It was a nightmare!

Gerd Hertle, Robin M? Hlebach, Marco Schwarz, Christoph Schmitz, J UNGER, Jens Hartmann, Andreas Klinger, Bernd Strehlau, Ilka Roxin (Texte) und Jo Goertz, J (Fotos), 03 July 2002

The aviation catastrophe over Bodenser shocked the whole world. Two planes collided and rushed to the ground in a fiery tornado. The bodies of dead children fell from the sky. Children flew on vacation. “It was so noisy that it was the most incredible power of thunder. But even stronger, more objective, ”says the witness of the tragedy writer Martin Walser. He lives in Huberlingen - a city that the disaster bypassed by a miracle.

Two huge balls blazing with a white -red flame from the wreckage of the aircraft - high above the black night water of the Badenzee.

Fireworks of death

This is the moment when 52 children and 19 adults die. They burned, suffocated, they crashed against the ground, thrown out of the aircraft in a collision. Some were still fastened with seat belts in their places.

How could this stunning disaster happen in such a tightly controlled airspace of Europe?

23.35. The dispatchers of the Swiss flight safety company Skyguide (located in Zurich) warn the TU pilot Alexander Gross (52 years old): “You go on a collision rate with another plane. Go to a decrease immediately! " No reaction.

The distance to the Boeing 757-200 is a DHL freight airline, which also flies at a speed of 900 kilometers per hour, only 30 kilometers! Only 50 seconds remain! Therefore, yesterday, the chapter of Skyguide sounded Toni Maag: “The anxiety was raised late, but there should have been enough time.”

Dispathers on the tower in Zurich in despair. Maybe the Russian pilot does not know the English language - an international language adopted in civil aviation? Perhaps he even fell asleep?

They again give an alarm to the “that” signal. The pilot gross reacts only after that. The control steering wheel to the end, the descent to a height of 11,500 meters. Now 23.36. On board its Tu -154 - aircraft with three reactive engines belonging to the Bashkir Airlines and performing a charter flight, Russian children dream of holidays. Sun! Little Murtazin (he is 8 years old), his girlfriend at the Hannanov School (11 years old) ┘ They know nothing about a tense atmosphere in the cockpit.

At the same time, the distance between the aircraft decreases to 25 kilometers, and their flight height is the same - 11,500 meters. On the Boeing DHL dashboard, the indicator of the automatic warning device on the danger of a collision (TCAS) lights up. Sound signal is at the same time. On the monitor of Captain Paul Phillips (Paul Phillips), he is 47 years old, a raid - 10,000 hours, an order appears: immediately reduce the height. Philipps immediately informs the tower dispatchers about this.

On their monitors, dispatchers see how Philippus performs a decrease maneuver. Time: 23.37. And after they no longer see anything.

A collision at an altitude of 11 300 meters! Two planes crash with great force into each other, like pedestrians who were going to disperse several times, and then still collided. The representative of the DHL expedition department says: “At the very last moment, our pilot wanted to make another maneuver in order to get away from the collision. It was a tragic way already late. ”

Fire ball, three explosions! Light fragments slide to the ground, fall on gardens and fields. Frightened residents first thought about aliens. But then they witnesses how mutilated bodies fall from the sky.

Yesterday, the second half of the day: 1,260 rescuers work at the site of the disaster. Television shots show crying relatives. A black box from the TU plane was found. And the first accusation. The head of the company "Bashkir Airlines" Nikolai Clawov: "Swiss dispatchers are responsible for the misfortune."

In the evening, representatives of Skyguide admitted that by the time of the disaster in the operation of one of the two dispatchers there was a pause.

http://www.bild.t-online.de/

Translation: Tow Vladimir, inosmi.ru
Published on the website inosmi.ru: 03 July 2002, 10:06
Original publication: War Der Pilot Im Cockpit Eingeschlafen?

The mutilated bodies of dead children fell from the sky ("Bild", Germany)