Air traffic controller and army pilot on trial after fatal accident
Published: Thursday, Jan 4th 2024, 05:00
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An air traffic controller from Skyguide and a pilot from the Swiss Air Force will have to answer to the military court from today, Thursday, following the fatal F/A-18 crash on the Susten Pass in Muttenz BL in 2016. They are both charged with negligent homicide, among other things.
The charges also include negligent failure to comply with service regulations, negligent disruption of public traffic and negligent misuse and squandering of equipment, as the Swiss military justice system announced on April 3. The accused are presumed innocent.
The accident occurred on August 29, 2016 during combat training of a two-man patrol with F/A-18 aircraft. A 27-year-old military pilot crashed into a rock face and died. The aircraft and the flight data recorder ("black box") were completely destroyed. The investigating magistrates were therefore unable to access the data from the aircraft involved in the accident.
The patrol had taken off from the Meiringen BE military airfield. The man who later died in the accident wanted to follow the leader ahead of him using radar due to poor visibility. However, the radar had failed to lock onto the leader's radar - possibly because the leader had not fully complied with the take-off procedure.
As a result, the less experienced pilot who followed contacted the air traffic controller in Meiringen for further instructions.
Incorrect specification of the minimum flight altitude
The skyguide employee then incorrectly gave the pilot a flight altitude of 10,000 feet (3048 meters) - a requirement for a take-off in a westerly direction. However, the minimum altitude for this take-off towards the east would have been 15,000 feet (4,572 meters). The pilot then shot into the rock face just 58 seconds after the incorrect instruction at an altitude of 3319 meters - around eleven meters below the ridge.
The skyguide employee in Meiringen had noticed his mistake. However, he was no longer able to inform the pilot because he had instructed him to switch to the air traffic control radio channel in Dübendorf.
The main hearing of Military Court 2 in Muttenz, which begins today, Thursday, is scheduled to last four days. The verdict is due to be delivered on January 9.
©Keystone/SDA
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