On February 24, 2004, Vitaly Kaloyev murdered the air traffic controller Peter Nielsen. It was revenge for the death of his entire family in the Überlingen crash.
The disaster, which became the motive for the murder of the air traffic controller, was one of the most tragic accidents of this type in the post-war history of Germany. It was Nielsen who managed the air traffic on that fatal day. On July 1, 2002, two planes collided in the air over the city of Überlingen - transport Boeing 757 by DHL and passenger Tu-154 belonging to Bashkirian Airlines. There were two pilots on board the first. In the second one there were 69 people, including 52 children going on vacation to Spain . Among the passengers were Svetlana, Vitaly Kaloyev's 44-year-old wife, and his two children:11-year-old Konstantin and 4-year-old Diana. Nobody survived the crash. Peter Nielsen and the head of Skyguide, the air traffic firm, were largely blamed for her.
Warning signs ignored
Kałojew, 46, was a successful architect. In order to ensure a decent living for the family, in 1999 he started working in Spain. He designed housing estates and supervised their construction. Svetlana and the children continued to live in the city of Ufa, the capital of Bashkiria. At the end of June 2002, Vitaly completed a major project in Barcelona. He was on vacation and was awaiting the arrival of a family he had not seen in 9 months.
DHL Boeing 757 pilots killed in the crash
The Ufa-Barcelona route was to be divided into two stages. First, Kaloyev's relatives were to fly to Moscow, and from there to Spain. In interviews after the disaster, Kaloyev said that he and Svetlana ignored the warning signs preceding departure, which indicated that it was better to postpone the trip. First, a woman was unable to purchase tickets for the Moscow-Barcelona route due to errors in the booking system.
In the end, it succeeded, but due to bad weather conditions, Kaloyev's closest ones did not reach Moscow at the scheduled time and missed the flight. Svetlana was looking for a way to join her husband as soon as possible. She was glad when she was offered seats on a plane that would take the children of high-ranking Bashkir officials on vacation. Ms Kałojew took it as a gift from fate and agreed immediately.
It was not the end of bad omens. Just before the briefing, 4-year-old Diana disappeared from the crowd. It was found literally at the last minute. Eventually the family traveled to Barcelona.
Tragic controller errors
Unfortunately, the Tu-154 and Boeing 757 routes intersected near Lake Constance. Although the planes were over German territory, air traffic control on this section was exercised by the private Swiss company Skyguide based in Zurich. Shortly before that, her management started a policy of peculiarly understood savings - only one controller worked during the night shift instead of two . In addition, some equipment was disconnected - including the phone . On the unlucky night of July 1 st, Peter Nielsen was on duty in the tower, with only an assistant to help.
Computer reconstruction of the disaster process
As the planes flew over Lake Constance, Nielsen noticed that they were at the same altitude and that there would be a collision in about a minute . The controller instructed the Tu-154 pilots to descend to the lower altitude, and they immediately started the maneuver. At the same time, the automatic warning system (TCAS) was activated in the cockpit, which ordered an increase in altitude. The Russian pilots, however, decided to ignore the machine's indications and trust the controller, who spoke to them again to give the Boeing coordinates. Unfortunately, Nielsen provided them with incorrect data. The Tu-154 pilots were confused.
To make matters worse, the controller also instructed the Boeing crew to descend, who kept Nielsen informed of their actions. The problem is that the man didn't hear them - he had to go to the other terminal to check the landing of another machine . Finally, the Boeing and Tu-154 pilots saw each other. At the last minute, they tried to avoid the disaster, but failed. At. 21:35:32 planes collided in the air at an altitude of 10,634 m. The Russian machine broke into four parts. The impact was so strong that the remains of the Boeing were as much as 7 km from the remains of the Tu-154.
A gruesome find
Upon learning of the catastrophe, Vitaly Kaloyev flew to Germany. He managed to convince the rescuers to let him join the search for the bodies of passengers - no one survived the catastrophe . It was he who noticed the broken beads of his daughter in the grass. He found Diana's body himself. The girl was hanging from a tree.
Kaloyev buried his relatives in Ufa. Several hundred thousand people gathered at the funeral. Vitaly commissioned a magnificent black marble monument for his wife and children. After the funeral, he continued to work in Spain, but at one point returned to his homeland to be closer to his deceased family. He spent long hours in the cemetery. His relatives and friends said that he was there even at night. He talked a lot with his wife and children.
Computer reconstruction of the moment of a Tu-154 collision with a Boeing 757
The man closely followed the investigation into the Lake Constance disaster. A court in Germany ruled that the greatest responsibility for the tragedy rests with the management of Skyguide , which reduced the number of airline controllers, thus endangering the crew and passengers of aircraft. Also, Peter Nielsen was blamed for the collision of planes. It was admitted that the Tu-154 pilots also made a mistake, who ignored the TCAS signals and carried out the controller's commands.
Kaloyev's Revenge
Kaloyev expected Skyguide and Peter Nielsen to plead guilty and apologize for the crash (DHL has done so many times, although its pilots were not really responsible for the tragedy). Vitaly even traveled to Zurich to meet Nielsen and hear the word "I'm sorry" from him. He checked into the hotel and went to the controller's house. He was waiting for him in front of the building. When the man appeared, Kaloyev approached him with pictures of the children in his hand and asked if he felt responsible for their deaths . Nielsen said nothing. He pushed Vitaly's hand away. The photos scattered on the ground. As Kałojew testified later:- When I saw the faces of my children on the dirty pavement, I felt that they were turning over in the grave. What happened next, I don't remember .
Monument to the victims of the accident at the Skyguide headquarters
Nielsen was found dead - 12 stabbed blows. Vitaly was arrested the next day. He didn't resist, he claimed that he didn't care what happened to him . A Swiss court found him guilty of the murder of the flight controller. There was no finding of reduced sanity at the time of the crime, although Russian forensic psychiatry experts disagreed. In 2005, Kałojewo was sentenced to 8 years' imprisonment. Two years later, however, he left prison in Switzerland for good behavior and returned to Ufa, where he was given a warm welcome.
The authorities appreciated Kałojew's knowledge and professional experience. In 2008–2018 he was the minister of architecture and construction in Bashkiria. In 2018, the man remarried and became the father of twins.
Bibliography:
- Симонов, Дело Калоева:вся тяжесть вины легла на плечи безутешного отца, ria.ru (access:4/02/2022).
- Калоев прибыл из Швейцарии в Россию , news.bbc.co.uk (access:4/02/2022).
- TV program Новые русские сенсации : Виталий Калоев. Исповедь мстителя (HTB, 2017).