Crossair Flight 498
Saab 340B | |
Operator | Crossair |
---|---|
IATA flight No. | LX498 |
ICAO flight No. | CRX498 |
Call sign | CROSSAIR 498 |
Registration | HB-AKK |
Flight origin | Zurich Airport, Switzerland |
Destination | Dresden Airport, Germany |
Occupants | 10 |
Passengers | 7 |
Crew | 3 |
Fatalities | 10 |
Survivors | 0 |
Crossair Flight 498 (LX498/CRX498) was a scheduled commuter flight from Zürich, Switzerland, to Dresden, Germany. On 10 January 2000, the Saab 340B operating the flight crashed two minutes after takeoff in the Swiss municipality of Niederhasli on 10 January 2000, killing all 10 passengers and crew. It was the one of two fatal crash for the Swiss regional airline Crossair in its 25-year history, the other was Crossair Flight 3597 which crashed less than 2 years later during approach to Zurich.[1]
The accident was investigated by the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and a final report was issued in 2000. The AAIB concluded that the crash was due to a loss of control resulting from multiple human failures.[2]: pp.104–107
Aircraft and crew
The Saab 340B is a twin-engined turboprop
Crossair was in the process of phasing out its fleet of 34 Saab-340 type planes; at the time of the accident, it had replaced 17 of them with
The three-person crew was made up of 41-year-old Moldovan pilot Pavel Gruzin, who was the pilot in command, 35-year-old Slovak co-pilot Rastislav Kolesár, who was serving as the first officer, and Severine Jabrin, a French flight attendant.[6][7] Gruzin had 8,100 hours of flying time, with 1,900 in the Saab 340 type. Kolesár had about 1,800 total hours, with 1,100 hours in the Saab 340 type.[6][8]
Event
The plane was scheduled to depart from
At 5:56 p.m. CEST (16:56 UTC), one minute and 56 seconds into the flight, the plane disappeared from radar screens and crashed into a field, instantly lighting up over 2000kg of jet fuel.
Passengers
Four of the passengers were Germans, while the other three passengers were French, Swiss, and Spanish.
Final tally of passenger nationalities | |||
---|---|---|---|
Nationality | Passengers | Crew | Total |
Germany | 4 | 0 | 4 |
France | 1 | 1 | 2 |
Switzerland | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Spain | 1 | 0 | 1 |
Moldova | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Slovakia | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Total | 7 | 3 | 10 |
At the time of the crash, Crossair was a majority owned subsidiary of
The crash came about in the midst of a bitter labor-management dispute between Crossair and its pilots over a possible pay raise and work rules changes. The pilots' union had just canceled pay agreements with Crossair in December 1999, with a termination effective in summer 2000. In addition, and prior to the accident, two Crossair pilots told Swiss media that some foreign pilots employed by Crossair posed a safety risk because of an insufficient knowledge of English. These two pilots were fired by Crossair, but were then elected to head the pilots' union, "Crossair Cockpit Personnel (CCP)".[6][8] An investigation of the accident later revealed that the pilot Gruzin and copilot Kolesár were only able to communicate with each other in English, but Gruzin's ability to speak English was too limited to hold more than a basic conversation.[10]
After the crash, both Crossair and CCP, including the pilots who had previously spoken to the media and been fired, publicly stated that the coincidence between the accident and the dispute was very unfortunate and that reports about pilot error being involved in the crash were speculation,[8] although this conclusion was later established to be the probable cause of the accident.[2]: p.108
Investigation
Background
An examination of pilot Pavel Gruzin's body revealed traces of the drug phenazepam, a benzodiazepine-class sedative in his muscle tissue.[10] Investigators also found an open packet of the Russian-made drug in baggage belonging to Gruzin.[10]
Causes
According to the Investigation Report of the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the accident was attributable to the flight crew losing control of the aircraft for the following reasons:[2]: p.107
- The flight crew reacted inappropriately when departure clearance was ordered by air traffic control.
- The co-pilot made an entry without being instructed to do so by the commander, which related to the change to the SID ZUE 1 standard instrument departure. In doing so, he omitted selection of a turn direction.
- The commander dispensed with use of the autopilot under instrument flight conditions and during the work-intensive climb phase of the flight.
- The commander took the aircraft into a spiral dive to the right because, with a probability bordering on certainty, he had lost spatial orientation.
- The first officer took only inadequate measures to prevent or recover from the spiral dive.
According to this same Investigation Report, the following factors may have contributed to the accident:[2]: 107
- The commander remained unilaterally firm in perceptions which suggested a left turn direction to him.
- When interpreting the heuristics) which he had learned earlier.
- The commander's capacity for analysis and critical assessment of the situation were possibly limited as a result of the effects of the benzodiazepine drug phenazepam found in his muscle tissue.
- After the change to standard instrument departure SID ZUE 1Y the crew set inappropriate priorities for their tasks and their concentration remained one-sided.
- The commander was not systematically acquainted by Crossair with the specific features of western systems and cockpit procedures.
The investigation did look at the possibility of electromagnetic interference and tested a similar aircraft using mobile phones. It concluded that there were "no indications that aircraft systems were negatively affected by electromagnetic interference (EMI)".
Dramatization
The crash was featured in "Lost in Translation", a season 13 (2013–14) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and elsewhere around the world).[11]
See also
- Aeroflot Flight 821
- Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
- West Air Sweden Flight 294
- TAROM Flight 371
- Flash Airlines Flight 604
References
- Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
- ^ a b c d e "Investigation Report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on the accident to the Saab 340B aircraft, registration HB-AKK of Crossair Flight LX498 on 10 January 2000 near Nassenwil/ZH" (PDF). Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. 21 October 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2008. Retrieved 9 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g Abegg, Ernst E. (10 January 2000). "Crossair Plane Crashes Near Zurich". AP NEWS. Associated Press.
- ^ a b c Birmingham Post. (11 January 2000). Ten killed in plane fireball.
- ^ Aviation Daily. (11 January 2000). Crossair Has First Crash, A Saab 340 Near Zurich. Volume 339; issue 7; p. 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Abegg, Ernst E. (11 January 2000). "Plane went into dive, turned right before crashing, investigators say". AP NEWS. Associated Press.
- ^ "The names of the victims". crossair.ch. Crossair. 11 January 2000. Archived from the original on 2 March 2000. Retrieved 14 June 2009.
- ^ a b c d e f Weekly of Business Aviation. Archived 20 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine (17 January 2000). First Crossair Fatal Crash Comes Amid Labor, Management Turmoil. Volume 70; issue 3; p. 27.
- ^ "Zurich plane crash kills 10". CBC News. Associated Press. 11 November 2000.
- ^ a b c Abegg, Ernst E. (23 August 2002). Associated Press. Investigators: Pilot in fatal Swiss crash was taking tranquilizers.
- National Geographic Channel.
External links
External media | |
---|---|
Images | |
Photograph of HB-AKK | |
Photographs of the crash site[usurped] | |
Video | |
"A Cockpit Designed to Crash". Smithsonian Channel. 10 February 2015. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021. |
- Crossair press portal (Archive) – Contains press releases regarding Crossair Flight 498
- Investigation Report on the accident to the Saab 340B aircraft, registration HB-AKK of Crossair Flight CRX498 on 10 January 2000 near Nassenwil/ZH (Archive) – Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (translation)
- German version (Archive, original)
- French version (Archive, translation)
- Accident details (Archive)
- Cockpit voice recorder transcript