Crossair Flight 498

Crossair Flight 498 was a scheduled commuter flight from Zurich, Switzerland, to Dresden, Germany. On 10 January 2000, the Saab 340B operating the flight crashed two minutes after takeoff in the Swiss municipality of Niederhasli, killing all 10 passengers and crew.

The accident was investigated by the Swiss Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and a final report was issued in 2004. The AAIB concluded that the crash was due to a loss of control resulting from multiple pilot errors.

At the time of the crash, Crossair was a majority owned subsidiary of SAirGroup. The crash of Crossair Flight 498 was the first time in Crossair's 25-year history that the regional airline had lost an aircraft, and was the deadliest accident to hit the SAirGroup since the crash of Swissair Flight 111, an MD-11 flying from New York to Geneva that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Nova Scotia on 2 September 1998, killing all 229 aboard.

Event

The plane was scheduled to depart from Zurich Airport on Monday, 10 January 2000, at around 6:00 p.m. Central European Standard Time (CEST) and arrive at Dresden Airport a few hours later. The cold, drizzly weather was normal for the area.

After the seven passengers and three crew members boarded, the plane was cleared for takeoff on time at 5:54 p.m. CEST (16:54 UTC). The aircraft departed Runway 28 heading west. From takeoff, the plane climbed normally. But after 7.2 km, the plane suddenly started to lose altitude and turn to the right instead of following the approved flight path to the left. When air traffic controllers asked the pilot if he meant to turn right, they were answered with "Stand by," followed by a loss of radio contact.

At 5:56 p.m. CEST (16:56 UTC), one minute and 56 seconds into the flight, the plane disappeared from radar screens and crashed into a field, instantly lighting up over 2000kg of jet fuel. Officials later determined that the plane went into a diving right turn before vanishing from radar screens. Burning wreckage was scattered for 200 to 300 m near houses in Niederhasli, some 5 km northwest of the runway at Zurich's Kloten airport. The flight data and cockpit voice recorders were recovered from the accident scene, both heavily damaged. There were no survivors.

A memorial to the accident and its victims now stands at the crash site.

Background

The crash came about in the midst of a bitter labor-management dispute between Crossair and its pilots over a possible pay raise and work rules changes. The pilots' union had just canceled pay agreements with Crossair in December 1999, with a termination effective in summer 2000. In addition, and prior to the accident, two Crossair pilots told Swiss media that some foreign pilots employed by Crossair posed a safety risk because of an insufficient knowledge of English. These two pilots were fired by Crossair, but were then elected to head the pilots' union, "Crossair Cockpit Personnel (CCP)". An investigation of the accident later revealed that the pilot Gruzin and copilot Kolesár were only able to communicate with each other in English, but Gruzin's ability to speak English was too limited to hold more than a basic conversation.

After the crash, both Crossair and CCP, including the pilots who had previously spoken to the media and been fired, publicly stated that the coincidence between the accident and the dispute was very unfortunate and that reports about pilot error being involved in the crash were speculation, although this conclusion was later established to be the probable cause of the accident.

An examination of pilot Pavel Gruzin's body revealed traces of the drug phenazepam, a benzodiazepine-class sedative in his muscle tissue. Investigators also found an open packet of the Russian-made drug in baggage belonging to Gruzin.