Air Traffic Execs Guilty
September 4, 2007
"The accused are guilty of multiple cases of manslaughter," said presiding judge Rainer Hohler at the Bülach district court near Zurich.
Three of those found guilty were managers of the air traffic control company Skyguide, and were handed one-year suspended jail sentences for negligent manslaughter.
The fourth person, who was in charge of maintenance work on traffic control equipment at the time of the crash, was fined 13,500 Swiss francs (8,200 euros; $11,200) and sentenced to 90 days in jail. All four will have to pay court cost of 25,000 francs.
Insufficient protection in place
The judge said the Skyguide managers had failed to exercise sufficient care by leaving just one air traffic controller in charge of the southern German and eastern Swiss airspace at the time.
A second air traffic controller was taking an authorized break when the collision occurred.
"Staffing the entire ACC (Zurich air control) at night with only one controller goes completely against air traffic security principles," the judge said, according to a Reuters news report.
Due to repair work, some plane radar systems were also out of action at the time of the collision.
Four other Skyguide employees who were on trial for contributing to circumstances that led to the crash were acquitted.
Children on vacation died in crash
The July 1, 2002 accident involved a Russian passenger jet and a DHL-operated cargo plane, which collided in Swiss-controlled airspace over the town of Überlingen in southern Germany.
Most of the Russians on board the passenger plane were schoolchildren on their way to a holiday in Spain.
The lone air traffic controller on duty at the time of the 2002 disaster was stabbed to death in 2004 by a Russian man who lost his wife and children in the crash.
The Swiss district prosecutor had called for jail sentences of six to 15 months for the managers and surviving air traffic controller.
The head of Skyguide asked for forgiveness and the Swiss president offered an official state apology to Russia.
"We, for our part, are convinced that this tragedy is attributable primarily to systemic causes in the interplay between people, technology and procedures," interim Skyguide chief executive Francis Schubert said in a statement. "Skyguide has learned the lessons from this tragic event, and has done everything to ensure that an accident of this kind cannot happen again."