The Hindu : Russian pilot's error led to collision?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 03, 2002

International

International

Russian pilot's error led to collision?

By Vaiju Naravane

Part of the crashed passenger plane is seen lying in the garden of a house near Ueberlingen, southern Germany, on Tuesday. — AP

Paris July 2. A mid-air collision between a passenger jet and a freight plane over southern Germany late on Monday night claimed at least 71 lives. Most of the victims were Russian children on their way to a Spanish holiday. The crash is blamed on pilot error.

The Russian charter plane, a Tupolev TU 154 operated by Bashkirian Airlines took off from Moscow with 69 passengers aboard, 52 of whom were children and teenagers.

The crash occurred at about 11.30 p.m. local time when the jet hit a DHL Boeing 757 at a height of 36,000 feet.

Eleven bodies and the Tupolev's black box have been recovered from the wreckage strewn over a vast area near Lake Konstanz near Germany's borders with Switzerland and Austria.

Some parts of the wreckage reportedly fell into the lake.

German authorities today said the Russian pilot was to blame for the crash. German transport authorities said the air traffic control tower in Zurich had repeatedly asked the pilot of the TU 154 to change his altitude after if was noticed the two planes were flying at the same height and on the same trajectory. wiss air controllers said the Tupolev was far to slow to react to repeated requests to change altitude. Toni Maag, an official from Swiss air-traffic control said: "We had to insist two or three times before they dived.'' This air accident is reminiscent of the crash in New Delhi when the pilot failed to understand instructions from the control tower.

English is the official language used in aviation and air traffic controllers have had several close shaves because pilots often lack the basis language skills to understand instructions. Aviation experts say the problem is most acute in airlines operated by countries belonging to the former Soviet Union. All new aircraft are now equipped with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance equipment that allows pilots to keep a safe distance from other planes. But the ageing Tupolev did not have such equipment on board to alert the pilot of the proximity of another aircraft.

Debris has spread over an area covering 40 sqkm. Several residents living around lake Konstanz witnessed the crash, preceded by a huge explosion. "It was like a ball of fire descending down upon us from the sky.

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