Edelweiss A333 at Zurich on Aug 25th 2016, near collision with private aircraft crossing localizer
Last Update: February 28, 2018 / 16:16:40 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Aug 25, 2016
Classification
Incident
Cause
Near collision
Airline
Edelweiss Air
Flight number
WK-3
Departure
Las Vegas, United States
Destination
Zurich, Switzerland
Aircraft Registration
HB-JHR
Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300
ICAO Type Designator
A333
Tower subsequently advised departing aircraft they were monitoring the intruder and halting departures to make sure no further conflict would arise, subsequently reported they had lost the target from their radar screen while the target was northbound. After releasing the next departure the target appeared again on the radar screen, now southbound, the departure advised they were able to see the intruder at their 11 o'clock position, it was a motor glider aircraft.
On Sep 8th 2016 Switzerland's SUST reported there had been a dangerous closure in the approach of runway 14 about 12nm northwest of the aerodrome. The private aircraft, a Scheibe Flugzeugbau SF25 registration D-KOWC, was enroute from Bad Dürkheim [EDRF] to Biberach [EDMB] (Germany). The occurrence was rated a serious incident and is being investigated.
On Feb 28th 2018 the SUST released their final report in German concluding the probable causes of the serious incident were:
The serious incident during which a dangerous closure between an airliner in instrument approach and a motor glider in visual enroute flight, is to be attributed to a navigational error by the pilot of the motor glider, who without communication with ATC and with turned off transponder entered an approach sector of Zurich Airport. Due to the inactive transponder all safety nets were ineffective.
The little experience by the motor glider pilot contributed to the serious incident.
The SUST reported the private pilot (69) had begun his pilot training in 2006 and held a pilot license for sail planes with rating for motor gliders according to EASA. He had a total experience of 256 flight hours with 76 hours experience on the occurrence aircraft type. There were no indications of fatigue/tiredness involved.
The SUST analysed that D-KOWC had planned to fly from Bad Dürkheim to Konstanz [EDTZ] and then continue to Biberach. During the flight the VHF radio failed due to a generator circuit breaker, which shut down the bord electric supply. The pilot therefore decided to divert to Bremgarten [EDTG], where the aircraft landed without further incident. The battery was charged for about 90 minutes, no further analysis of the reasons of power failure were made. The aircraft departed Bremgarten and was enroute about 13km south of Schluchsee when the generator circuit breaker tripped again when the pilot attempted to establish radio contact with Zurich Information at 124.700MHz. The pilot turned off the transponder to reduce power consumption while attempting the reset the circuit breaker in order to maintain radio communication. When the tablet computer on board failed the only remaining means of navigation were a compass and the ICAO chart of Stuttgart region. While in the region of Koblenz in hazy conditions the pilot confused the Zurichsee, visible in the distance, with Lake Konstanz as well as the Greifensee with the Überlingersee and flew directly towards the Zurichsee. At about that time HB-JHR was vectored onto final approach for Zurich's runway 14. The air traffic controller observed a primary radar target, that became visible now and then, that approximately followed the localizer beam runway 14, and advised HB-JHR about that target in a traffic information. The crew of HB-JHR established visual contact with the traffic and advised ATC the traffic appeared to be at 5300 feet, a propeller aircraft, red and blue with white livery. HB-JHR continued the approach without executing an evasive maneouver. In the following the separation between the aircraft reduced to 300 meters horizontal at the same altitude. The A330 continued the approach and landed about 5 minutes later without further incident. D-KOWC continued on a southsoutheasterly heading and approached the approach sector runway 28 at about 5000 feet prompting ATC to interrupt all operations on runway 28. After reaching the Zurichsee D-KOWC turned towards northeast towards Lake Konstanz and landed safely in Biberach.
The SUST commented that the decision to turn off the transponder in favour of maintaining radio contact and reduce power consumption was reasonable in technical respect, as the only consumers on the electric supply were radio and transponder. However, as the pilot did not establish radio contact with Zurich Information reasoning that without transponder establishing radio contact did not make any sense, too, Zurich ATC was not able to identify the aircraft, its altitude and establish radio contact. In addition neither TCAS nor Short Term Conflict Alert on the radar were available. ATC did not attempt to contact the aircraft on 121.500 MHz(emergency frequncy). It was not unusual that an aircraft passed underneath the approach sector without transponder. The traffic advisories to the A330 were farsighted as was the stop of all operations on runway 28 when D-KOWC neared the approach sector runway 28.
The SUST analysed that in the hazy conditions it was possible that an inexperienced pilot not knowing the area could confuse Lake Konstanz and Zurichsee. Due to the distraction with the recurring triggering circuit breaker and excessive charging current the pilot missed to verify his course in southsoutheasterly direction according to the available chart and compass which caused the aircraft to basically track along the localizer runway 14. The SUST annotated that even after he noticed his error he did not contact Zurich Information and stated this did not demonstrate safety conscience. In the following the pilot also did not report the occurrence after landing or the following days.
There were no safety recommendations as result of the investigation.
Aircraft Registration Data
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Aug 25, 2016
Classification
Incident
Cause
Near collision
Airline
Edelweiss Air
Flight number
WK-3
Departure
Las Vegas, United States
Destination
Zurich, Switzerland
Aircraft Registration
HB-JHR
Aircraft Type
Airbus A330-300
ICAO Type Designator
A333
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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