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- The dangerous approach of two fighter jets and a helicopter over Lake Zurich in 2018 is due to the fact that the F / A-18s were unable to see the helicopter.
- The reasons for this are the lack of collision warning systems. In addition, the pilots of the fighter jets did not receive any traffic information about the helicopter in low flight, as it was not recorded by the military radar system.
- This emerges from the final published report of the Swiss Security Investigation Board (Sust).
The dangerous approach occurred on February 20, 2018 in the early afternoon at an altitude of around 700 meters above the island of Ufenau. The helicopter had departed from the island of Ufenau on a cargo flight to Pfäffikon SZ. When it climbed to an altitude of around 700 meters, two F / A-18 interceptors of the Swiss Air Force approached, which had taken off from Payerne / VD. As a result, the helicopter and the fighter jets came dangerously close.
No collision warning systems
The Swiss Safety Investigation Board (Sust) investigated the incident and concluded that the pilots of the fighter jets had not received any traffic information about the low-flying helicopter. This was because the low-flying helicopter was below the radar coverage of the military radar system.
As part of the investigation, it was found once again that the two fighter jets involved did not have any collision warning systems, Sust writes in its report. This is because there are exemptions for the operation of state aircraft that allow the waiver of safety equipment.
An F / A-18C Hornet of the Swiss Air Force.
Keystone
“Especially when flying low at high speed through primarily civilian airspaces, this lack of equipment represents a considerable risk to all airspace users,” he continues. It was only by a fortunate circumstance that there was no less approach or even a collision.
Avoidable incident
The case shows once again that there was no safety net that could have warned of the dangerous approach, writes the Sust. The current safety deficit had already been captured in final reports on previous serious incidents with the corresponding safety recommendation.
As early as 2013, Sust recommended that the Federal Office of Civil Aviation work with the Air Force to ensure that aircraft flying in civil airspace had to be equipped with collision warning systems that were compliant with civil standards.
The Sust notes that a consistent implementation of the security recommendation would have prevented the dangerous approach of February 2018 with a high degree of probability.
