This is a tragic story that started in 2002

On July 1, 2002, Skyguide was operating with a single air traffic controller who told the pilot of the Russian Tupolev plane to descend to avoid a collision, even though early-warning instruments aboard the plane had told the pilots to climb.

The DHL Boeing 757’s automatic anti-collision system also instructed its pilots to descend to the same level.

The plane’s tail fin sliced open the Russian passenger jet and both aircraft disappeared from radar screens 15 seconds later. Sixty-nine people on the Russian jet, most of them children, as well as two pilots on the German plane were killed.

Skyguide operated with “severe organizational deficiencies” while controlling air space over much of southern Germany.

Vitaly Kaloyev, convicted of murdering a Swiss air traffic controller he blamed for the deaths of his wife and children, has returned home.

The 51-year-old was found guilty of premeditated homicide in 2005 after he hacked Danish born Peter Nielsen to death in a frenzied attack.

Nielsen was the only person on duty for Swiss company Skyguide when a Russian plane collided with a cargo jet over Germany in July 2002.

Kaloyev’s wife and two children were among the 71 people who died. Kaloyev flew to Germany after the crash.

He apparently pulled his daughter’s dead body from the wreckage. His wife and son were said to be unrecognisable.

Kaloyev, who was angry because Skyguide failed to apologise for his loss, eventually tracked Nielsen down to his home in Switzerland.

He wanted to show Nielsen pictures of his children to make him understand the gravity of what had happened.

This picture shows the bedroom of his wife Svetlana, Diana and Konstantin in their home in Vladikavkaz.

Kaloyev says he remembers the photographs dropping to the ground but then says his mind went blank.

Nielsen’s bloodsoaked body was later found to have been stabbed 17 times.

The crash is Germany’s worst air disaster.

Kaloyev’s sentence was reduced on appeal in July - the hearing ruled that he had acted with diminished responsibility.

His lawyers have always claimed that his experiences pushed him over the edge.

Kaloyev’s story, which has received a great deal of media attention, has brought him widespread sympathy in Russia.

Source: SKY

Filed under: Airliner, Germany, News, Russian, Skyguide, collision, jet, traffic controller