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and 6:00 a.m., all airplanes landing in Zürich would use runway 28, which would route planes over Swiss territory. Consequently, the approaches to runways 14 and 16 - the two main runways at Zürich Airport - both passed over German villages at relatively low altitude, so the two countries agreed that between 10:00 p.m. About a month previously, authorities in Switzerland and Germany signed an agreement to address the concerns of residents in southern Germany who had complained about the noise of airliners landing in Zürich late at night. As we know, when a plane makes an ILS (or instrument landing system) approach, it means the pilots will be guided to the runway by radio signals and much of their workload will be carried out by the plane.īut, there is a unique factor that will change their approach into Zurich. When Flight 3597 is about 30 minutes from landing at Zurich, air traffic control (or ATC) clears them to descend toward 16,000 feet (or 4900 m), and the flight crew prepares for landing by going over the approach briefing, which will be an ILS approach to runway 14. Crossair 3597 Preapres to Make Non-Precision Approach into Zurich on Runway 28 For most of the 90-minute flight, things were completely standard, and thankfully, very uneventful. Twenty minutes later, Flight 3597 took off into darkness toward Zurich for one last time, and soon reaches its cruising altitude of 27,000 feet (or 8200 m) over the airspace in Germany. These passengers included American pop singer Melanie Thornton and the Eurodance group Passion Fruit, who had been touring and were on their way to a show in Zürich. The remaining 28 passengers boarded the aircraft and found they had many empty rows to themselves. Though 49 passengers were expected to board, a group of 21 travelers never made it to the plane. Soon, twenty-eight passengers and 23 pieces of luggage are checked in for Flight 3597.
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Their aircraft is an AVRO 146 RJ 100 jet, which is a British-made aircraft and one that is popular with regional airlines. The captain and first officer are also joined by three flight attendants. As the first officer is the non-flying pilot, he will be responsible for, among other things, radio communications with air traffic control throughout the flight. His first officer is 25-year-old Stefan Löhrer, who was hired right out of flight school by Crossair and who has less than 500 total hours.
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He has been with Crossair for over 20 years, both as a pilot and instructor, with almost 20,000 flight hours.
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The commander is Captain Hans Ulrich Lutz, and he will be flying the aircraft this leg. While passengers will disembark the aircraft for Berlin, and new passengers will board the plane now headed back to Zurich, so, too, will this same flight crew. This happens to also be true for the flight crew on this day. This route between the two cities is one of the most popular for Crossair, and the flight crews who command these flights often find themselves traversing back and forth several times a day. On the night of November 24, 2001, Crossair Flight 3597 makes yet another journey from Zurich International Airport to Berlin. Crossair Flight 3597 Heads Back to Zurich One Last Time on November 24, 2011 Following the crash, pilot hiring practices across regional carriers improved, and runway 28 at the airport in Zurich was upgraded with an ILS. The Swiss AAIB investigation uncovered a long history of pilot errors on the part of Captain Lutz, proving that regional carriers like Crossair had felt compelled to keep pilots like Lutz on staff to keep up with consumer demand despite the danger that such pilots posed to passengers. Flight 3597 crashed into the hills, killing all but 9 of the people onboard. Ultimately, Lutz realized his mistake and tried to perform a go-around, but because of the steep descent he had put the aircraft into, it was too late. Based on that radio communication from that flight crew, Captain Lutz mistakenly thought his aircraft was closer to the runway than it was. His assumption was based on a previous report by pilots of another Crossair jet that landed just before Flight 3597. In episode 111 of Take to the Sky: the Air Disaster Podcast, we discuss how the captain of the flight, Hans Ulrich Lutz, while preparing for a non-precision approach to runway 28, put the plane into a steeper descent than was laid out on the approach chart for the runway and incorrectly assumed the aircraft was closer to the airport than it actually was. On November 24, 2001, Crossair Flight 3597, with 33 people onboard crash landed in the hills outside of Zurich International Airport.