Cops: Plane Crash-Murder Link

A man arrested in the killing of an air traffic controller lost his wife and two children in the midair collision for which the controller was blamed, police said Thursday.

The 36-year-old Danish air traffic controller was stabbed on the terrace of his home near Zurich Airport on Tuesday evening in front of his wife. The controller — who has never been identified — died on the spot.

The attacker had been described as a heavily built man aged 50-55, possibly Eastern European, with graying hair and a three-day stubble. He showed up at the controller's home Tuesday night, spoke briefly to the controller in broken German, killed him, and fled on foot.

District Attorney Pascal Gossner declined to say what words were exchanged between the killer and victim, because they are part of the investigation.

The July 1, 2002 collision over southern Germany between a Russian charter airliner and a cargo plane killed 71 people — 45 of them prize-winning Russian schoolchildren bound for a vacation in Spain.

The controller, who was on duty alone in the Zurich control room because a colleague was taking a break, gave only 44 seconds of warning to the Bashkirian Airlines plane and a DHL cargo plane that they were getting too close.

Preliminary accident reports have said that the controller then told the Russian plane to descend, countermanding the jetliner's onboard collision-avoidance system, which was demanding it climb.

The pilot followed the instructions of the controller — sending the jetliner straight into the DHL cargo plane, which also was descending in accordance with its collision-avoidance equipment.

The Observer newspaper has reported that the controller was trying to monitor five planes on two screens at the time of the crash. Because the control room phone was being repaired, he was using a reserve line to try to confirm a landing. The area where the crash occurred is at the center of a dispute between the Swiss and German governments over which country monitors air space.

German authorities have yet to release their full report on the accident but said they would not be hampered by the controller's death as he had already been interviewed extensively.

The Dane was placed on medical leave after the crash. He was later allowed to return to work but given other duties.

In an interview with a German magazine two weeks after the accident, he expressed his sorrow for the crash. "As an air traffic controller, it is my task and duty to prevent such accidents," he told Focus.

Skyguide, the Swiss company the controller worked for, said it was appalled by his murder and that its employees "were in shock."

The company received no threats after the collision, Skyguide chief Alain Rossier told a news conference, and investigators were trying to establish whether the controller received any threats personally.

At the time, Swiss President Kaspar Villiger canceled plans to attend a funeral for the children killed in the crash, because officials in the Russian city of Ufa said they could not guarantee his safety.

In response to the stabbing, Skyguide reduced by 40 percent the number of planes it allowed into the airspace it controls to give other controllers time to come to terms with the killing. Of 28 employees scheduled Wednesday, seven were too upset to work, a spokesman said.

The employees and the controller's family are receiving counseling, and Zurich state police have helped organize protection, the company said.