| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 10.09.10 18:33l 57 Lines 2476 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 16195_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST VE7HFY
Subj: Today in History - Sep 10
Path: DB0FHN<DB0MRW<DK0WUE<7M3TJZ<ZL2BAU<VK2DOT<N0KFQ
Sent: 100910/1648Z @:N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA #:16195 [Branson] FBB7.00i $:16195_N
From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@WW
Sep 10, 1976:
Jets collide over Zagreb
Two jets collide in mid-air over Zagreb, Yugoslavia, killing 176
people on this day in 1976. Errors by an air-traffic controller
led to this deadly collision.
During the Cold War, flights between Europe and the Far East were
routed around the nations of the Soviet bloc. This made the
Zagreb air-traffic control region, in non-aligned Yugoslavia, one
of the busiest in the world. Still, it had a staff of only 30
people. Because it lacked sophisticated technology, Zagreb
air-traffic control relied on pilots transmitting their positions
to controllers so that they could chart planes' progress.
Ideally, the controllers would have been able to track planes
themselves using radar.
British Airways Flight 476 left Heathrow Airport in London for
Istanbul, Turkey, at 9:30 a.m. The Trident 3B was carrying 54
passengers and eight crew members. As the flight reached German
air space, an Inex charter airline flight took off from Split on
the Yugoslavian coast carrying 108 West German passengers
returning to Cologne from a holiday. Both planes were on course
to go through the Zagreb region.
Meanwhile, Zagreb's air-traffic control staff was working
shorthanded because one of the controllers was late for work.
Gradimir Tasic was in charge of getting the planes through the
area. Tasic, the youngest controller on duty, was working his
third straight 12-hour day and his assistant was not present. Two
other factors were critical in this disaster: The British Trident
jet was flying into the sunlight and thus had no opportunity to
see the DC-9 directly and Tasic was speaking Croatian to the Inex
flight, leaving the English-speaking British pilot in the dark as
to what was being said.
The left wing of the Inex DC-9 struck the cockpit of the Trident,
killing the British Airways pilots instantly. When the DC-9's
wing broke off, both planes were sent spiraling to the ground.
They landed about 4 miles apart, near the town of Vrobec, 16
miles northeast of Zagreb. All 176 people on the two planes died.
After the ensuing investigation, five air-traffic controllers and
two supervisors were charged with criminal negligence. Tasic,
however, was the only one ultimately brought to trial. He
received a seven-year prison sentence but was later released
after an international outcry by air-traffic controllers.
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
Using "Outpost Lite" Ver 2.2.1 c85
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
