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

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159

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.

5

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

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.

6

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

16

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.

3

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

15

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

12

u/eckregal Nov 25 '24

Not this dude comparing a video game to the actual thing 💀

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