Scooby-Doo: The Ghost Planes

Chapter Seven: Überlingen

After the Helios incident in Greece, Mystery Inc. got into the Mystery Machine, and they all began to head off to Germany. With Helios 522 behind them, they were preparing for one of the most tragic stories to have ever been told in the history of aviation.

On 1 July 2002, Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937, a Tupolev Tu-154 passenger jet, and DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757 cargo jet, collided in mid-air over the southern German town of Überlingen at 23:35 local time. All 69 passengers and crew aboard the Tu-154 and the two crew members aboard the Boeing 757 were killed.

The official investigation by the German Federal Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (German: Bundesstelle für Flugunfalluntersuchung, (BFU)) identified as the main cause of the collision a number of shortcomings on the part of the Swiss air traffic control service in charge of the sector involved, and also ambiguities in the procedures regarding the use of TCAS, the on-board aircraft collision avoidance system.

Two years after the crash, Peter Nielsen, the air traffic controller on duty at the time of the collision, was murdered in an apparent act of revenge, by Vitaly Kaloyev, a Russian citizen who had lost his wife and two children in the accident.

As the Mystery Machine drove along the European roads, Daphne was fast asleep in the front of the van, whilst Velma, Valka, and Shaggy were reading about the two planes and the people that were onboard the collision aircraft. Braedey and Scooby were asleep in the back, the two cuddled up together, whilst Fred was driving, as per usual.

Valka looked at the information, and sighed. "Here's what it says." She told Shaggy and Velma, and she showed them. "Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 was a chartered flight from Moscow, Russia, to Barcelona, Spain, carrying sixty passengers and nine crew. Forty-five of the passengers were Russian schoolchildren from the city of Ufa in Bashkortostan on a school trip, organised by the local UNESCO committee to the Costa Dorada area of Spain. Most of the parents of the children were high-ranking officials in Bashkortostan. One of the fathers was the head of the local UNESCO committee. The aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-154M, registered as RA-85816, was piloted by an experienced Russian crew: 52-year-old Captain Alexander Mihailovich Gross (Александр Михайлович Гросс) and 40-year-old First Officer Oleg Pavlovich Grigoriev (Олег Павлович Григорьев). The captain had more than 12,000 flight hours to his credit. Grigoriev, the chief pilot of Bashkirian Airlines, had 8,500 hours of flying experience and his task was to evaluate Captain Gross's performance throughout the flight. 41-year-old Murat Ahatovich Itkulov (Мурат Ахатович Иткулов), a seasoned pilot with close to 7,900 flight hours who was normally the first officer, did not officially serve on duty due to the captain's assessment. 50-year-old Sergei Gennadyevich Kharlov (Сергей Геннадьевич Харлов), a flight navigator with approximately 13,000 flight hours, and 37-year-old Flight Engineer Oleg Irikovich Valeev (Олег Ирикович Валеев), who had almost 4,200 flight hours, joined the three pilots in the cockpit."

"Like, that's some crew. Five people in the cockpit of one plane?" Shaggy stated rather than asked.

"DHL Flight 611, a Boeing 757-23APF cargo aircraft registered as A9C-DHL, had originated in Bahrain and was being flown by two Bahrain-based pilots; 47-year-old British Captain Paul Phillips and 34-year-old Canadian First Officer Brant Campioni. Both pilots were very experienced – the captain had logged close to 12,000 flight hours and the first officer had accumulated more than 6,600 flight hours." Valka continued. "At the time of the accident, the aircraft was en route from Bergamo, Italy, to Brussels, Belgium."

"Jinkies." Velma spoke up. "That means that the two planes would cross in Germany."