Paul this is Europe.Its not like the US where everything is just ONE continuous system.

Both planes came into Swiss control at the same altitude. Both had been assigned their altitudes by ground control, but by ground control other than the Swiss whos airspace they were entering. In Europe, because of the cramped conditions, all altitudes are assigned by ground control. Both aircraft were flying at exactly the altitudes they were told.

The Swiss failed to move them to a new altitude. Then in a panic, the controller orders the Tupolev to decend, when he should of known-as the Tupolves collision warning system also knew- to CLIMB. Pilots are still taught to allways listen to ground over their instruments-even though a computer is usually less likely to be making a mistake than a person is...

Actually, the separation at high altitudes is 2000 feet.  However, the odd/even rule only applies in VFR, not IFR flight.  Even though the practice is to follow that rule, it's not mandatory and the clearance can be for any altitude that provides the required separation.  Sounds like the controllers were at least partially responsible.  Early reports were that numerous calls were made to the Russian and not answered.  This is possible, but if it is true, why didn't someone call the DHL?  Lots of questions without real answers so far.

From your thread title, it's obvious that you read the article and failed to comprehend any of it.  Let's analyze just how wrong this is:
"Swiss ground control caused Russian plane crash..."

1) It wasn't just a Russian plane that crashed;  you are completely ignoring the DHL 757 cargo jet with two crew members who were also killed.

2) The ground control didn't "cause" the crash;  it was caused by the pilot delaying his response because of a conflict between what his onboard TCAS told him to do and what the ATC controller told him to do.

If the Russian had immediately started to descend when told to do so by the Swiss ATC, the collision would have been avoided.

Officials from the Russian government, Bashkirian Airlines and Moscow's Domodedovo Airport said the air traffic controller's instructions take priority over the on-board anti-collision system when the two contradict.

``The air traffic controller gets the last word,'' said Sergei Rybanov of Bashkirian Airlines.

That is an international rule, said Rybanov and a spokeswoman for Domodedovo Airport, where the Russian flight originated.

But Herbert Schmell, spokesman for the national airline Swiss, said the cockpit warning system should have been obeyed.

``A TCAS system makes no sense if it is overruled, especially in a phase when there isn't much leeway anymore,'' Schmell said.

Georg Fongern, a spokesman for Germany's pilot association, agreed, saying the planes never should have been allowed to get so close that the warning systems kicked in.

``Never in the life of an aircraft should this system be activated, and if it has been activated there have to be a lot of mistakes and deficiencies beforehand,'' Fongern said.

Axel Raab, a spokesman for German air traffic control, told ZDF television the problem was that no international regulation tells pilots whether to follow the controller's order or the warning system.

``In most countries the rule is quite clear - pilots must follow the collision warning system,'' he added. ``But unfortunately that is not yet the case everywhere.''

Other experts said the planes would have had enough time to avoid each other had they both followed their cockpit warnings.

In another development, German air controllers said Monday they received an automatic radar warning that the planes were on a collision course and tried to warn the Zurich tower about two minutes before impact.

But when they called, the only available line was repeatedly busy.

German investigators said last week the Zurich control center's telephone system was undergoing maintenance at the time and the lone controller on duty was using the reserve line to communicate with Friedrichshafen, Germany, controllers about another flight.

Zurich's collision-warning system also was out of service for maintenance.

Most of the wreckage has been recovered and now is at the Friedrichshafen airport for investigation. A Braunschweig laboratory is examining the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of both planes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited a cemetery Monday in Ufa, the capital of the Bashkortostan republic, during a memorial service for victims.

Putin told the Russian captain's widow that, according to his information, ``the Russian pilots were not to blame for the tragedy.''

``The Russian pilots were professionals of the highest class,'' the ITAR-Tass news agency quoted him as saying.

07/08/02 18:39 EDT

Totally wrong, see above.

The Russian should never have obeyed the tower, he should have climbed like his computer told him OR he should have done nothing, and the Boeing would have missed him.

But then again you cant have pilots second guessing controllers at night in a place that is as crowded as Western Europe's airspace, can you?

I know right of way is usualy decided by altitude and direction of flight but as a practical matter the cargo carrying DHL, that had no passengers to be bounced off the walls in in sudden movement, should have been told by controllers to move. So far, I have seen nothing published that the DHL was even told the Tupolev was there...