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| Date: | Saturday 17 June 2006 |
| Time: | 12:20 |
| Type: |  Boeing 737-86J (WL) |
| Owner/operator: | Air Berlin |
| Registration: | D-ABAP |
| MSN: | 28070/106 |
| Year of manufacture: | 1998 |
| Engine model: | CFMI CFM56-7B |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 0 / Occupants: |
| Other fatalities: | 0 |
| Aircraft damage: | None |
| Category: | Serious incident |
| Location: | Zürich, 10 NM E of KLO/DVOR -
 Switzerland
|
| Phase: | En route |
| Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
| Departure airport: | Tenerife-Sur Reina Sofia Airport (TFS/GCTS) |
| Nürnberg Airport (NUE/EDDN) | |
| Investigating agency: | BFU Switz. |
| Confidence Rating: |  Accident investigation report completed and information captured |
A Fokker 100 of Hapag-Lloyd Express, flight number HLX 3680 and radio call sign Excellence 3680, was operating a scheduled flight from Cologne to Genoa.
At 10:10:32 UTC, the crew established contact with Zurich Sector Upper U on frequency 133.050 MHz. The Radar Executive (RE-U) instructed them to fly at FL 250 via the TRA VOR to the ODINA waypoint. The crew of HLX 3680 reported that, contrary to the filed flight plan altitude of FL 310, they had chosen FL 250 for operational reasons.
At 10:12:00 UTC, RE-U instructed HLX 3680 to turn left by 10° to heading 180° for separation purposes, and about two minutes later issued another course correction to 170°.
At 10:14:17 UTC, the crew of a Boeing 737-86J (Air Berlin GmbH), flight number BER 1315, contacted RE-U and reported descending to FL 290, passing FL 300 at that time. The aircraft was flying the ATC route BERSU–KUDES–ROMIR. According to the Letter of Agreement with Langen, the aircraft was later to be transferred to Langen Radar at FL 220.
A minute later, RE-U instructed HLX 3680—whose flight plan had originally filed FL 310—to climb to FL 280. However, shortly before completing this transmission, he corrected himself, replacing the climb instruction with a course instruction to heading 175°. One minute later, he cleared the crew to navigate directly to the Saronno VOR/DME (SRN).
Meanwhile, BER 1315 had reached FL 290. At 10:17:13 UTC, RE-U instructed the crew to descend to FL 250 at a rate of 2000 ft/min or greater. At 10:18:59 UTC, as BER 1315 passed FL 258, RE-U instructed them to contact Sector East on frequency 133.900 MHz. At that moment, the aircraft was about 16 NM from its crossing point with HLX 3680.
At 10:19:48 UTC, almost simultaneously with the activation of the Short-Term Conflict Alert (STCA), RE-U transmitted the following traffic advisory to HLX 3680: “Excellence three six eight zero, traffic information, at your one o’clock is… range five miles descending through your level.”
RE-U later stated: “Just before I noticed the STCA alert, I realized the two aircraft were on conflicting courses.”
The crew of HLX 3680, whose aircraft was about 4.5 NM from BER 1315, replied:“Yeah, we just had a resolution advisory climbing, Excellence three six eight zero.”
Radar data confirmed that HLX 3680 climbed to FL 254 following the ACAS (TCAS II) resolution advisory.
After BER 1315 contacted the Radar Executive Lower Sector East (RE-E), they were cleared to continue descending to FL 220. According to the crew, the airborne collision avoidance system (ACAS) generated a Resolution Advisory (RA) while the First Officer was still repeating the descent clearance.
At 10:19:45 UTC, the crew reported: “Air Berlin one three one five, TCAS descent.”
Fourteen seconds later, BER 1315 crossed the flight path of HLX 3680, passing FL 238 in descent, while HLX 3680, following the RA, was climbing through FL 253.
The second controller at Sector Upper U, acting as Radar Planner (RP-U), gave the following statement:
“I did not hear the RE’s instruction to BER 1315 to descend to FL 250, as I was busy with coordination tasks. For the same reason, I also did not notice the handover to the East Sector. While BER 1315 was on our frequency, I was almost continuously engaged in coordination work and therefore never realized that a conflict with HLX 3680 might develop. It was only the STCA alert that made me aware of the impending conflict.”
Cause
The serious incident is due to the fact that ATC no longer took a flight into account in traffic handling.
Accident investigation:
 |
|
Sources:
6X012-1/06
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 23-Sep-2024 07:43 | ASN | Added |
| 16-Oct-2025 11:52 | ASN | Updated [Aircraft type, Registration, Cn, Operator, Location, Phase, Departure airport, Destination airport, Source, Narrative, Accident report, ] |
| 16-Oct-2025 11:56 | ASN | Updated [Departure airport, Destination airport, ] |
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