The plane crash over Lake Constance in 2002 was a tragedy that claimed the lives of one hundred and forty people. The largest mid-air collision between two planes was due to a controller error, whose life was soon cut short.
TU-154
The Russian aircraft belonged to the Bashkir Airlines. It was practically new, since the year of its release was 1995. It was leased twice to foreign airlines, but on January 15, 2002 it returned to its native land.
The crew of the ship was quite experienced. The commander - A. M. Gross (fifty-two years old) - flew 12070 hours. He became the first pilot of this aircraft in May 2001, before that he served as a co-pilot.
In the cockpit, in addition to the PIC, there was also M. A. Itkulov, who had worked at Bashkiravia for eighteen years. He has been the co-pilot of this vessel since April 2001.
The navigator was S. G. Kharlov, probably the most experienced member of the crew. He worked for the airline for twenty-seven years, flying almost 13,000hours.
Flight engineer O. I. was in the cockpit. Valeev, as well as the inspector - O. P. Grigoriev (pilot first class). The latter was in the place of the co-pilot and watched the actions of Gross.
Four flight attendants worked in the cabin. The most experienced was Olga Bagina, who spent 11546 hours in the sky.
Thus, the plane crash over Lake Constance claimed the lives of nine crew members.
Tu-154 passengers
There were sixty people on board. They all died.
The worst news of the day was the plane crash over Lake Constance. The list of the dead spoke louder than any media, because fifty-two passengers were children whose lives were just beginning.
Almost all those flying were from the capital of Bashkiria - Ufa. Almost all the children who died were children of high-ranking officials of the republic (for example, the daughter of the head of the presidential administration of Bashkiria, the daughter of the deputy minister for culture, the son of the director of the Iglinsky plant, and others).
The list of victims of the plane crash over Lake Constance was supplemented by Ekaterina Pospelova (b. 1973), who was the Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities for educational work.
The rest of the passengers also belonged to the elite of Bashkiria, for example, Svetlana Kaloeva, deputy general director of the Daryal plant. She flew with her two children to meet her husband, who worked in Spain.
The plane crash over Lake Constance has become the largest for Bashkiria. Mourning in the republic lasted three days.
Boeing 757
This aircraft was produced in 1990 and among other aircraft of its airline was the oldest (more than 39,000 flight hours).
In 1996, the aircraft was bought by a cargo company and used to transport documentation and other materials.
On the ill-fated day, the Englishman Paul Phillips, forty-seven years old, was at the helm. He was quite an experienced pilot. Worked for the company for thirteen years. As an aircraft commander - since 1991.
Co-pilot was Brent Cantioni from Canada.
Because the plane was a cargo plane, there were only two crew members on it, whose lives were claimed by the plane crash over Lake Constance.
Events before the tragedy
Passengers of flight 2937 flew from Moscow to Barcelona. For most of the children, this trip was a reward for excellent studies and extracurricular activities. This deadly vacation was paid for by the UNESCO Committee. The head of the Committee lost his daughter on this flight.
I must say that the hype around this flight began long before the departure from Ufa. Almost all high-ranking officials sought to get a seat for their children on the plane, so that for some "ordinary citizens" this power of power saved the life. For example, journalist L. Sabitova and her six-year-old daughter were supposed to board that ill-fated plane. The director of the travel agency that organized this trip promised Sabitova a trip to Spain as a fee for the article. But in the lastday canceled everything, explaining this by pressure from above. The places of the journalist and her child were taken by the children of the top authorities of Bashkiria.
The fatal flight might not have happened, but a group of Bashkir schoolchildren missed their plane. The airline, realizing the importance of passengers, quickly organized an additional one. It also sold eight tickets directly in Moscow.
A Boeing 757 was on a scheduled cargo flight from Bahrain to Brussels. Before the collision, he had already made an intermediate landing in Bergamo. The plane crash (2002) over Lake Constance occurred half an hour after they took off from Italian soil.
Collision
At the time of the collision, both aircraft were in German airspace. Despite this circumstance, the movement in the sky was controlled by a Swiss company. There were only two dispatchers at work that night shift, one of whom left his workplace shortly before the disaster.
Because Peter Nielsen was alone at the post and had to follow several air routes, he did not immediately notice that two planes were moving towards each other in the same echelon.
FAC TU-154 was the first to notice an object in the sky moving in their direction. He made the decision to descend. Around the same time, Nielsen contacted, who also gave an indication of a decrease. At the same time, he did not provide the necessary information to another board that was dangerously close.
The "Dangerous Approach" signal went off on the "Boeing" and gavecommand to descend. At the same time, on the TU-154, the same signal ordered to climb. The Boeing pilot began to descend, the pilot of the TU-154, acting on the orders of the dispatcher, did the same.
Nielsen also misled the crew of the Russian aircraft by giving incorrect information about the location of the Boeing. The planes collided at 21:35:32 almost at a right angle. At 21:37 aircraft debris fell to the ground in the vicinity of Überlingen.
The plane crash (2002) over Lake Constance was visible from the ground. Some, seeing two fireballs in the sky, thought it was a UFO.
Investigation
Find out the causes of the tragedy undertook a special commission. It was created by the German Federal Bureau, which investigates air crashes. Two planes collided over Lake Constance, all passengers were killed. The report of this commission was announced only two years later.
Among the main reasons were the incorrect actions (or rather inaction) of the dispatcher and the mistake of the TU-154 crew, which ignored the automatic warning of dangerous approaches, completely obeying Peter Nielsen.
Wrongful actions of the SkyGuide company, which was engaged in air traffic control, were also noted. The management should not have allowed only one dispatcher to be on duty at night.
On the ill-fated night, telephone communication did not work in the control room, as well as equipment (radar) that warns of a possible approach of aircraft.
All these factswere taken into account by the commission, which is investigating air crashes.
The collision over Lake Constance caused a great resonance not only in society, but throughout the entire flight control system. Because if the crew of the TU-154 had acted on the orders of the warning system, the tragedy would not have happened. However, in regulatory documents, such a system was called auxiliary, that is, the instructions of the dispatcher were priority. After the incident, it was decided to make appropriate changes to the flight guidance.
Murder of the dispatcher
July 1, 2002, there was a plane crash over Lake Constance. The death toll included Svetlana Kaloeva and her two children, Kostya and Diana. The family flew to Barcelona, where their father Vitaly was.
The man was one of the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy and personally helped find the remains of his loved ones.
In February 2004, Kaloev was detained on suspicion of the murder of Peter Nielsen, the same dispatcher. A man was mortally wounded on his doorstep in Zurich. Vitaly did not admit his guilt, but confirmed that he visited Peter in order to receive an apology for what he had done.
Kaloev was sentenced to eight years in prison. In November 2007, the man was released early and deported to Russia.
Court
The plane crash over Lake Constance, the reconstruction of which proved controller misconduct, sparked high-profile lawsuits.
So, the company BashkirAirlines filed a lawsuit against SkyGuide, and then against Germany. The accusations were that neither side took the necessary measures to ensure traffic safety in the airspace.
The court ruled that Germany was responsible for what happened, because the country had no right to transfer ATC to a foreign company. The conflict between the country and the airline was settled out of court only in 2013.
"Skyguide" was found guilty of causing a plane crash over Lake Constance. The list of perpetrators consisted of four people, one of whom was only fined.
Memory
A monument in the form of a torn pearl string was erected at the site of the plane crash.
In Zurich, where the planes were controlled from, the control room is always decorated with fresh flowers in memory of the dead.
A memorial to those who died in a plane crash over Lake Constance was installed in Ufa, at the cemetery where their remains are buried.
