Swiss Air Traffic Systems Under Criticism

Switzerland's air traffic controllers were told a week before a fatal mid-air collision thattheir radar system was not up to European standards, Swiss Radio International (SRI) reported on Thursday.

A report, released last week, called for improvements to bring Swiss radar into line with standards set by Eurocontrol, the European agency in charge of tracking aircraft in flight.

The report, prepared by the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, is adding to the pressure on the air trafficcontrol body, Skyguide, which has admitted its systems were not fully functional during Monday night's mid-air collision of two jets which killed 71 people, mostly children, near the Swiss-German border.

The crash took place while a collision warning system at Zurichairport was out of action for maintenance checks. At the time, only one air traffic controller was on duty.

Last week's report said one of the shortcomings of the Swiss system was that an aircraft's location on Skyguide's screens is only updated every 12 seconds instead of the recommended eight.

SRI reported that on Thursday, the Swiss and German authoritiesconfirmed that they had launched separate investigations into the circumstances surrounding the crash.

Both are trying to determine whether mistakes made by Skyguide were responsible for the collision.

There is speculation that the families of the victims might bring legal action against Skyguide. A spokesman said on Thursday that the company, which is almost wholly owned by the Swiss government, had insurance cover of 500 million Swiss Francs (340 million dollars) for such claims.

( July 5, 2002)