Ep 7. Deadly Airspace

On this episode of Air Disasters, titled "Deadly Airspace," viewers are taken on a journey through the events leading up to a fatal mid-air collision between two planes over Germany. The episode details the minute-by-minute account of what went wrong and how the tragedy could have been avoided.

The incident occurred on July 1, 2002, when two planes were flying over the Swiss-German border. Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 was en route from Moscow to Barcelona, carrying mostly children on a school trip. The other plane was a cargo plane operated by DHL, heading to Brussels from Bergamo, Italy. The two planes collided at 36,000 feet, killing all 71 people on board both flights.

As the episode begins, viewers are introduced to the pilots of Flight 2937, Rustem Salikhov and co-pilot Oleg Grigoriev. The team had logged over 5,000 hours of flight time and were experienced pilots. They were flying the Tupolev Tu-154M, a Soviet-built aircraft that was popular in the 1980s but had a poor safety record.

Viewers are then introduced to the air traffic control center in Zurich, Switzerland, where Peter Nielsen, an experienced air traffic controller, was on duty. Nielsen was responsible for monitoring the air space where the two planes would cross paths. At the same time, the DHL cargo plane was being piloted by Paul Phillips and his first officer, Brant Campioni, both of whom also had ample flight experience.

As the two planes approached each other in the sky, Nielsen realized that they were on a collision course. He tried to change Flight 2937's altitude to avoid a collision, but the plane's onboard alert system had already instructed the pilots to descend. This system was known as the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), which is designed to reduce the risk of mid-air collisions.

The TCAS alerted the pilots to descend, and they followed the instructions. Phillips on the DHL plane had also been alerted to climb to avoid the other flight. However, because the two planes did not communicate with each other, the instructions from the TCAS resulted in both planes descending, and the distance between them continued to narrow.

At this point, the episode shows a computer animation of the collision, illustrating how the two planes met in the air and how debris rained down on the ground. The animation shows how the impact occurred on the left side of the Russian plane, slicing off its tail. The DHL plane suffered damage but managed to keep on flying.

In the investigation that followed the crash, Swiss authorities discovered that there was a problem with the TCAS system on the Russian plane. The system was not functioning correctly due to a lack of maintenance, and this had caused it to send incorrect instructions to the pilots of Flight 2937. The episode then goes on to detail the various ways in which the disaster could have been prevented.

The episode also explains how the pilots on Flight 2937 may have been confused by the idea of descending to avoid the other aircraft. In pilot training, they are told to descend, but in this case, descending led to the disaster. The confusion was compounded by the fact that the air traffic control center in Zurich was understaffed. Nielsen was the only controller on duty, which meant that he had to handle a large area of airspace on his own.

The investigation revealed that the collision would have been avoided if the TCAS units of both planes had worked correctly and if the pilots had adhered to their training and followed established protocol. There were numerous other factors that contributed to the disaster, including a lack of communication between the planes and the air traffic control center.

In conclusion, "Deadly Airspace" is a compelling episode of Air Disasters that details how a tragedy like this can occur. The episode's combination of interviews, computer animation, and expert analysis does an excellent job of presenting the complex issues involved in plane crashes. It offers a poignant reminder of the importance of safety in the aviation industry.