Air Crash Investigation - Cockpit Failure (S10E01)

Crossair Flight LX 3597 was an Avro RJ100 regional airliner, registration HB-IXM, on a scheduled flight from Berlin, Germany to Zurich, Switzerland that crashed during its approach to land at Zurich Airport on 24 November 2001. Twenty-four of the thirty-three people on board were killed.

The flight departed Berlin Tegel Airport at 21:01 CET, upon arrival in Zurich about an hour later it was cleared to approach runway 28 in poor visibility conditions due to low clouds. At 22:07 CET the plane crashed into a wooded range of hills near the small town of Bassersdorf some 4 km (2.5 miles) short of the runway, where it broke apart and went up in flames. Of the 33 people on board (28 passengers and 5 crew), 24 died (among them the cockpit crew), and nine (seven passengers and two flight attendants) survived. The lead singer of the Eurodance group La Bouche, Melanie Thornton, was one of the dead. The German pop group Passion Fruit was also aboard; two of the singers died, the third singer and manager of the band survived with injuries.

The investigation concluded that the accident was a controlled flight into terrain caused by Captain Hans Ulrich Lutz deliberately descending below the minimum descent altitude (MDA) without having the required visual contact with either the approach lights or the runway; and the copilot making no attempt to prevent the continuation of the flight below the minimum descent altitude. The report revealed that the pilot had failed to perform correct navigation and landing procedures before, but no action had been taken by the airline.

The investigation report states that other factors also contributed to the accident: the range of hills the plane crashed into was not marked in the Jeppesen approach chart used by the crew, despite the hilly terrain the approach to runway 28 was not equipped with a Minimum Safe Altitude Warning (MSAW) system, which triggers an alarm if a minimum safe altitude is violated, and the airport's means of determining visibility were inadequate for runway 28 and the visual minimums at the time of the accident were actually inappropriate for using the standard approach to runway 28.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Air Crash Investigation
• Air Emergency
• Mayday
• ACI
• Cockpit Failure
• Crossair
• Flight 3597
• LX 3597
• Avro RJ100
• HB-IXM
• Zurich
• Switzerland
• Zurich Kloten Airport
• Hans Ulrick Lutz
• Pilot Error

[huzaifasyed1]

I'm a pilot and it is pretty hard for me to take in that a pilot can make a mistake by retracting the landing gear while on the ground ?????????????? i mean that just stupid

[whoohaaXL]

"Ze Pashun Fruutz savd ar liivs"

[jairrrrrr]

passion fruit is dutch, isn't it ?

[Tyler99Wood]

Why Would A American Be In Zurick Tower

[jonnybee48]

No matter which way you look at it, this incident was caused by the pilot's lack of awareness of the situation his aeroplane was in, relative to the ground below. A primary rule of flight is that you don't descend unless (a) you're absolutely certain of where you are and (b) what's beneath you - that's what minimum safe levels are there for. He knew the 'drome layout from experience, but it seems he was determined to land it at any price rather than divert. No. 2 should have called go-round.

[charlyfox93]

@mlfaryna59 The Piper Cub doesn't have a retractable landing gear. Most smaller Aircraft don't, so equipping them with a safetyswitch would be pretty unnecesary. As far as I know, all planes with retractable landing gear do have these weight-on-wheels switch.

[LyeoJ]

@AGrandt He isn't either. Says in another video he is born in 1998 LOL.

[AGrandt]

@huzaifasyed1 I didn't even know you could retract the landing gear while on the ground. At least not accidentally.

And no, I'm not a pilot, unfortunately.

[VaConstantine]

@huzaifasyed1 Ι am a pilot too , and i agree 100% with you!

[eman83a]

which just shows that he never should have remained a pilot in any capacity whatsoever... but where was his co-pilot in that incident to remind him that his landing gear was up?

[C0LL1N]

hanz urick lutz also was involved in several automobile accidents when he confused the gas pedal for the brake, and the steering wheel for an armrest. he would also frequently become lost on shopping trips and end up driving to other countrys.

[RandomPrussian1871]

@huzaifasyed1 It's not stupid, it's downright retarded