Crossair Flight 3597
aviation accident
Crossair Flight 3597 was a scheduled flight from Berlin Tegel Airport, Germany, to Zurich Airport, Switzerland. On 24 November 2001, the Crossair Avro RJ100 operating the route, registered as HB-IXM, crashed into a wooded range of hills near Bassersdorf and caught fire. Out of the 33 occupants, nine people survived.
Aircraft
The accident aircraft, an Avro 146-RJ100, with registration HB-IXM, was manufactured in 1996, and had logged more than 13,000 flying hours in 11,500 cycles at the time of the crash. The aircraft was powered by four Lycoming LF507-1F turbofan engines.
Accident
Flight 3597 departed Berlin Tegel Airport at 21:01 CET with 28 passengers, three flight attendants, and the cockpit crew consisting of Captain Hans Ulrich Lutz (57) and First Officer Stefan Löhrer (25). Lutz was a highly experienced pilot with more than 19,500 flight hours, approximately 19,300 of which were as pilot in command. Löhrer, in contrast, was inexperienced, with just 490 total flight hours.
Upon arrival in Zurich airspace, about an hour after takeoff from Berlin, the pilots were cleared for an instrument landing system (ILS) approach to runway 14, but were switched to a VOR/DME (VHF Omnidirectional Range/Distance Measuring Equipment) approach to runway 28 due to a noise abatement statute after 22:00 CET. There were poor visibility conditions due to low clouds, and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) captured the transmission of a previously landing Crossair flight informing air traffic control (ATC) that they could not see the runway until 4.1 km (2.5 mi) away. At 22:07 CET, Flight 3597 crashed into a wooded range of hills near the small town of Bassersdorf, around 4 km (2.5 mi) short of the runway, where it broke apart and burst into flames.
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