1. Mid-Air Collision at Ueberlingen
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2. Overview
1st July 2002 at 21:35hrs a midair collision involving a DHL B757 and Bashkirian TU154 occurred over Uberlingen in southern Germany
It resulted in the total loss of both aircraft with 71 on board
It was a dark night, the moon had not yet risen above the horizon. Visibility at their flight level was 10k or more
Both aircraft were flying at FL 360 IFR
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3. DHL Boeing 757 Cargo Aircraft with 2 pilots on board
On route from Bahrain to Brussels with one intermediate stop at Bergamo
13:30 departed Bahrain
19:10 hrs landed Bergamo
21:06 hrs departed for Brussels
Captain – Age 47, hrs Co-Pilot – Age 34, 6604 hrs
Co-Pilot PF
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4. Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev TU154M
Passenger charter flight on route from Moscow to Barcelona
18:48 departed Moscow
5 flight deck crew & 4 cabin crew
60 passengers, mainly children
Capt (under supervision) – Age 52, hrs Instructor – Age 40, 8500 hrs Co-Pilot – Age 41, 7884 hrs (Sitting behind Capt with no official function on this flight) Flight Navigator – Age 51, hrs Flight Engineer – Age 37, 4191 hrs
Commander (Under Supervision) PF
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5. DHL B757 – Time Line 21:06 being flown by the co-pilot
21:34 He handed control to the Capt to visit the toilet situated at the rear of the cockpit
21:34 Received TCAS Traffic Advisory TA “Traffic, Traffic”
34:56 TCAS Resolution Advisory RA “Descend, Descend”
34:58 Commences descent in 12 seconds reaches 1500ft/min
35:05 Co-pilot returns, says “Traffic right there”, Capt responds “Yes”
35:10 TCAS “Increase descent”. Descent increased to 2600ft/min
35:19 Crew report the TCAS descent to Area Control Centre Zurich
35:21 Control column was pushed fully forward
21:35 The aircraft collides with the TU154 at 34,890 ft.
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6. Bashkirian TU154M – Time Line
21:34 TCAS generated a TA (“traffic, traffic“)
34:49 ATC “descend flight level 350, expedite, I have crossing traffic“
34:56 Descent commences
34:56 TCAS RA “climb, climb“
34:59 Copilot: “It says climb“. PIC: “He is guiding us down“
35:02 PF pulls the control column. Rate of descent ceases to increase
35:03 ATC “... descend level 350, expedite descend“
35:05 Rate of descent increased to more than ft/min
35:24 TCAS RA “increase climb“. Copilot “It says ‘climb”
35:27 Control column pulled back, minor increase of thrust
35:31 Full thrust, abrupt pull back, aircraft still descending
21:35 Collides with DHL 757
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7. B757 Tail Section & Engines
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9. TU154 Wreckage
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13. Any Questions
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14. Additional slides follow for reference if required
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15. ATC Zurich
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16. TCAS RA Indications
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17. Apparent Size Prior to Collision
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