Uberlingen Mid Air Collision - DISASTER BREAKDOWN

[@sailor664]

"He was an idiot and that was why he paid for it" his actions that night were wrong, BUT also the party more ultimately responsible was Sky guide for allowing such awfully timed maintenance and severe understaffing. I understand the man's feelings but he killed no villain, just a scapegoat. He is a fool in his own right.

[@peteconrad2077]

He wasn’t an idiot, you are. He was left in an impossible position.

[@sailor664]

@@peteconrad2077 Pete, did u even read my comment? I'm literally saying he wasn't an idiot, I'm saying he's not responsible.

[@tankthearc9875]

@@sailor664 be a man

[@sailor664]

@@tankthearc9875 I'm a woman u dumbass. How about u follow ur own advice and actually clarify your point.

[@tankthearc9875]

@@sailor664 a real man avenges his families death. , you will prob marry a neutered male .

[@ChaossX77]

The phones were down for maintenance? Holy shit... How is that even a thing? They didn't have backups for something so crucial?

[@TSERJI]

It would be smart if there are always 2 of a particular system in operation, so that just in case one is down for maintenance or some other reason, the other is still recording/transmitting vital information.

[@Aeroblyat]

That's the thing, there were.

[@rozsa-readgirl3476]

Wow, I live in Uberlingen and drive past this field every day. Such sad yet eerily peaceful place. The memorial is kept neat and lots of people pay tribute every day. Such a sad ending for everyone. Never knew about the control operator... May they all rest in peace.

[@memomorph5375]

I saw the string of beads memorial on Air Disasters... those poor passengers! For children to be ejected from the plane is unthinkable. I’m glad the crash was learned from

[@onlinemodus]

Schnauze

[@derpinguin7003]

Living in Überlingen and being unable to write it correctly. Pathetic.

[@lamboodabest]

I hope you see the ghosts of the children

[@Discosaturn]

A year before the Uberlingen mid-air collision there was an incident in which two Japan Airlines planes almost collided each other when a Boeing 747 descended as ordered by the flight controller while a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 descended as instructed by TCAS over Suruga Bay. Had a collision occurred not only it would have caused the worst air disaster with 677 dead (over 583 in the Tenerife disaster) but it may have been a wake-up call to flight controllers everywhere.

[@paulyoung7551]

Had that collision occured, there would've been sweeping changes instantly because of the amount of blood spilled. It's unfortunate that a near miss wasn't enough to garner attention and an accident needed to occur before real change happened.

[@mrkipling2201]

Unfortunately things only seem to change in regards to safety when people lose their lives. It would be so good to have safety systems and procedures the best they can be without people dying first.

[@fsg7710]

Ik that one

[@frankmueller6522]

Vitaly Kaloyev is a murderer and in my opinion he should go to prison for the rest of his life! Peter Nielsen never wanted to kill anybody and he was not the only person who made mistakes. Rest in peace to all victims! God bless them all! Amen!

[@xonx209]

When there is a near miss, the priority is to cover up.

[@5Andysalive]

There really shouldn't exist something called "down for maintainance" in atc for non-redundant systems.

[@brabhamF1]

Apparently the maintenance also included people making huge amounts of unnecessary noise, so there is another factor that could have lead to this and more people to ruthlessly murder. But hey I guess in Russia that ruthless murderer who defiled the memory of his innocent wife and child is a hero.

[@josepharnold8422]

I may have to disagree with you on this and I have work experience in this area. While I was in the Air Force I maintained the navigation and landing systems used in aviation. Like everything else man has designed and built they require maintenance at various intervals and at times that equipment has to be taken off line to perform that maintenance. There’s never a perfect time to take such equipment off line so that type maintenance is scheduled at times of least activity which is most likely was in this case. So I don’t fault the maintenance that was being performed. Maybe the controller that was on break should have been called back to his station.

[@oliviaaddams3454]

Wow, the original sentence was ONLY 8 years for premeditated murder. That seems shockingly low.

[@Neymarinet]

europeans be like "hes changed doe"

[@Wuchtamsel]

"Premeditation" is no category for murder in German law. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_German_law

[@tomk3732]

The controllers and other stuff got 1 year suspended sentences for their role. Not even 1 day behind bars. It turned out it was tragedy and no one really paid for it. Nobody. It was an "oops".

[@isabellind1292]

His wife & kids would be disgusted he killed the ATController while he was at home w/his wife & children present. The PI who helped this man track down Peter Neilson also can share in the blame since the airlines wouldn't give him the info so that's what he used the PI for who had to have known why the man was looking for Peter Neilson. He should have said "Find someone else to find him"! I think the killer is a despicable character.

[@user-no8md8cz5i]

@@isabellind1292 I can understand hum tho. His family perished. I don't agree with his actions, he shouldn't have done that. But c'mon. His wife and children were tragically killed. Not only that, he saw them dead in front of his eyes hours after the accident. Man needed help. Unfortunately it was too late....

[@davebeattie9573]

You missed an important part of the puzzle. In his last message to the Russian airliner, Peter Nielsen included an advisory to the Russian flight crew to look out for the crossing traffic on their right, while the DHL was infact approaching from their left. This meant that the Russian crew was looking the wrong way when they collided.

[@serenityinside1]

I’ve heard that also.

[@user-pz4yc7mv8r]

Honestly that really adds to what the father was getting at. How the fuck do you screw that up so badly

[@tsmftx7456]

It’s so weird if one of the 2 plane where on the ground for 3 seconds longer this would have just been a close call

[@Henry-gs8gm]

Is it weird? Think of all the disasters that are averted daily due to such small margins

[@pikachu6031]

The B757 crew did follow their TCAS exactly to the letter. However, the Bashkirian crew did not. All Pilots in the West are taught to Always follow TCAS instruction commands immediately and regardless of ATC instructions or clearances. In the former Soviet Union, it’s anybody’s guess! These countries and countries in Africa, with the exception of South Africa, have the highest incidence of aircraft losses in the entire world! Poor Peter Nielsen was made a scapegoat and blamed, it was not his fault, all his primary systems were down and he was working alone. It was a terrible tragedy and one that was totally preventable. The senseless and brutal murder of an already emotional wreck of a man, was shocking but was played down, almost as if it were justified! Ex-Virgin Atlantic B747-400 Pilot (Retd)

[@tazmania4513]

There are millions of close calls before something like this happens. No just one person is to blame in this incident.

[@JK-xt7ro]

@@pikachu6031 Well you can't expect soviets not to fuck up.. Just look at Chernobyl

[@xonx209]

Yes. But sooner or later a similar accident would happen because nothing is done to prevent it.

[@Cynsham]

There's hardly any conceivable way that Nielson could have done much more to prevent this from happening. He was working by himself, forced to assume the responsibilities of multiple controllers at once, with very limited precision equipment at his disposal, and he gave the Tu-154 an instruction that he genuinely thought would remedy the situation. I did feel a deep sense of sorrow at first for Vitaly based on the fact that he lost his wife and both children, also being the one to discover their bodies, but at the same time once I found out that he would personally place all blame upon Peter Nielson, enough to premeditate the man's murder in front of his own wife and children, I felt absolutely sick to my stomach. Maybe he had some sort of mental breakdown after the tragedy, but that does not in any way excuse or justify straight up, cold blooded, premeditated murder. It's beyond unhinged and really shows what kind of sick person he is that he can be proud about murdering someone in cold blood directly in front of their own children, and what's even more sad and frustrating is that when he went back to Russia and was praised as a hero for committing premeditated murder.

[@stoptikatheelephant]

You're absolutely correct. If Kaloyev just "wanted to talk" as some people put it, why did he turn up to the Nielsen home with a knife? To kill Nielsen was his plan all along, he is a cold blooded murderer. By his derranged logic, should Nielsen's traumatized kids turn up in his garden nowadays and stab him in front of his second wife and children? I am disgusted and shocked how many comments I've read that excuse Kaloyev's heinous actions...

[@tsepheletseka5115]

There is no mental disorder there. That man is a straight up sociopath and nothing but a cold blooded murderer. And the fact that he actually planned the murder right to the T just proves that. I have zero sympathy for him. I would rather save my sympathy for the family of Peter Nielson and the rest of the other families who lost loved ones in the accident. That man doesn't deserve anyone's sympathy. There was no mental breakdown. He had a choice on how to deal with his grief and he chose to commit murder.

[@tsepheletseka5115]

@@stoptikatheelephant Honestly I wish they would.

[@HunterPhenomMakoy]

“Wait, you’re doing maintenance and will be cutting the phone lines AND the radar?” “Yes” “Won’t it get chaotic with the other controllers up here?” “Oh I wouldn’t worry about that. . . .”

[@testaccount4191]

not my job...

[@benh4569]

^^^THIS. You NEVER work on 2 critical systems at once, let alone 3. Imagine a hospital tech coming into the ICU telling the floor nurse, 'yeah we got a call for a small deviation in the respirator monitor system...but since I was coming, my boss said do the monthly maintenance which we were gonna come for tomorrow anyway'. 'OK so we switch to back-up for the short time the system is down?' 'oh no - everything gotta be off. It's only for a short time, what could happen?'

[@HunterPhenomMakoy]

@@benh4569 the Dennis Nedry approach to maintenance.

[@benh4569]

@@HunterPhenomMakoy haha I didn't see the Jurassic Parks, hadda google to see who that was. Yup, as some1 in I.T. I had to remind corporate dweebs a few times, a) don't schedule work on >1 critical system at once, b) we can't do testing on the production systems without affecting live transactions/performance, c) please give us instant replication into a test area, and a separate server to do summary tables scripting nitely. But all that was corporate financial analytix - I can't imagine ever having to face that for life-sustaining systems as in Uberlingen. BTW Arnold Schwartzy did a decent movie loosely based on this, 'Aftermath'.

[@benh4569]

Ugh, I just macabrely realized, Uberlingen means 'superior success' - maybe change the town name to Unterdefekt

[@jennifercordova7229]

You can't blame the ATC in this crash. He was working with back-up systems, no phones, and he was alone. This crash was in no way his fault.

[@kimifur]

The thing I find amazing here is that the pilots of the Russian plane, during their debates about whether to obey TCAS or the controller, didn't simply tell the controller, "You asked us to descend but TCAS advises climb. Please confirm you still wish us to descend." Then Nielsen would have known that both planes were descending and this whole thing could have been avoided.

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

This is the most incisive comment I've read below this episode!! Really, seriously... Why? If you're given directions that appear to take you directly into danger, why wouldn't you radio ATC back to clarify, rather than starting a round-table discussion in the cockpit? If they had time for the latter, then surely for the former. To me, that seems almost the most culpable action taken here. Was there any known issue re. Russian crews' training or attitude around comms with ATC?

[@kimifur]

@@anna_in_aotearoa3166 Thank you, that's very kind of you to say. In fact, there may have been some issues regarding Russian training; they were taught to listen to ATC preferentially over cockpit. This may well have been the main reason why they ultimately-and fatefully-decided to listen to Nielsen rather than TCAS. I still feel that they must have realised that Nielsen couldn't have known what their TCAS was telling them, and giving him that information would not have been in conflict with the attitude of treating his instructions preferentially.

[@BLACKMONGOOSE13]

Also, I don’t know what standard procedure was then but today if an aircrew receives a TCAS alert, they advise ATC of the alert, and then tell ATC their intentions. So the air crew of DHL would have informed the same controller that they had TCAS alert, and they were descending. Nonetheless, I can’t imagine a scenario, even back then, that would allow an air crew to descend without advising ATC. That was the missing piece of the puzzle for ATC. The only other additional step that he could’ve done in my mind is ask DHL what they were doing. Then coordinate the movement between the two aircraft.

[@I_like_planes1]

Also if the DHL Flight also recieved a TCAS warning why didn't they Tell ATC. (At least He doesn't say that in the Story)

[@kimifur]

@@I_like_planes1 I don't think they need to, unless ATC gives them contradictory information.

[@thedave1771]

For those defending the murderer, what should the controller have done differently? And what information did he have that would have helped to make that decision? To me, the fault lies at the hands of the company of the Russian operated plane, for failing to adequately train the pilots on the differences in the rules between their home airspace and foreign airspace, and second, those who allowed the staffing situation to end up in a situation where one person was responsible for multiple consoles. Staffing might not have made a difference here though, because the controller did give instructions to resolve the conflict, in sufficient time to resolve the conflict. Nor did any pilot make a mistake, they all did what they were trained to do. I’d also argue strongly that relying on the system over the controller is better here. Consider what would happen under Russian rules, if the controller did the same thing: Instructed the Russian pilot to descend, made no notification to DHL about a collision: What would DHL have done? In the absence of a controller giving explicit instructions they would still have followed the alert and descended, so under Russian rules they would still have collided. TCAS works great if everyone uses it, but only if they use it as the exclusive authority when it triggers. To date there are zero collisions where all parties following TCAS alerts have collided, so the system works in practice as well as in theory.

[@ThatAviationGamer]

He was overworked, and undersupplied. It IS the company's fault. They cut his phones, radar AND traffic radar, so he had to rely on the crappy back-up systems. They didn't even send in another controller to help with his work, whilst he had to deal with more than his own screen.

[@thedave1771]

​@@ThatAviationGamer I wouldn't say the company had no fault, but maintenance does happen, and equipment will be down, people take breaks or get sick, that is all unavoidable. Sure, they could have made sure to have extra staff during maintenance windows, tried to coordinate outages to be less disruptive, and actually had adequate staff on a regular basis, all of that might have prevented this incident. But it might not either. If you could retroactively change exactly one and only one thing to prevent this situation from occurring, the *only* thing that would have prevented this collision is to have the Russian pilots trained to follow TCAS to the exclusion of everything else. In Russian airspace the correct decision is (at least, was) to follow the controller, in European and North American airspace you follow TCAS, and since they were in European airspace, the Russian crew is at fault.

[@streettrialsandstuff]

In order to determine whether the ATC was guilty one should ask one simple question: what is the procedure for a controller in this situation? I don't really know actually. However, what I did know before watching this video is that TCAS has the precedence, and I'm not even a pilot. Why didn't the Russian plane follow the procedure? Were they confused? Sure they were. But that TCAS rule was made for this exact scenario and they should have known better.

[@junjun366]

@@streettrialsandstuffthis is very late but the tcas having complete priority over atc commands happened after this accident. Before this it was very vague in how pilots would deal with near collision

[@thatoneyoutuberofohio]

Historys bouts repeat... *holding a knife and walking to vitaly*

[@romanticsweetheart]

Geez, to meet a horrific tragedy with more brutal death, murdering someone in front of his own family and traumatising them all for life. Such darkness in an already shadowed world of tremendous grief and loss . Such heartlessness when so many hearts were already broken....

[@natashacutiepie6074]

I would've done the same thing. Screw his family.

[@kevinwydler4405]

@@natashacutiepie6074 sure "Natasha cutie pie"

[@seppiluthold5014]

@@natashacutiepie6074 You are a horrible human being.

[@tescheurich]

Grief's grim failure of imagination. Peter Nielsen learned to be a systems thinker and to speak from the heart about the dangers messed up working conditions and excessive profit hunger that day. That he was killed makes flying and the world at large less safe. The killer's lack of remorse is a pose, a defense mechanism to avoid facing the truth that his senseless act of revenge destroyed one of the aftermath's most vital resources.

[@jcman240]

If Popov pulled that shit in the US he'd be doing life in prison... what a joke of a sentence he received

[@chilewhyureadinthis4674]

why did the private investigator accept to provide kaloyev with the controller's address? wouldn't he know that's potentially dangerous?

[@GrumpyIan]

Kaloyev probably didn't tell the P.I. that he was planning on killing him and was probably given something like to see how the dude was reacting knowing he was the biggest reason the incident happened.

[@Neymarinet]

@@GrumpyIan also russians. there's a huge stigma against them and their diaspora, for reasons including this.

[@andyisdead]

Private investigators can be criminals too

[@bumerlad2170]

they dont care as long as they get paid

[@spaceymen]

Money

[@blerst7066]

R.I.P all the passengers and crew, plus Nielson, the controller. They were killed because they were in the wrong place in the wrong time.

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

Nielson was stalked and then murdered in his own home by a psychotic killer.

[@EneTheGene]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver Who stalked and murdered him because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[@thatoneyoutuberofohio]

i know him 🔪

[@froggyplatypus]

“I only murdered him because he didn’t invite me over to his house so I could murder him”

[@Luka_menorykee]

I honestly believe he wouldn't have been murdered if he wasn't so German and if he'd invited the guy to the house. I've met guys like that father and I also live in Germany for a while now and can see what the people and the most of my neighbors are like. They're acting dismissive and are really not acting humanly when dealing with strangers. It's not something that is normal in the rest of the world. That kind of behavior, and refusal to acknowledge others as human beings is probably what would have prompted me to act as well, if I had lost my wife and kids due to him. Not sure I'd ever go so far, but if it would ever bring me to his yard with a knife, yeah, it would trigger me as well, despite just coming to get a closure...

[@blerst7066]

He's certainly mad.

[@tankthearc9875]

if he did so and explained th whole situation he may b alive today .

[@RideAcrossTheRiver]

@@Luka_menorykee The ATC was not at fault.

[@Luka_menorykee]

@@RideAcrossTheRiver I know, but that is completely irrelevant to the point I was making

[@omegaman1409]

Not even two years in prison. Practically got away with murder. I bet he didn't get even paroled since he is in Russia.

[@surgeon1016]

Yeah he got off because he acted out of grief and to make matters worse his home country gave him an honour award for killing the ATC

[@potatofuryy]

@@surgeon1016 actually disgusting

[@dfuher968]

@@surgeon1016 Im still outraged. To murder the controller would still have been wrong, if he had done it in the immidiate aftermath of losing his entire family. But waiting a year, hiring a PI to track down the controller, flying all the way from Russia to Switzerland, getting a knife, THEN going to see the controller at his house and stabbing him several times to be sure to finish him off. Thats not grief. Thats being a vindictive bastard, who took his time carefully planning a premeditated murder. The original sentence was an insult to the victim and his wife and 3 kids, who watched the murder. Letting the prick out and sending him home to an award and a friggin parade???? I cant even find the words to describe the injustice.

[@85LARGE]

@@dfuher968 an insult was that nobody ever served time for killing so many children. If the law fails, matters should be taken in to own hands.

[@Karlmcewan]

@@dfuher968 like the injustice of someone causing the deaths of a hundredish people and facing no repercussions.

[@rmooreg]

Mid air collisions of this type are stupefying when you consider that had either plane been 10 seconds ahead of or behind in their fight path, they would have missed each other completely.

[@tescheurich]

10 is generous. About 3/4 of a second would have settled it.

[@rmooreg]

@@tescheurich Right, 10 seconds is more than enough, I was just being over cautious. Too bad those involved weren't that night. This crash involved sort of the "perfect storm" of circumstances for tragedy. The chaos at ATC due to repairs/maintenance, and understaffing due to lax management along with the Russian pilots being poorly or incorrectly in regard to TCAS and it's basic premise which is if TCAS deploys, you must follow it's instructions. It's out of ATC's hands. If TCAS gives you a command, it will be giving the other aircraft opposite instructions. It was designed specifically for situations where ATC is unavailable or in error. Apparently the Russians trained to do only as instructed by Russian authority. ( I think...?). The other wildly improbable factor was that the Russian passengers had been late and missed their original flight and had to wait overnight and into the next afternoon before being booked on the doomed plane as a replacement flight, only to enter into a collision course with destiny. If they had been on time for their original flight, none of this even happens. So is it Fate? Coincidence? God? ... Putin ? Or human error coupled with plain old bad luck? Whichever it was, Peter got the blame.

[@Cynsham]

The "Swiss Cheese Model" illustrates exactly how these sorts of horrific tragedies can occur. It's never just one singular mistake that causes a situation like this, it's always a continuous buildup of small mistakes and circumstantial problems that eventually line up absolutely perfectly to culminate in a deadly accident.

[@dnssvdr]

This happened on July 1st, 2002. I began my career as an ATC 15 days later. Studying this case was practically an obligation back then and since then. Horrible tragedy for all those involved.

[@learnerm3120]

I lost track of how many things went wrong or came together to ensure that this accident happened, If anyone of those incidents had transpired differently, the accident would have been averted. It is if there was an appointment with destiny or fate, So sad.

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

And yet the dumbass took out all his rage on one individual who contributed only one mistake to the whole series of mistakes. If the Russians were trained to trust their instruments or the lines weren't down, poor Nielson is still alive

[@Interitus1]

There is actually more to this that is ignored. With the 5 people in the Russian cockpit. There was disagreement over if they should ascend of descend. If I remember right, despite not being the captain, the first officer who had seniority (in the company) insisted they descend.

[@endtimeslastdays7777]

Say what??! He killed that man! They let him out of prison early??! They give him a hero's welcome??! Horrible!!!!

[@potatofuryy]

The world isn’t fair

[@irdanwhou]

Earth-shattering perspective. Unit your comment, I thought the world was fair.

[@fluffyty19]

This channel is awesome! You should have many, many more subscribers! I love the in-depth analysis and background.

[@Sphicks1919]

I feel like suppressed handgun fire followed this

[@BryanChance]

I'm surprised it's not 100,000+.Subs

[@dodoubleg2356]

I've followed multiple accounts from various outlets on this horrible disaster, & while the pilots actions on both planes make sense, there's 1 THING that I have yet to understand... I'm assuming that, being in the same airspace, both aircraft were on identical radio frequencies, & should be able to hear the instructions from ATC given to the Tupolev to descend. If that's the case, why wouldn't the DHL crew call in that their TCAS was ALSO telling them to descend as well?? The ONLY explanation would be if the aircraft were on different frequencies...but that's specifically why flight crews are told to tune to whatever the frequency is in that area...so that everyone is on the same page, aircraft can submit & obtain PIREPS which are then received by every aircraft in that airspace, as well as avoid situations such as this. Am I missing something?

[@peteconrad2077]

The Tupolev pilots action don’t make sense. They should have followed TCAS.

[@dodoubleg2356]

@@peteconrad2077 one might think that in hindsight, however at that time, Russian pilots were trained to follow ATC instructions, which they did, while much of the world outside of Russia was trained to follow TCAS.

[@peteconrad2077]

@@dodoubleg2356 The ICAO Standard AT THE TIME was to follow TCAS. As signatories to the Chicago Convention, the Russians had no business training their crews otherwise.

[@dodoubleg2356]

@@peteconrad2077 you're right, the Russians had no biz training their crews otherwise...but they did, which is why saying that each flight crew in this situation did EXACTLY what they were TRAINED to do is 100% accurate. Were the Russians negligent in not training their crews to ICAO standards?? Absolutely...but the bottom line remains that the Russian crew did what they were trained to do...follow ATC instructions as opposed to following TCAS instructions when receiving conflicting instructions...that's the only point I'm trying to make here.

[@peteconrad2077]

@@dodoubleg2356 yes, so it was their actions that led to the accident. Root cause will arrive at training but it was, inescapably, their actions that caused the collision.

[@sarahlouise7163]

aside from anything else, the murderer hired a private detective who must have recognised the name of the man he was paid to find, thus enabling the murderer

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

Legit, I can't believe in the UK that is in any way legal. Total invasion of privacy even if he hadn't been killed. Makes you wonder if there's ever been some creep who used a PI to track down someone to stalk them or something

[@rohan-ghosh]

One of the saddest thing is that the kids travelled on an overnight train to Moscow and arrived on 29 June, then, as their driver accidentally took them to the wrong airport, they missed their original flight.

[@Operngeist1]

It's weird that it wasn't a procedure for ATC to contact both planes, or ask either of them if they have TCAS active. (Or maybe that was the case and the controller was overwhelmed with having to work two stations while his colleague took a snooze)

[@dfuher968]

He didnt have to ask about TCAS, theyre required to have it. And priority is getting 1 plane to change direction/altitude, calling both might cause confusion or waste valuable time. The controller actually followed the procedure, once he was aware of the situation. So did the DHL crew.

[@Karlmcewan]

@@dfuher968 Why would it be the rule to potentially change what TCAS is saying without making sure both planes do different things. The ATC had no idea if the time knowing which craft was told which. This incident, and the fact that he was directly responsible shows as much.

[@troodon1096]

@@Karlmcewan He was not directly responsible. If both crews followed TCAS, which international standards stated they should, the collision would never have happened.

[@AshleesBathroom]

@@Karlmcewan the ATC wouldn't have known what the TCAS was telling each plane. He wouldn't have known which plane was being told to go up and which one is being told to go down.

[@TSERJI]

@@AshleesBathroom I am under the belief that it is now international law for pilots to always prioritize TCAS messages over ATC messages.

[@calmcgowan1262]

2 years for murder??? 2 YEARS??? What has our world come to?

[@rugbynimbus]

Well the important thing is that the spirits of his wife and children will rest easier knowing that he's a murderer in their names, right? I know that's what I'd want -- for someone I love to come unhinged and avenge me, ruining what's left of their lives. Bravo.

[@IridescentPigsie]

He blamad the controller but what did the wife and children do? He inflicted on them the same pain he felt, arguably even worse fot the children. The wife and children were deffinitly completely innocent and that effing murderer is a monster. He didnt take revenge, he just distroyed 3 more innocent lives.

[@GlenShannon]

I'd rather not be on a flight that exposes ways in which the industry can move forward and protect future passengers.

[@The-EDM-Route]

Same here

[@MrNicoJac]

Although totally understandable, most of those flights end without the passengers noticing anything different :P

[@Zyphera]

In short when two system collides errors will happen. In this case TCAS vs control tower.

[@troodon1096]

Which is why TCAS is supposed to take priority. The DHL plane followed it; if the Bakshirian plane did as well the collision never would have happened.

[@CCCW]

Good videos, but something is off with the sound mixing. Music often is louder than your voice.

[@rick15666]

the music is indeed a bit over-modulated, I think some of them are like that, for some reason. Honestly doesn’t even bother me, being so thankful for the overall quality on this channel. I think it seemed worse with this video in particular because telling this story required a hell of a lot of backstory/details, just a bit too loud for a bit too long, may have made it a little hard to hear all the details. Again I’m not disagreeing but I don’t think it’s anywhere near “bad” to the point of needing to be re-done, but a good thing for him to note for future videos.

[@eucaminty1366]

I watched the mayday about it and I guess it was released before he was murdered. I remember watching his interview and everything. I never knew he was murdered until now... That brings me sadness to see that someone thought it would be his fault after being all alone in that tower with no help.

[@championsreid7529]

No he had already been killed at the time

[@travisgartside409]

I've had SO MANY different lines of work where taking a break just isnt possible for certain reasons depending on the job. I cant believe a flight controller would take a break leaving 1 operator to run 2 stations. I hope that guy was fired or atleast cant sleep at night because of nightmares of what happened to those children!!!

[@SuperNuclearUnicorn]

It really isn't the other guy's fault. It's how things were run. An exhausted ATC is just as bad as a drunk ATC really. The blame is on the company for not supplying sufficient staff or having adequate backups

[@ThatAviationGamer]

Not really his fault, he got overworked and undersupplied. His traffic radar was cut without him knowing, cut his phones and main radar. He couldn't live with what just happened, and later got MURDERED, by someone.

[@chuugalaxy1544]

There was a photo Of Svetlana Kayolevs body . It really shows how violent this crash was people Were ripped apart after flying out the Tupokev

[@kirilbogatinov9049]

Where can we find that photo ?

[@londonaviation6233]

@@kirilbogatinov9049 i found it after a google search

[@ZacParsonsComedy]

@@londonaviation6233 can’t find it

[@legoferrari14]

A breakdown in communication; both through hardware & spoken word, and differing international standards of procedure were the largest contributing factors to the incident. The complacency from Skyguide meant the Comms station was undermanned and technically compromised.

[@anna_in_aotearoa3166]

As @kimifur has very sensibly commented, too, there seems like maybe a communication culture issue here too, given the Russian crew seemingly didn't radio ATC back to query the hazardous instruction...? They discussed it amongst themselves, but unless Chloe has omitted something in their coverage, this one is weird... Did they just read back the instruction and then stop communicating with ATC? Given Nielsen was manning two separate frequencies, would he have heard them if they made a query call? I am left perplexed! What a horrendous incident though, all those kids & families destroyed 😭

[@wtflorian4119]

Stumbled upon your channel by accident - now i'm glad i did, great content, keep it up

[@jmm2000]

Other recommend clips of mid-air collisions are TWA and United over New York City, Saudi Airlines and a Russian converted military passenger plane over India; the worst collision ever, Areomexico and a private plane over a suburb of Los Angeles, PSA and small plane over San Diego, GOL Airlines and a private Embraer jet over Brazil; the Embraer survived the crash, USAir and commuter jet; collision on the runway at LAX.

[@BobbyGeneric145]

Tcas will also tell you to "MONITOR VERTICAL SPEED" which means don't change anything. I think it also has a Level Off command.

[@PRC_E5]

My grandpa told me about this a long time ago. He lives in nearby Konstanz so he heard it. So sad

[@geoffreyludkin8672]

Trust a Russian to somehow twist this tragedy into an affront against the motherland.

[@joeboden8898]

True they have for the passed 125 year's.

[@Exodon2020]

Imagine Russia's reaction if family members of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 would murder people involved with deploying state of the art SAM-units to untrained peasants because they hold these people responsible for the deaths of their loved ones. Doubt they would receive such a laughable term.

[@PsychoKat90]

Please don't paint all Russians with one brush, we are not all unstable like Vitaly. I feel sorry for what he did, even if he doesn't. An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

[@geoffreyludkin8672]

@@PsychoKat90 thank you for your response. I apologize for any offense that I caused you.

[@PsychoKat90]

@@geoffreyludkin8672 thank you, I appreciate it.

[@zombieskilledmydad]

It’s crazy how someone can literally murder someone and then go “aw yea I’m mental lad” then get off free of charge

[@floijd]

I get your point, but he did not "get off free of charge." He was initially sentenced to 8 years in prison, which was later reduced to 5 years of which he served 2/3. After that he was released on parole.

[@JK-xt7ro]

@@floijd 8 years for murder. I need to know the name of his lawyer :D

[@floijd]

@@JK-xt7ro Please don't go and kill people in Switzerland!

[@JK-xt7ro]

@@floijd r/woooosh

[@floijd]

Why else would you need to know... aaah forget about it. Genius reference though!

[@marcelv.birgelen2166]

Air Traffic Controllers operate from dedicated Air Traffic Control Centers, not from airport towers, like depicted in this video. ATC Centers are more or less ordinary buildings, most of which have one or more OPS rooms that house the controllers. There is no need to build them high-up, like towers as they often control the airspace of an entire country or large parts of it. Most ATCs only handle a specific altitude range in the airspace assigned to them. Although some ATCs have been constructed near airfields, the only reason to do so, is either politically motivated or the proximity of commonly needed infrastructure. Airport towers really just handle the very first and very last part of every normal flight.

[@PixelTrain1]

this accident was handled disgustingly, other then a few laws that came out of it they kinda just labeled it a big "oops"

[@TheYottaTube]

That was interesting and horrible at the same time.

[@kaankahraman9513]

The saddest part is, that a lot of children were sucked out and fell from that height , which probably took several mintues in full concious. 😥

[@ttheone3518]

Great Video! I think that the next video should be on Aeroperu 603, because of how a small piece of tape could turn a nightmare into reality, and it would be nice to have more CVR and ATC recordings since many crashes have these recordings.

[@yasirmohammedali]

The ATC did nothing wrong, he did his job , all that happened is that both him and the TCAS reacted to the situation at the same time, but solve it in opposite way.... it is the laxity of applying accurate steps when TCAS contradict the instructions what caused the accident. Russian plane should reply : we have TCAS ...

[@_CARKENT]

I just wanted to say to please never quit KZbin. The quality and quantity of these videos are insane and you will soon be at 1mil+ subscribers in no time

[@joenormanmusic]

Oh my God wasn't this turned into a movie with Arnie? I remember the pearls and Arnie kills the air traffic controller at the end. It's called "Aftermath"

[@RickL_was_here]

Yes, this is what that movie was based on.

[@Stenbrotsgatan]

Yes. I have it on Blu-ray

[@Wolfgangtailchase]

I have some friends who live in überlingen, they saw when the planes fell from the sky, the crash site is just a couple of km from where they live.

[@trishayamada807]

Sorry for the loss of life, but you do not take the law into your own hands. That was really disgusting.

[@spongebubatz]

Not to forget Nielsen can’t really be blamed for the accident

[@britbongtankie]

The CVR of this disaster is especially horrible because the Tu-154's CVR is stored near the front of the aircraft, meaning that it kept recording the cockpit audio after the nose broke off

[@bena6575]

amazing production, and best of luck with your future endeavors

[@Bobman84]

Most will not know, but there have actually been a number of Tupolev 134 & 154 mid-air collisions in the Soviet era in Europe. This was the first and most high profile of them though, especially in peaceful times.

[@mrkipling2201]

Such a sad case with a horrible ending . It also shows that aviation procedures should be the same all around the world.

[@OmegaCorsair]

RIP All those Involved 22 Years later We’ll Never forget..

[@charlotteinnocent8752]

He should not have received a hero's welcome. And he SHOULD experience remorse. I would have felt compassion for him otherwise. No, he's a murderer, and that is all.

[@JOYOUSONEX]

Pilots must ALWAYS obey TCAS. No exceptions. Right ??

[@billythekid3234]

JOYPUSONEX YES 100% of the time!

[@dfuher968]

Thats the international standard.

[@mide9876]

Bakarshian had a policy of using TCAS only as a back up but instead use ATC

[@dnssvdr]

I believe that wasn’t standard back then.

[@tommcglone2867]

Oleg Gigrgoiev was Basksirian Airlines Chief Pilot. And he had been taught from cadet upwards to allow ATC regardless as was the norm in the Soviet block. He simply reverted to his training as he was taught. The collision was an inevitable clash of training styles and poor sheduling of ATC mainteneance for the unaware controller the late Peter Nisellen.

[@Idontmeanyou]

Amazing video as always :) I'll be patiently waiting for more!

[@ad5286]

Vitaly is a monster.

[@davidjr4903]

You misspelled HERO

[@snowyfoxmc8]

@@davidjr4903 bruh hes a monster murdering Peter Nielsen infront of his wife and children WOW your saying hes a HERO bruh your dumb if you were Peter Nielsen and get stabbed would you call him a HERO bruh

[@deividasverbickas6233]

​@@davidjr4903are you okay? Vitaly murdered a person who had basically everything turned off and had to manage 2 stations.

[@davidjr4903]

oh no poor him, having to manage 2 stations at once how difficult oh my god that totally justifies him killing innocent people and children u fkin imb3cile@@deividasverbickas6233

[@devdanharyowicaksono8396]

@@deividasverbickas6233 but how do you feel when you lost your entire family just in one night?..the angry,he have right to be angry..but yes i understand he put his angry at wrong person,but do you understand how the father felt?

[@KillMePlease680]

Kaloyev is a monster

[@potatofuryy]

No shit

[@thomasmyers9128]

1/2 sec ..... if one of them started or delayed their take off just by 1/2 second They would of missed each other 😳

[@MB-ln9nv]

8 years for premeditated murder. Crazy.

[@danielabackstrom]

That man is fucking insane. It angers me that he got considered a hero

[@maxfernandes8559]

The man who got away in this whole tragedy was the ATC who dodged his duty and went to take a nap, while putting all his duties on Nielsen.

[@manuelvalentin2648]

I have recently watched the movie 'Aftermath' (feat Arnold Schwarzenegger) which is loosely based on this event.

[@DQ_Forever]

The murderer is disgusting. Evil. The controller made a horrible mistake. The murderer was cheered, killing with prededitation. Shame on him and all those foul, disgusting people. Sick, ugly people with no hearts.

[@drakecoleman9364]

Great videos, but this one, the music was too loud or maybe even unneeded at parts. or maybe your voice wasnt loud enough. but i think the music just shouldve been quieter.

[@MrROTD]

That guy is an asshole for murdering the controller and it didnt bring his family back did it?

[@DivineLioness]

I wish you would make more videos, i love this channel. I’m sad you only have like 10 up here /:

[@DisasterBreakdown]

Thank you for your comment, I appreciate it. That is thankfully changing. I'm uploading much more regularly now and plan to keep doing so for a long time. Thanks

[@collateralpigeon2151]

Great content but that background tone/music is ear piercing.

[@ultra_01]

so much sky and yet they collide

[@5tuartGuy]

8 years for premeditated murder, jesus christ

[@eliargumedo4728]

Dang. That must’ve been stressful. Working two stations, phones are down, and noticing a possible collision. Still, I don’t know why or how he mistakenly told the passenger plane to descend. Shouldn’t he have had the same instruments that let him know to inform the plane to ascend?

[@11brightman]

I hope you know how awesome this channel is. You rock!!

[@Stephengirty]

This is one of the most horrible stories.

[@cameronlook7823]

8yrs for premeditated murder?? That would be grounds for execution in America.

[@soulman4292]

8 years is a shockingly low sentence for a dude with ZERO remorse. This is like honor killing shit, and the Swiss government just said “yea but he was upset” Two wrongs simply don’t make a right, and for him to say afterwards “he nobody to me” is INSANE.

[@beenaplumber8379]

I wonder if the authorities asked him about Nielsen's wife & kids? Were they nobody? Okay, the guy had suffered inexpressible loss and trauma, but regardless of a fair trial (and if the brief description is correct, I support overturning the conviction and granting him a new trial), he was a danger to society. It seems his actions were not in dispute, only the conduct of the trial. He needed to remain in detention. Non-culpability due to mental illness or mental state does not mean dangerous people should be released.

[@jonathanzopf6444]

3 Years prison for stabbing somebody death? I hope this is just a joke

[@gneisenau7584]

In Turkey they get months

[@geraldbuckley5925]

No joke, this man is hardly a hero, welcomed back into his authoritarian culture. No justice here.

[@AdamSmith-gs2dv]

@@geraldbuckley5925 How would you feel if your wife and children were killed because of some idiots mistake? Good God man I know that murdering someone is wrong but put yourself in this guy's shoes.

[@kamikuru5398]

@@AdamSmith-gs2dv it was found that it wasn't the air traffic controllers mistake but the higher-ups mistake

[@zebimicio5204]

@@AdamSmith-gs2dv It wasn't a murderous intent. Which made the killing more ridicolous.

[@rainyan6632]

More and don't stop with just airplane, make more! Your vids explain in details and interesting voice

[@belleann2479]

Wow thank you for this amazing video Disaster Breakdown!!!

[@kristiankumpumaki8701]

Great vids you make bro but also the music is great where you find all this great soundtracks?

[@antoniofdez620]

This murderer couldn't make any mistake because he wasn't smart enough to be a controller in the first place.

[@antoniofdez620]

​@@peteconrad2077 Yes, he brought back to life his family by stabbing defenseless person in the chest, the kind of thing the smartest people in the world usually do.

[@peteconrad2077]

@@antoniofdez620 I thought you were calling the controller a murderer. Your comment is ambiguous.

[@jamesd.9955]

Just saw the Netflix movie. I actually thought it was ok. The actual ending would have been even more shocking than the ending that was filmed for the movie, but I can see why they filmed it that way. Sad for everyone involved.

[@sv9943]

Can you please share the movie title on Netflix? Would like to watch it too

[@jamesd.9955]

@@sv9943 Aftermath.2017. Stars Arnold Schwarzenegger.

[@alexandrbekker882]

@@jamesd.9955 Also there is a russian movie, Непрощённый-Unforgiven 2018.

[@gneisenau7584]

Sad

[@johnmarston8164]

Somehow I really hate what Kovalev done, he should rot in prison.

[@Viss_Valdyr]

Nitpick: It is written Überlingen, not Uberlingen. If you don't have an ü then Ueberlingen is correct.

[@jonasbluntson5864]

The sky is so big an they still collide

[@marialeniethcayetano7484]

Do the Grand Canyon mid-air Collision please

[@marianneswissgerman3288]

RIP ALL VICTIMS OF BOTH PLANS.RIP PETER NIELSEN ,THE LAST VICTIM OF THIS TRAGEDY🌹🥀

[@SnakePlissken224]

The movie aftermath is lovely based on this incident

[@katyaa2447]

I think the ATC was at fault, but he did not deserve to be murdered and it wasn't that man's place to take his life (whatever he may have believed).

[@spongebubatz]

I partly agree with you, it’s very important to say that the main fault is with skyguide for letting the controllers work without sufficient systems

[@peteconrad2077]

He wasn’t at fault.

[@chriswhite-vk4et]

love the videos keep them coming

[@darksoul6482]

You are very underrated youtuber. You deserve more sub.

[@Doggie0k0k]

The thumbnail looks like a merged up livery of Uzbekistan airlines and bashkirian airlines