Skyguide traffic controller killed

James Robinson wrote in message ...
Dean Wilkinson wrote:

The controller in this case clearly screwed up since he instructed the
Russian jet to descend when the Russian crew told him they had an RA
instructing them to climb.

You might like to wait for the accident report, since that isn't what
the initial review of the CVR and FDR indicated.

Really? I read the initial review, and the CVR transcripts. It
appeared to me that the contoller gave bad advice, and Russian captain
made the mistake of heeding it.

The TCAS system had warned the Russian crew to climb, but just as they
started to comply, the controller instructed the aircraft to descend.
The Russian crew did not first tell the controller that they had an RA
instructing them to climb, so the controller did not override that
alert.

The DHL crew got an instruction to descend from their TCAS, and
announced that they were doing so.

So, given that the DHL crew told the controller that they were
responding to a TCAS RA, the controller KNEW he had an RA on his hands
and that it applied to BOTH aircraft. Remember, the TCAS systems on
both planes communicate with each other over the transponder
frequency, if one had an RA, both had an RA.

The Russians don't appear to have given proper training to their
crews regarding the TCAS system because the crew didn't ignore the
controller like they should have and followed the RA.

Again, you don't know what their training is. The pilot didn't follow
the instructions, but he might have done that on his own, contrary to
his training. There has also been some argument that the controller's
instructions should have priority over those of the on-board system.

Actually, when I worked for Boeing it was pretty clear that the
Russians were installing TCAS to comply with the rules for flying in
European airspace, but that they weren't necessarily adopting the TCAS
philosophy...

Why not wait for the accident report instead of making rash, misinformed
accusations?

It is pretty rash of you to assume that I am misinformed...