C525 / P180, south west of Sion Switzerland, 2012

C525 / P180, south west of Sion Switzerland, 2012

Summary

On 22 March 2013, a Cessna 525 inbound to Sion on a VFR clearance was flown into conflict with an IFR Piaggio P180 departing the same airport in compliance with its clearance and the prescribed separation between the two aircraft was lost in the vicinity of FL140. The Investigation concluded that an inappropriate ATC tactic had been employed in an attempt to achieve separation and recommended the development of a new procedure to better facilitate separation between IFR and VFR traffic in the airspace where the conflict occurred.

Description

On 22 March 2013, a privately operated Cessna 525 (N600HS) being operated from Paris CDG to Sion and in descent to destination under Visual Flight Rules (VFR) lost prescribed separation in Class 'C' Airspace against an opposite direction Piaggio P180 Avanti ll (D-IKSI) which was also privately operated and had just departed Sion for Braunschweig, Germany under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Both aircraft were equipped only with Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS) 1 systems, neither of which generated a TA and neither pilot saw the other during the crossing.

The tracks of the two aircraft involved. Reproduced from the Official Report.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Swiss Accident Investigation Board (SAIB). Recorded ATC data relevant to the Investigation was recovered from the ACC involved; corresponding data from the airport ATC Unit involved was no longer available when sought.

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