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The Bashikirian Airlines Flight 2937/ DHL Flight 611 air collision is considered the worst air accident in German history.
On July 1st 2002, a Bashikirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M set off from Moscow, Russia, to Barcelona, Spain. The aircraft carried sixty passengers, forty five of which were schoolchildren from Ufa on a trip to Costa Daurada, Spain, and nine crew.
A DHL Boeing 757-23APF cargo plane took off in Bergamo, Italy and was to fly to Brussels, Belgium. The flights of both aircraft were going well. Eventually one of the air traffic controllers left for a break and Peter Nielsen, a controller, was working two stations at once. He did not notice the two planes were on a collision course.
The planes were now at the same altitude- 36,000 feet or 10972.8 metres- and travelling towards each other faster than the speed of sound. The Short Term Conflict Alert or STCA should have warned Nielsen about the two planes but it was not fully functioning as his radar was in backup mode.
About forty seconds before the disaster, Nielsen realised the huge problem in front of him. He told the Russian crew to descend. Seconds after the Traffic Collision Avoidance System or the TCAS told the Russian crew to climb and the DHL crew to descend.
The Russian crew decided to follow Nielsen’s advice, but the DHL pilots obeyed TCAS. As a result, both planes were in descent.
About 15 seconds from the disaster, Nielsen, assuming that the problem was solved, told the Russian crew that the DHL plane was approaching from the right. The Russian crew looked but couldn’t see the approaching aircraft.
Around 5 seconds from the collision, the Russian crew saw the DHL plane approaching from the left. The Captain, Alexander Gross, suddenly decided to ascend and obey TCAS. Unfortunately it was too late.
The two planes collided at 35,000 feet above a town in Germany. The DHL’s tail cut through the middle of the Bashikirian plane, slicing it on half and leaving the burning plane to fall to its demise down below, itself soon following.
All 71 people of both the aircraft died in the accident. Nielsen was murdered by a furious and upset father soon after, right in front of his family. We can do nothing now but comfort the families of those that lost their lives during this fatal collision.
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