F/A-18 crash on the sust: Radar switched off without replacement

The army’s radar system is out of date. The promised replacement has been long in coming for years. Due to the criminal trial for a fighter jet crash, disturbing facts become public.

These are two F/A-18 fighter jets that have started on the slopes 10 towards the east. First the flight instructor lifts off, closely followed by his student. The distance is only 15 seconds. The two jets form a patrol. They rise together to shoot an enemy aircraft over the Sustenhorn – this is the briefing of this aerial combat exercise.

In a row, sting into a dense cloud cover. The second jet therefore couples his radar system with the first. So he can follow it through the clouds without seeing him.

However, this only works if the two jets rise approximately at the same angle. But the front jet starts too steep, the rear too flat. The radar connection breaks off. The two F/A-18 thunder closely through the clouds without seeing each other.

On the screen on the floor, the two points jerk closer and closer together. If you approach more than 1.6 miles, the radar system can no longer distinguish the two jets. The points merge.

The rear pilot reports by radio that it has lost the radar connection. « Break Lock » is the problem in technical terms. The air traffic controller only knows it from theory. Because it has never happened in Swiss practice.

The two green dots are dangerously close together on his screen. But the pilot cannot see any more. In contrast to a modern radar device, the quadradar shows no flight heights, no aircraft identities, no speeds, no cards, no degrees of departure, no navigation points, no geographical references, no air space limits and no minimum heights.

The air traffic controller wants to defuse the risk of collision by assigning different flight heights to the two jets. In the briefing before the start, the pilots and the air traffic controller learn the corresponding information by heart. The safe flight height over the Alps is 4000 meters above sea level. In the flying language: Flight Level 150.

The air traffic controller probably had the right number in the head, but it speaks a different information in the radio: Flight Level 100, which corresponds to 3000 meters above sea level. « I promised myself, » he will say in his first questioning to the investigator.

He apparently noticed his mistake shortly afterwards. « Shit, that’s not possible, » he is said to have called according to the witnesses. But he can no longer reach the F/A-18 on their arrogance. He has already instructed the pilot to change the radio frequency and hand over the communication to «Batman», the operations center in Dübendorf is called.

The air traffic controller from Meiringen takes the phone to alert « Batman ». There were no direct communication connections. He has to report on a ring call in the headquarters. Valuable time passes. The air traffic control can only reach the first jet.

This turns a round. The pilot sees the cockpit black smoke over the front animal mountain. His colleague’s jet is smashed there. The 27-year-old pilot was dead on the spot.

After a few months, the investigators recognize a security problem with the Air Force. Therefore, they write the commander a letter. They complain that the radar device does not display all the necessary details. Due to the two -dimensional representation, the air traffic controller cannot precisely determine the height of the fighter jets.

As an immediate measure, the examiners therefore propose to purchase a latest generation radar device – « especially with the possibility of presenting the flight objects in 3D ».

A new radar system – called Mals Plus – was planned anyway. After the accident, the authorities communicate that this is now being introduced prioritized in Meiringen. The problem seemed to be solved.

Army switched off the old radar device – without replacement

But now research by CH Media shows: The old surveillance radar has actually been switched off. The device is now in the Air Museum in Dübendorf. But a new radar system for departure is not in operation. So today the air traffic controllers on the ground see less than on August 29, 2016 when the F/A-18 shelled in the mountains.

The Air Safety Authority Skyguide confirms on request: «Test flights for a new radar have shown that the requirements for a modern radar system in Meiringen are difficult to implement, also due to the special topography. There is still the intention to put a more modern radar system into operation in the coming years. »

The Mals Plus radar system has not yet been introduced in Meiringen. It is a standard solution from Germany that is unsuitable for departure in the Swiss Alps according to the tests. The new precision radar is only suitable for approaches.

Again Skyguide: « It is correct that the pilots in Meiringen will no longer be available to a round search radar. » The departure of the fighter jets has therefore not been monitored with a radar since the end of 2018. « No other safety net is available, » says a skyguide spokesman.

The investigators had proposed further immediate measure after the accident. The air traffic controllers in Meiringen should receive direct connections to those responsible in Dübendorf. But this requirement also remained unfulfilled.

The army replaced the communication system. But she did not set any direct connections to individual jobs. She checked such improvements, but she rejected them. Because it did not find a suitable technical solution.

War in Europe: Air Force gets new importance

When the investigators made their claims, Russia had already occupied the Crimea. However, the security situation changed fundamentally with the raid on Ukraine in February 2022.

The Swiss Air Force suddenly got new importance. Meiringen is an important military airfield for Switzerland. It serves as the second place of use for securing the World Economic Forum in Davos. It is a Ernstein set of the Air Force, in which the fighter jets are armed.