In a final investigative report of a June 2012 daylight near-miss between a European Falcon 2000 and a civil-registered Hawker Hunter fighter published last week, the Swiss Transportation Safety Investigation Board allocated blame to the fighter pilot as well as some local Swiss air traffic controllers. On June 12, 2012, a Falcon 2000 on an IFR flight plan departed Buochs aerodrome southeast of Lucerne following a standard instrument departure climbing to FL100. The Falcon’s departure was guided by the Zurich area control center. The Hawker departed nearby Emmen military base in VFR conditions headed southeast toward the Falcon’s departure path. Neither pilot was informed about the other’s presence by ATC.
The Hawker also climbed to FL100 as the pilot allowed the aircraft to accelerate, at one point, to a recorded groundspeed of 426 knots, exceeding the sped limit below 10,000 feet. About the same time, a Zurich radar controller, who was watching a trainee, failed to notice the aural collision alert between the aircraft due to the Falcon crew requesting a higher altitude. The Zurich controller mentioned the Hawker traffic, although not its proximity, to the Falcon crew just as the business jet’s TCAS generated a resolution alert to “descend,” which the crew immediately followed. The two aircraft passed within 400 feet of each other vertically and 0.9 miles laterally.