Who know about midair collision between DHL Boeing 757 (A9C-DHL) and a Bashkirian Airlines Tu-154 in July 02?

Question

Can you give any comment or background about that incident?

Thank you very much. I think with all these 3 answers.. sufficient for me to do report about it.

Answer 1

Status: Final
Date: 01 JUL 2002
Time: 23:35
Type: Boeing 757-23APF
Operator: DHL Aviation
Registration: A9C-DHL
C/n / msn: 24635/258
Year built: 1990
Total airframe hrs: 39022
Engines: 2 Rolls Royce RB211-535E4-37
Crew: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Passengers: Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: 0
Total: Fatalities: 2 / Occupants: 2
Collision casualties: Fatalities: 69
Airplane damage: Written off
Location: Überlingen (Germany)
Phase: En route
Nature: Cargo
Departure airport: Bergamo-Orio Al Serio Airport (BGY / LIME), Italy
Destination airport: Brussel-Zaventem Airport (BRU / EBBR), Belgium
Narrative:
Bashkirian Airlines flight 2927 (a Tupolev 154) originated in Ufa, Russia and flew to Moscow to pick up passengers. From Moscow the aircraft continued as a charter flight to Barcelona. The flight used the RNAV-Route Salzburg - Traunstein - Kempten - Trasadingen at Flight Level 360. Communications were handed over from Munich to Zürich ACC at 23:30:11. At that moment one controller was responsible for the entire traffic in the Zürich airspace. He was monitoring two frequencies and two radar scopes. On one frequency (119,925 MHz) he was guiding one traffic for an approach into Friedrichshafen and on the other frequency (128,050 MHz) he had to control four aircraft. Between 23:25:43 and 23:33:11 LT the controller tried serveral times to establish contact with Friedrichshafen by phone. Because of working on the telephone net of Skyguide, the controller was not able to reach Friedrichshafen.
At 23:34:42, 50 seconds prior collision, the Tupolev's Honeywell 2000 TCAS gave a Traffic Advisory and seven seconds later the radar controller issued the first descent instructions to flight 2927 to FL350: "descend flight level 350, expedite, I have crossing traffic". This descent was necessary for continuation of the flight to Barcelona and to achieve a vertical separation with respect to an approaching DHL Boeing 757 cargo plane.
This flight was en route from Bergamo, Italy to Brussels along RNAV-Route ABESI-AKABI-TANGO at FL360.
At 23:42:56 the crews of both aircraft received a Resolution Advisory-command from their TCAS. The DHL crew complied with this and initiate a descent, when the Tupolev crew were then trying to deal with the conflicting descent (by ATC) and climb (TCAS) instructions. Seven seconds after the Resolution Advisory-command, the ATC controller repeated the instruction to descend. The Bashkirian crew then decided to follow the ATC controller's instructions. A little later the Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) aboard the Boeing 757 gave the crew a Resolution Advisory (RA) to "increase descent". They then contacted ATC, telling the controller that they were doing a TCAS descent.
Since both aircraft were descending, the TCAS of the Russian plane warned the crew to "increase climb" to avoid a collision. This was eight seconds before the collision. Just prior to the collision, both crews detected the other aircraft, and reacted to avoid the collision by attempting appropriate flight manoeuvres. Nevertheless, at 23:35:32 both aircraft collided at approx. FL354. The tail fin of the Boeing 757 struck the left side of the Tupolev 154 fuselage near both overwing emergency exits, while the Tupolev's left wing sheared off 80% of the Boeing's tail fin. The Tupolev immediately broke up in four pieces (left wing, right wing, main fuselage and tail unit including the engines). The Boeing 757 lost control and crashed 8km North of the Tupolev, just after losing both engines.
That night, from 23:00 the configuration of the radar data processing of Skyguide was modified. Thus the system was operating in FALLBACK modus. This requires among other facts, that radar separation values were increased from 5 NM to 7 NM. Also, the STCA (Short Term Conflict Alert) was not available at that time. The STCA at Karlsruhe Upper Area Control Center (UAC) however did work. From 23:33:36 on the controller of Karlsruhe UAC, tried in vain to get in contact with Zürich-ATC until 23:35:34. Between 23:33:36 and 23:34:45 the busy signal was to be heared afterwards the ringing tone. According to his statements the controller tried repeatedly to establish the connection via the priority button, but it failed.

CAUSES: The following immediate causes have been identified:
- The imminent separation infringement was not noticed by ATC in time. The instruction for the TU154M to descend was given at a time when the prescribed separation to the B757-200 could not be ensured anymore.
- The TU154M crew followed the ATC instruction to descend and continued to do so even after TCAS advised them to climb. This manoeuvre was performed contrary to the generated TCAS RA.
The following systemic causes have been identified:
- The integration of ACAS/TCAS II into the system aviation was insufficient and did not correspond in all points with the system philosophy.
The regulations concerning ACAS/TCAS published by ICAO and as a result the regulations of national aviation authorities, operational and procedural instructions of the TCAS manufacturer and the operators were not standardised, incomplete and partially contradictory.
- Management and quality assurance of the air navigation service company did not ensure that during the night all open workstations were continuously staffed by controllers.
- Management and quality assurance of the air navigation service company tolerated for years that during times of low traffic flow at night only one controller worked and the other one retired to rest.
Events:

Collision - Aircraft - In flight
Result - Crash out of control

Sources:
Die Welt, Reuters, BBC, BFU, Skyguide
» ATC transcript DHL B757 / Bashkirian Tu-154 collision [PDF ]
» ARINC TCAS Transition Program (TTP) Industry Alert Bulletin - Aug 12, 2002 [PDF 20 KB]
» BFU Status Report AX001-1-2/02 Aug 26, 2002 [PDF 2714 KB]




Photos



Distance closing diagram.

Answer 2

The aircraft, on a flight from Moscow, Russia to Barcelona, collided with a DHL Aviation Boeing 757 near Ueberlingen on the northern shore of Lake Constance, which borders Switzerland and Austria, around 11:43pm local time. Both aircraft were level at FL360, under Swiss air traffic control (Zurich). Approximately 50 seconds before the collision, Swiss ATC instructed the Russian Tupolev to descend from FL360 to FL350 to avoid a conflict with the DHL Boeing 757. No response was registered by the Russian crew. A second descent instruction was made by Swiss controllers seconds later, and the Tupolev crew acknowledged the instruction. The TU-154 initiated its descent about 25 seconds before the collision. At nearly the same instant, the Boeing 757's TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) issued a Resolution Advisory (RA) in response to the threat of a collision with the TU-154, and the pilots began a descent in an attempt to avoid the Russian aircraft. The aircraft collided at FL354, broke apart and crashed, with debris scattered over an area nearly 40km wide.

Answer 3

Dhl Mid Air Collision

Answer 4

This is all the NTSB report has to say about the accident:

"On July 1, 2002, about 2335 local time, a Boeing 757-200, Bahrain registration A9C-DHL, operating as DHL flight 611, and a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev TU154, Russian registration RA85816, collided in midair over Uberlingen, Germany. The two flight crewmembers onboard A9C-DHL suffered fatal injuries. Twelve crewmembers and 57 passengers onboard RA85816 also suffered fatal injuries."

Since it happened in Germany, the NTSB just lists it, and didn't do an investigation.

Answer 5

I saw a television programme about this a few months ago.
I can't give any more information than that which has already been given.