Air traffic controller blamed for fatal military crash
A Swiss air rescue helicopter searches for the missing F/A-18 pilot next to wreckage of the aircraft over the Chelen glacier in 2016.
Frei
A Swiss air traffic controller has been found guilty of negligent homicide after a fatal military aircraft accident in 2016.
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On Tuesday in the main hearing of Military Court 2 sentenced the air traffic controller to a conditional fine of 60 daily rates of CHF170. The co-accused leader pilot was acquitted.
The remaining proceedings, including those due to negligent non-compliance with official regulations and waste of material, were discontinued.
The court saw the air traffic controller as sharing responsibility for the fatal accident, in contrast to the leading military pilot.
Even if one takes into account that many unfortunate circumstances came together for him, from the court’s point of view he made a devastatingly wrong decision, said the presiding judge when announcing the verdict.
This wrong decision consisted of the fact that, upon consultation with the pilot who later had an accident, he gave the wrong minimum flight altitude, i.e. a minimum altitude that was massively too low. The attempt to correct this error came too late.
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