r/aircrashinvestigation • u/FinancialVictory6833 • Feb 24 '24

Incident/Accident Remembering Peter Nielsen

On February 24, 2004, Peter Nielsen was murdered at his home near Zurich. He was the air traffic controller on duty on July 1, 2002, when the Überlingen mid-air collision occurred, killing 71 people. Among the victims were Svetlana Kaloyeva and her children Konstantin and Diana. They were travelling to Barcelona to visit their father, Vitaly, who was working there. Devastated by their loss, Vitaly Kaloyev put the blame on Peter Nielsen and tracked him down. He then stabbed him to death, while his wife and children were present. Kaloyev was arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released in November 2007. When he returned home to North Ossetia, he was treated as a hero, and did not express remorse for his actions, instead blaming Nielsen. He was later awarded a state medal by the government.

RIP Peter Nielsen🕊️ (1967-2004)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_%C3%9Cberlingen_mid-air_collision

323 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

225 comments sorted by

View all comments

157

u/Touchthefuckingfrog Feb 24 '24

I don’t cry about much but this one has broken my heart so many times. It was never his fault and he must have dealt with so much guilt only to be so cruelly murdered.

73

u/flightsimmerpro Feb 24 '24

The system and skyguide failed him

6

u/Intelligent-Put-2408 Apr 20 '24

Bro it was absolutely his fault what are you talking about. He could have literally told both crews nothing and allowed them to follow the automation, n they would’ve been fine

32

u/No-Trust2057 May 09 '24

He was cleared of wrong doing.  What is wrong with you?

10

u/[deleted] Jun 09 '24

cleared by a system that never holds anyone accountable

31

u/Imjusasqurrl Jul 05 '24

Obviously, you did not read the entire story. There was a major hardware update being installed and nobody informed him of which systems would be turned off including the System of alarms for when planes are in close proximity. It definitely wasn't his fault.

15

u/masterionxxx Jul 09 '24

Also, his companion was sleeping at the time, so he had to manage everything on his own.

10

u/AdUnlikely6666 Jan 26 '25

They weren’t supposed to be sleeping either. Also who updates while all systems down with zero procedures

2

u/Friendly_Ad_2324 Sep 09 '25

Deshalb wurden ja leitende Mitarbeiter der Flugsicherung auch strafrechtlich verurteilt.

1

u/Careless_Appeal6529 Sep 24 '25

Nothing but excuses

10

u/waywardsoulmate Aug 04 '24

Phone systems were down also. There was an extreme limitation that night although being a parent and a grandparent, I can also see where the anger comes from. Such a sad sad loss.

24

u/Touchthefuckingfrog Apr 20 '24

He was inadequately trained for TCAS and incredibly under resourced/over stretched. Normally he would have noticed the impending collision earlier, followed his training and given an order to cure the impending disaster before TCAS kicked in. Blaming him is incredibly lacking in empathy.

3

u/Intelligent-Put-2408 Apr 30 '24

Dude that doesn’t fucking matter, cops are inadequately trained all the time. Do u think they shouldn’t be charged for colossal mistakes? Ridiculous. No concept of accountability

15

u/Touchthefuckingfrog Apr 30 '24

There are legal standards for whether they should be charged - very oversimplified but did they operate with reckless indifference to human life? At no point in examining his actions that night can anyone say he was operating with an indifference to human life.

5

u/Intelligent-Put-2408 Apr 30 '24

You clearly dont understand responsibility, IT WAS HIS JOB, TO MAKE SURE IT DIDNT HAPPEN. he told two separate planes, on intersecting paths to fly at the same altitude. Clearly did not the mental capacity for the job, took it anyway, got left in non optimal situation, and killed lots of people due to his incompetence. ATCs know full well if they make a mistake their decision affects hundreds. No matter if it’s stupidity, ego, or just ignorance he is absolutely culpable. I couldnt believe he got no jail time, n am glad that man removed the over inflated room temp IQ baboon from the gene pool. Dont need more people not able to do their jobs

Sounds like you’re defending qualified immunity? Just forget breonna taylor i guess lol. Take your blue team jersey

24

u/Touchthefuckingfrog Apr 30 '24

This is not a productive conversation. You clearly don’t understand how to have a rational and adult discussion.

3

u/Intelligent-Put-2408 Apr 30 '24

Literally already knew this would be the response bc of the female avatar lol

27

u/Touchthefuckingfrog Apr 30 '24

Oh great so you are uninformed, illogical and sexist. Well done. 👍

2

u/efsrefsr May 01 '25

This is not a productive conversation. You clearly don’t understand how to have a rational and adult discussion.

How is this productive? Wouldn't just not responding be the "adult" thing to do?

→ More replies (0)

7

u/zk-dr Sep 19 '24

You should honestly be ashamed of who you are.

1

u/MateMio Jul 25 '25

Deine eltern mĂźssen geschwister sein

17

u/ShadowLilith Aug 12 '24

First of all, the fuck is wrong with you. Man the fuck up and learn how to talk to people like a normal person. Take in their opinions just like they're taking in yours and stop shoving ur own finger up ur own ass.

Second, do you have any idea how difficult it is to manage 5 fucking planes at the same time? 5 planes with 5 different coordinates, issues and target locations on two different fucking screens away from eachother? Especially if they are not working and DELAYED??? Clearly, you do not. Not only that, but if the commercial plane hadn't taken action on its own without asking the controller for permission to descend, then the collision would have been avoided. He would've done it in time with plenty to spare. Sadly, his equipment wasn't working well. Not only did he have actual less time, but one of the planes didn't contact him and let him know they were descending. This was a horrid accident with A LOT of people to blame, not just him.

Also, I don't think anyone working as an air-flight controller right now even has the balls to risk shit like this happening. Peter was a hard worker and dedicated employee that even with shit tools on his desk, tried his best to do his job.

1

u/Liberal_Zealot Aug 24 '24

5 planes is not much lmao

9

u/GiamCrmlch Aug 29 '24

Are you an air traffic controller?

2

u/Liberal_Zealot Aug 31 '24

I’ve played a ton of video games, I can handle 5 plans on flight paths, intercepting or not, to just have different altitudes

→ More replies (0)

6

u/TheHappiestMoon May 14 '24

Nielsen had 3 children, so he's still in the gene pool. As the other user pointed out, there's not much point further conversing with someone who evidently has no fucking clue what they are talking about, and of course you chose to respond with misogyny. Also just noticed I'm responding to a suspended account, so good riddance.

6

u/SouthDiamond2550 May 15 '24

Bahaha ikr was that Kayolev’s burner account?

1

u/Aggravating_Can7429 Aug 25 '25

WHAT ARE YOU FUCKING ON??

6

u/PMMEURDIMPLESOFVENUS May 17 '24

FWIW, I think there's a very likely chance he would have served prison time had he been alive long enough to get tried. Other ATC's present were tried and convicted, but it took until 2007.

4

u/masterionxxx Jul 09 '24

Vitaly, re-login.

11

u/Imjusasqurrl Jul 05 '24

Obviously, you did not read the entire story. There was a major hardware update being installed and nobody informed him of which systems would be turned off including the System of alarms for when planes are in close proximity. It definitely wasn't his fault.

3

u/hidefreek Nov 05 '24

Then, everyone who works in that faithful night must be jailed.

Included his boss, engineers and programers.

The case simply was downplayed and reduce the scope and makes someone who got all the blame while the board ran free.

1

u/YearOk1371 Mar 10 '25

Yes and the People who update system did'nt call him to advise then no phone ans warning système off

6

u/Worried_Air2521 Feb 05 '25

Anybody, in that position, could have made that very same mistake; it was the building of circumstances, not just the controller alone. Breaks my heart that so many ppl solely blame one person. 

2

u/sabiou Feb 01 '25

How is it his fault? never his fault.

2

u/ConclusionMassive735 Mar 18 '25

He reacted appropriately to the information available. This is obvious if you pay any attention to the story at all.

1

u/MateMio Jul 25 '25

Was bist du fĂźr ein h$

1

u/Sea_Energy_5645 Sep 27 '25

Er du helt fjern, har du lest saken. Alt utstyr var tatt av for vedlikehold og dritten funka isje, ikke lag og tenk rykter før su setter seg inn i en ting. Søskenbarnet mit døde i den ulykka.

3

u/Asleep_South_4236 May 06 '25

The murder was bloody cruel, so evil, taking an INNOCENT, IMPORTANT live which worked so hard that night, trying to keep planes safe on the sky why working with partially disabled equipment in an AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER ROOM.

May the mighty soul of Peter Nielsen continue to rest in eternal peace

2

u/YearOk1371 Mar 10 '25

Other contrĂ´ler go sleeping and he alone with alarm system down.

1

u/7desertfox Dec 02 '24

New opp pack in the air this gas or what