A320 / A320, Zurich Switzerland, 2011

A320 / A320, Zurich Switzerland, 2011

Summary

On 15 March 2011 two Swiss International Airlines’ Airbus A320 aircraft were cleared for simultaneous take off on intersecting runways at Zurich by the same controller. As both approached the intersection at high speed, the Captain of one saw the other and immediately rejected take off from 130 knots, stopping just at the edge of the intersection shortly after the other aircraft had flown low overhead unaware of the conflict. The Investigation noted a long history of similar incidents at Zurich and concluded that systemic failure of risk management had not been addressed by the air traffic control agency involved.

Description

On 15 March 2011 two Airbus A320-200 aircraft being operated by Swiss International Airlines on scheduled passenger flights from Zurich to Moscow Domodedovo and Madrid respectively came close to collision after beginning take off almost simultaneously on intersecting runways in normal day visibility, with the risk of conflict only resolved by a very high speed rejected take off made by one of the aircraft as the other flew just overhead its stopping position.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Swiss AIB. ATC recordings, the DFDR downloads from both aircraft and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) recording from the rejected take off aircraft were available for use by the Investigation. The other CVR recording was overwritten during the subsequent flight.

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