoding the black boxes showed that the team was simply misled. The pilots, relying on the dispatcher, considered that there was another plane to their right, which the TCAS system had not detected, because it is no secret that ground-based installations provide more accurate data, and on-board instruments may fail for some reason.

Considering that pilots have only fractions of a second to make important decisions, and confusion in such situations is tantamount to death, the team followed the instructions of the ground attendant. It remains a mystery why none of the pilots informed Peter Nielsen that his command was contradicting the messages of the automatic safety system. Perhaps there was simply not enough time for this.

Airplane collision

After the dispatcher's command, a plane crash over Lake Constance could not be avoided. Both planes were descending. At the same time, the Russian plane carried out the command of Peter Nielsen, and the Boeing operated according to the instructions of the TCAS system. Both teams reported their actions to the ground controller, but Peter Nielsen did not hear one of the commands because they were both communicating at the same time on different frequencies. And if there were several people on duty in the control room at that time, as there should be, the information would have been heard on time.

In the last seconds before the plane crash over Lake Constance, the pilots of the two planes tried as best they could to avoid the collision by deflecting the controls. However, their attempts were in vain. The collision of the airliners occurred almost at a right angle. An HDL cargo plane crashed into a Russian one, causing the Tu-154M to split in half at an altitude of ten kilometers. The wreckage of the liner fell into four parts and scattered in the vicinity of the town of Iberlingen. And the remains of the Boeing were discovered seven kilometers from the Russian airliner.

Air crash investigation

The tragedy over Lake Constance caused long investigations. Since the disaster occurred over Germany, the German Federal Office was in charge of the investigation. The first conclusions of the commission were given only two years later.

The report presented the following reasons why a plane crash occurred over Lake Constance involving a Tu-154 and a Boeing:

1. The air traffic controller failed to correctly ensure the separation of the airliners in a timely manner.
2. The instruction to descend was given too late.

Subsequently, all charges against the pilots were dropped.

During the investigation, a number of other circumstances were revealed. As it turned out, telephone communication equipment and automatic notification of the approach of aircraft to the flight control center were turned off for unknown reasons. The backup telephone lines were also not working. A more responsible dispatcher from the city of Karlsruhe in Germany noticed the approach of the planes and repeatedly tried to call the point where Nielsen was on duty, but all attempts were unsuccessful.

Immediately after the disaster, Peter Nielsen was suspended from work until the causes and circumstances of the tragedy were clarified. As for the Skyguide company, the investigative authorities organized a criminal investigation against it.

Results of the disaster

Immediately after the plane crash, Skyguide blamed the pilots of the Russian airliner for the events. According to them, the crew incorrectly followed the commands because they did not understand the dispatcher’s instructions in English. Only in 2004 did the German Federal Office publish the official conclusion of the investigation. According to the conclusion, the dispatcher from the Skyguide company was to blame for the collision. Only after the results of the investigation were published, the company admitted its guilt. Only two years later did the director of the company bother to apologize to the families of those who died on that terrible night. And on May 19, 2004, Josef Deiss (President of Sweden) sent Vladimir Putin an official document apologizing for what happened.

It was only in December 2006 that Alain Rossier resigned from his position as director of Skyguide.

And in September 2007, a court in the Swiss town of Bülach convicted four Skyguide employees of negligence in their duties, which led to the tragedy. A total of eight people who worked for the Swiss company were put on trial. The defendants refused to admit their guilt, shifting all responsibility onto Peter Nielsen, who had already died at that time. Yet four managers were found guilty of manslaughter.

All of them were given different punishments. Three workers were given only suspended prison sentences, and one was given only a fine.

Consequences of the 2002 disaster

The series of troubles did not end after the planes crashed. Grief-stricken relatives could not withstand the trials that befell them; some families broke up after the tragedy. The tragedy claimed many lives. The list of those killed in the disaster over Lake Constance initially consisted of the names of 52 children and 19 adults. However, on February 24, 2004, another name was added to the list - Nielsen.

The same dispatcher, through whose fault the cancerous error occurred, was killed by Vitaly Kaloev, whose children and wife accidentally became passengers on the ill-fated flight. The court considered the case for a year. And in October 2005, Kaloyev admitted his guilt, sentencing him to eight years in prison. However, taking into account the serious mental state of the man, as well as all the circumstances of the case, the term was subsequently reduced to five years. Three years later, Kaloyev was released for good behavior, after which he returned to North Ossetia.

Memorial to the victims

At the site of the tragedy in 2004, a memorial was erected to those killed in a plane crash over Lake Constance - a torn string of pearls symbolizes the scattered debris of the plane. The idea for creating such a monument was the pearl necklace of the girl Diana (daughter of that same Kaloev), found at the site of the tragedy.

Almost all victims of the disaster were buried at the Southern Cemetery in Ufa. Their graves were arranged according to how people sat on the plane.

Silent Reminder

Another memorial reminds of that tragedy. In Zurich in 2006, next to the Skyguide building, a monument made of stone and glass was erected in the form of a spiral, along which 72 candles are located, symbolizing the 71 victims of the disaster and one dispatcher.

Disaster film

The terrible tragedy and its further consequences, as well as the act of Vitaly Kaloev, formed the basis of the film “Consequences,” filmed in the USA. Of course, much of it was changed and the action was moved to America, but it was the 2002 plane crash that served as the basis for filming. The main character of the film was played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. His name is Roman Melnik, he has been living and working in the USA for a long time. And then his pregnant wife and daughter finally fly to him. That is why a monument to the three will be erected at the grave... As in the real story, the Miller himself finds his daughter’s beads and her body. And also goes crazy in search of those responsible for the tragedy. The company whose dispatcher caused the disaster offers him compensation, but he does not understand why the culprit of the accident is still at large. The miller goes to the dispatcher's house with a knife and everything happens according to the same scenario as in real life. Only a few details were changed by the director, who managed to convey on the screen the incredible experiences of the main character.

Sixteen years ago, a terrible plane crash occurred in the skies over Germany, which claimed the lives of 71 people - 52 children and 19 adults. These were passengers and crew of a Russian Tu-154 aircraft and a Boeing 757 cargo plane. On the night of July 1–2, 2002, aircraft collided in Germany due to an error by Swiss air traffic controllers.

How the Tu-154 collided with the Boeing 757

Tu‑154 of the Bashkir Airlines company was operating a charter flight from Moscow to Barcelona, ​​a cargo Boeing‑757 of the international air transportation company DHL was flying from Italian Bergamo to Brussels. On board the Tu-154 there were 12 crew members and 57 passengers - 52 children and five adults. The children were flying to Spain on vacation. They were given a voucher by the UNESCO Committee of Bashkiria for their excellent studies.

On the plane was a family from Vladikavkaz - Svetlana Kaloyeva with 10-year-old Kostya and four-year-old Diana. They were heading to the head of the family, architect Vitaly Kaloev, who worked in Barcelona under a contract.

Colliding with a cargo plane, the Tu-154 broke into several parts in the air. They fell in the vicinity of the city of Uberlingen (federal state of Baden-Württemberg). The debris was scattered over a radius of 40 square kilometers. Rescuers searched for the bodies of the victims for a week, finding them in fields, next to buildings and on the side of roads.

The tragedy occurred a few minutes after German air traffic controllers handed over the escort of the Russian aircraft to their colleagues from Switzerland, who were located at the SkyGuide air control center operating at Zurich-Kloten Airport.

Dispatcher Peter Nielsen's fault

On that fateful night, only one dispatcher was on duty at work - Peter Nielsen, despite the fact that according to the rules there should have been two. The Dane ordered the Tu-154 crew to descend, while the airliners approaching each other no longer had the opportunity to occupy safe echelons.

Later, the media learned that the main equipment for telephone communication and automatic notification of center personnel about dangerous proximity of aircraft was turned off. The main and backup phone lines were not working. The air traffic controller in Karlsruhe, Germany, drew attention to the dangerous approach of the planes. The man tried to call 11 times, but to no avail.

At first, Nielsen continued to work after the disaster, but then SkyGuide fired him.

Kaloev's revenge: more than 20 stab wounds

Heartbroken Vitaly Kaloev, who was waiting for his family in Spain, was one of the first to arrive in Germany, to the site of the plane crash. At first, the special services did not want to let him into the tragedy zone, but agreed when they learned that he agreed to search for the bodies of the dead with them. As a result, in the forest, Kaloev found a pearl necklace that belonged to his daughter Diana. To the surprise of the rescuers, the girl’s body was almost undamaged. Later, the bodies of his son and wife, disfigured by the disaster, would be discovered.

Having learned from journalists about the fault of the dispatcher in the disaster, Kaloev persistently made attempts to talk with the airline management many times. He asked the same question regarding the extent of Nielsen's guilt in what happened. It is known that the director of the company was very scared of the “Russian with a beard.”

Then Kaloev decided to talk directly with the Dane. He asked Skyguide to facilitate this meeting. At first they gave consent, but then they flatly refused and did not explain the reasons for this. During the mourning events dedicated to the anniversary of the tragedy, Kaloev again approached the leaders of the Swiss company, but nevertheless they refused to answer him.

On February 24, 2004, a Russian killed Nielsen in his home in the Zurich suburb of Kloten. Kaloev came to the dispatcher’s house to show him photographs of his dead wife and children. He wanted the man to repent of what he had done. But Nielsen pushed him away, causing the photographs to fall to the ground. Kaloev lost control of himself and inflicted more than 20 knife wounds on the dispatcher, from which he died. Nielsen is survived by his wife and three children.

Kaloev's punishment

Swiss police quickly found the Danish killer. A tip was sent out to a man of oriental appearance who was wearing a black coat and trousers of the same color. Kaloyev was found nearby at a local hotel. During interrogation, he told how he found out Nilsen’s address and what happened in his apartment. According to him, he entered the dispatcher’s house and showed him the photographs. And what happened next, the grief-stricken father and husband did not remember. He did not tell the investigator anything more.

It was decided to place him for examination in a psychiatric clinic. Experts found him sane, and in October 2005 the court sentenced him to eight years in prison. Kaloev served his sentence in a Swiss prison. Meanwhile, already in the fall of 2007, the Supreme Court of Switzerland decided to release him from punishment for exemplary behavior. Kaloev returned to his homeland in North Ossetia, where he was appointed deputy minister of architecture and construction of the republic.

Results of the investigation, SkyGuide apology

In the spring of 2004, German authorities released a conclusion based on the results of the investigation into the disaster.

Experts have come to the conclusion that Swiss air traffic controllers are to blame for the collision between the Bashkir Airlines Tu-154 and a Boeing cargo plane. The control center in Zurich did not immediately notice the danger of two aircraft converging on the same flight level. As a result, the Tu-154 pilots followed the dispatcher’s command to descend, while the on-board flight safety system required them to urgently gain altitude.

Only after the expert report was published did SkyGuide admit its mistakes. Two years after the disaster, director Alain Rossier apologized to the families of the victims. On May 19, 2004, then-Swiss President Joseph Deiss sent his counterpart Vladimir Putin an official letter of apology for the plane crash.

Based on the tragedy over Lake Constance, “Aftermath” was released in the United States in 2017 (the first title was “478”) with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the title role.

On Thursday, September 20, there will be a press screening of the feature film “Unforgiven” directed by Sarik Andreasyan about the plane crash over Lake Constance. Architect Vitaly Kaloev was played by a famous Russian actor in the social drama

More than 13 years have passed since that memorable date when two airliners collided in the skies over Germany - the Russian passenger TU-154M and the Belgian cargo Boeing 757. The victims of this terrible disaster were 71 people, most of whom were children.

Events preceding the flight

On that fateful night from July 1 to July 2, 2002, when the disaster occurred over Lake Constance, there were 67 passengers on board the Russian TU-154 passenger plane, owned by Bashkir Airlines, including 52 children and 12 crew members. The main part were talented schoolchildren from Bashkiria who were flying to Spain on vacation. The vouchers were provided by the UNESCO Committee of the republic as an incentive for high academic performance. And indeed, all the children in this group were a perfect match: artists, poets, athletes.

As it turned out later, the Ufa schoolchildren should not have been in the sky at all on that ill-fated night. Simply by mistake of the adults accompanying them, who brought a group of Bashkir children to Sheremetyevo airport, instead of taking them to Domodedovo, they missed their plane flying to Barcelona the day before.

A series of accidents

Almost all children going on holiday abroad came from families of high-ranking parents. For example, 15-year-old Leysan Gimaeva was the daughter of the head of the presidential administration of the Bashkir Republic. If these were children from ordinary families, then they would simply return home, albeit upset, but alive, and this would not have happened over Lake Constance.

But the influential parents of the schoolchildren decided to send one of the aircraft belonging to Bashkir Airlines to pick them up in Moscow, which was then supposed to take them to Spain on charter flight No. 2937. The crew of the plane was headed by Alexander Gross, who had already flown to Barcelona several times before and knew the route well.

And here’s another accident - after the children boarded the plane, it turned out that there were still a few empty seats left. It was immediately decided to sell these extra tickets. There were only seven of them. Four of them went to the Shislovsky family from Belarus, who also missed their plane, and three to Svetlana Kaloeva from North Ossetia, who was flying with two children (eldest son Kostya and 4-year-old Diana) to her husband Vitaly, who was working in Spain under a contract. After the disaster occurred over Lake Constance, even the names of these random passengers were not immediately known.

Before the disaster

On that July night, both aircraft were in the skies over Germany, but despite this, air traffic control for that period was transferred to the Swiss company Skyguide, located in Zurich. In this center, as usual at night, only three people remained working: two dispatchers and an assistant. However, almost just before the collision, one of those on duty went on a break, and only Peter Nielsen remained at the control panel, who was forced to monitor two terminals at the same time. When the dispatcher noticed that two planes, located at the same flight level of 36 thousand feet, began to approach each other, there were only a few seconds left before the disaster. A collision over Lake Constance was almost inevitable.

Command mismatch

The courses of aircraft flying towards each other would inevitably intersect. The dispatcher tried to correct the situation and gave the command to the crew of the Russian airliner to descend. It must be said that by this time the TU-154 pilots had already noticed another ship approaching them from the left side. They were ready to perform a maneuver that would allow the planes to disperse safely.

Immediately after the dispatcher’s command, the automatic proximity warning system (TCAS) came to life in the cockpit of the Russian pilots, informing them that it was urgently necessary to gain altitude. And at the same time, on board the Boeing, the same instruction was received from an identical system, but only to descend. The co-pilot of the TU-154 aircraft drew the attention of the remaining crew members to the discrepancy between the dispatcher and TCAS commands, but he was told that they would follow the order received from the ground. That is why no one confirmed the order received from the dispatcher, although the ship began to descend. Just a few seconds later, the command from the ground was repeated. This time it was immediately confirmed.

Fatal mistake

As the investigation would later show, the collision over Lake Constance occurred due to an untimely command issued by Skyguide dispatcher Peter Nielsen. By mistake, he gave the crew of the Russian plane incorrect information about another airliner, which was supposedly located to their right.

Subsequently, decryption of the data showed that the pilots were misled by such a message and, apparently, decided that there was another aircraft flying nearby, which the TCAS system for some reason did not detect. It remains unclear why none of the pilots informed the duty controller about this discrepancy in the commands.

At the same time as the Russian plane, the Boeing 757 was also descending, the crew of which was following TCAS instructions. They immediately reported this maneuver to the ground, but the controller Peter Nielsen did not hear it, since another ship came into contact on a different frequency.

In the last moments before the disaster, both crews tried as best they could to prevent a dangerous approach by deflecting the helms all the way, but, as you know, all efforts were in vain. The Tu-154M plane collided with the Boeing 757 almost at a right angle. The plane, owned by the transport company DHL, dealt a powerful blow to the fuselage of the Russian airliner with its vertical stabilizer, causing it to fall apart in the air. Its debris fell in the vicinity of the German town of Uberlingen, near Lake Constance (Baden-Württemberg). The Boeing, in turn, lost its stabilizer and lost control and crashed. The terrible crash over Lake Constance claimed the lives of the crew members of both aircraft and all passengers flying on the Tu-154.

Investigation of what happened

Based on the results of the plane crash, an investigation was carried out, which was carried out by a specially created commission under the German Federal Office (BFU). Her findings were published two years later. The commission's report listed two reasons why the collision occurred:

1. The air traffic controller was unable to provide adequate separation between the two aircraft in time. The descent instructions were transmitted to the pilots of the Tu-154 crew late.
2. The Russian aircraft's crew continued to descend despite TCAS recommendations to gain altitude.

Expert conclusions

The report also noted numerous errors made by the management of the center in Zurich and, for example, the owners of the Swiss company Skyguide for many years allowed air traffic controllers to work in such a way that only one person could control air traffic, while his partner at that time rested. (2002) made it clear that this number of staff was clearly insufficient. In addition, the equipment that was supposed to tell the dispatcher about the possible approach of airliners was turned off that night due to maintenance.

As for the phones, they didn't work either. It was because of this that Peter Nielsen was unable to get through to the airport located in Friedrichshafen (a small town located north of Lake Constance) at the right time in order to transfer to the local dispatchers control of the delayed plane arriving, which the Swiss was monitoring at the second terminal . In addition, due to the lack of telephone communication, those on duty in Karlsruhe, who had noticed the dangerous approach in the air much earlier, were not able to warn Nielsen about the impending disaster.

Also, the commission that investigated the collision over Lake Constance noted that ICAO documents regulating the use of TCAS and held by the crew of the Tu-154 aircraft were partly contradictory and incomplete. The fact is that, on the one hand, the instructions for the system contained a strict prohibition on performing maneuvers that do not comply with TCAS prompts, and on the other hand, it was considered auxiliary, thus creating the impression that the dispatcher’s commands were a priority. From this we can draw the only correct conclusion: if not for a series of absurd accidents and fatal mistakes, the plane crash over Lake Constance (2002) would have been simply impossible.

Results

It didn’t end with the planes crashing. Unhappy relatives buried their children, and some families then broke up, unable to withstand such grief. The disaster over Lake Constance took many lives. The list of victims initially contained the names of 19 adults and 52 children. But on February 24, 2004, another name was added to it - Peter Nielsen, the same dispatcher of the Skyguide company who made a number of mistakes that led to such a large-scale tragedy. He was killed by Vitaly Kaloev, whose wife and children were on that ill-fated flight No. 2937. The trial in this case lasted almost a year. At the end of October 2005, Kaloyev was found guilty of murder and sentenced to 8 years in prison. Taking into account the circumstances of the case and the serious mental state of the accused, the court reduced the sentence to 5 years and 3 months.

Near the German city of Uberlingen, in the area of ​​Lake Constance, an unusual monument was erected, reminiscent of the tragedy more than 10 years ago. It is made in the form of a torn necklace, whose pearls scattered across the entire trajectory of the falling debris of two airliners.

Two passenger airliners collided at Zhukovsky Airport near Moscow. This was stated by the press service of the Moscow Interregional Transport Prosecutor's Office (MMTP).

The incident occurred around 10:00 Moscow time. “According to preliminary data, on October 7, on the territory of Zhukovsky airport, while taxiing to a parking area, an Ikar airline aircraft came into contact with an aircraft. As a result of the collision, the left wing liner and navigation canopy of the Ural Airlines plane were damaged, but there were no casualties,” the department noted.

The Investigative Committee noted that Ikar Airlines operated flight KAR454 - the airliner flew to Zhukovsky from the Chinese city of Guangzhou. There were 266 passengers and 14 crew members on board the plane. No one was injured as a result of the incident.

The Moscow Transport Prosecutor's Office will conduct an investigation into the incident. “If violations are detected, prosecutorial response measures will be taken,” the department said. Investigators have also joined in clarifying the circumstances of the incident - they will establish the amount of damage. The Investigative Committee announced this on its Twitter and attached photographs from the scene of the incident.

The press service of Ural Airlines reported that at the moment it is premature to talk about filing claims against Icarus. They noted that the airline is awaiting the conclusion of the competent authorities.

In turn, Ikar believes that the incident at Zhukovsky was the fault of the Ural Airlines Airbus A320. This model of a narrow-body aircraft is designed for 156 seats - the board performs short and medium-haul flights. According to the airline, the airbus was not parked according to the markings, and its tail went beyond the limit line.

“During taxiing, our plane followed the escort vehicle, which drives in front of the plane and shows the parking area. We complied with all the requirements, the plane was traveling along the axial markings, but due to improper parking of Ural Airlines, it hit their side. Our board did not receive any damage,” said a spokesman for Ikar Airlines.

In mid-September, he launched an investigation into the incident at Pulkovo Airport in St. Petersburg. There, on the morning of September 14, a passenger airliner flying from Moscow to St. Petersburg hit a fire truck with its wing while entering the parking lot. No one was injured as a result of the incident. The plane and car received minor damage.

“The Leningrad Investigation Department is conducting a pre-investigation check on the collision of an airplane with a fire truck at Pulkovo Airport,” the press service of the Investigative Committee reported. Earlier, the transport prosecutor's office also launched a corresponding check.

On August 16, another incident occurred at O'Hare International Airport, located in Chicago, USA. A United Airlines passenger airliner was departing from gate C30 and collided with an aircraft of the same airline parked at gate C28. This was reported by Chicago, citing the Federal Administration US civil aviation.

As a result of the incident, the left wing of both aircraft was damaged. The passengers were not injured; after some time they flew to Portland on another flight.

Another emergency was recorded on August 9 at Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Kokpit.Aero reported. While maneuvering in the parking lot, a passenger Boeing 787 of Royal Air Maroc airline touched the rear part of the fuselage of a Boeing 777 belonging to Turkish Airlines with its wing. It is noted that the Moroccan airliner was moving along the terminal, and the Turkish one was waiting for passengers to board at one of the exits.

After inspection by specialists, it turned out that the Boeings were damaged. It is known that the Royal Air Maroc plane was planning to fly to Casablanca, and the Turkish Airlines plane was planning to fly to Athens. No one was injured as a result of the incident. The Turkish Airlines passengers were transferred to the Greek capital on another flight.

This was not the first incident at Istanbul Ataturk Airport this year. In May 2018, while taxiing, an Airbus A330 of the South Korean company Asiana hit an A321 owned by a local aircraft with its wing. No one was injured as a result of the incident, but the tail of the plane that was hit was completely torn off.

Similar incidents occurred at the Moscow airport. Thus, in December 2016, an Airbus A321, while being towed by its wing, caught an airliner of the same model, which was refueling and was scheduled to fly from Moscow to Vladivostok. Both planes belong to . At that time, there were no passengers or crew members on board, the Sheremetyevo press service stated.