It has been said here more than once that the Brazilian authorities -- abetted by elements of the news media eager to curry favor with those in charge and to exploit the virulent anti-Americanism that has driven this story -- are attempting mightily to frame the two American pilots for the Sept. 29 mid-air collision that killed 154 over the Amazon.
Evidence continues to mount that the Brazilian military (which runs air traffic control) and the federal police will keep insisting that the American pilots were criminally culpable for mass homicide because of a malfunctioning transponder in the Legacy business jet. Swept under the rug will be the clear, unambiguous screw-ups by air traffic control that every aviation expert in the world recognizes as the cause of the crash.
The news magazine EPOCA recently printed excerpts from the depositions given to federal police by flight controllers
[MY COMMENTS in CAPS]
By Eduardo Vieira and Wálter Nunes
… a report on the investigations of the Federal Police shows for the first time the full version of the air traffic controllers who were monitoring the route of the Legacy jet… The official deposition of 13 controllers of São José dos Campos and Brasília, obtained by ÉPOCA, reveals failures that contributed for the Legacy to graze a Gol Boeing, causing its fall and killing 154 people aboard. [MY NOTE: GRAZE? THE TWO PLANES COLLIDED!]`.
… In the case of the fall of the Gol airplane, there are at least four failures that compounded: 1) the Legacy was flying at a wrong altitude, on the wrong way [MY NOTE: THIS IS UNTRUE. THE LEGACY WAS FLYING AT THE ALTITUDE IT HAS BEEN ASSIGNED BY AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL, 37,000 FEET]; 2) the transponder, equipment that would send accurate information to air control about the location of the airplane, and in case of risk of collision, would trigger an alert to the pilots, was turned off or broken [MY NOTE: THE AMERICAN PILOTS HAVE TESTIFIED REPEATEDLY THAT THEY WOULD HAVE NO REASON ON GOD’S EARTH TO TURN OFF THE TRANSPONDER. AND YOU WILL NOTE THAT THERE IS A CONSPICUOUS LACK OF MENTION OF ANYTHING HAPPENING IJN THE COCKPIT OF THE BRAZILIAN 737 BEARING DOWN ON THE LEGACY] ; 3) communication, in an area close to the place of the accident, failed; [MY NOTE: THIS REFERS TO THE RADAR AND RADIO ‘BLIND ZONE’ THAT THE BRAZILIANS SWORE DID NOT EXIST] and 4) the flight controllers hesitated in crucial moments [MY NOTE; ‘HESITATED’ IS HARDLY THE VERB TO DESCRIBE A FLIGHT CONTROLLER WHO FAILED TO NOTICE FOR 50 MINUTES THAT THE LEGACY'S TRANSPONDER WASN’T SIGNALING AND THAT THE RADAR READING PUTTING THE LEGACY AT 36,000 FEET WAS REFLECTING A NOW-SUPERCEDED FLIGHT PLAN, NOT REALITY]
…This fourth cause of the disaster becomes clear from the deposition of the controllers. One of them, Air Force sergeant Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos, pledged that the Legacy was flying at 36,000 feet, [MY NOTE: NOT TRUE. THE LEGACY WAS AT 37,000 FEET, A FACT THAT IS NOT IN DISPUTE], the altitude specified in the flight plan, when he turned his shift over to the next controller, Lucivando Alencar. “The aircraft is effectively at 36,000 feet”, he said, according to Alencar. [MY NOTE: EFFECTIVELY???!!] When he started his shift, he allegedly noticed the radars were not accurate. But Santos’ information made him feel calm. The information was wrong. [IN FACT, THE ACTUAL RADAR READING WAS FLUCTUATING ALL OVER THE PLACE BECAUSE OF FAULTY EQUIPMENT, WHICH IS THE REASON THE NITWIT BRAZILIAN AUTHORITIES CLAIMED THE LEGACY HAD TO HAVE BEEN PERFORMING ‘STUNT MANEUVERS.’]. The Legacy was flying at 37,000 feet, same altitude as the Gol Boeing traveling in the opposite direction. [MY NOTE: OOPS]
Here are some points ... indicating failures of the air control:
- On the Legacy take-off, at 3,30PM in São José dos Campos, the American pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino asked for flight authorization. They were taking the Legacy, which had just been bought from Embraer by the air transport firm ExcelAire, to the United States. Their flight plan specified going at 37,000 feet until Brasília, descend to 36,000 and, after a mark known as Teres point, climb to 38,000 feet. The controller João Batista da Silva said that, when asking Brasília center for confirmation, he received as answer that the Legacy should fly “level 370 on bow (direction) of Poços de Caldas, Minas Gerais” [MY NOTE: THIS IS UNTRUE. IT WOULD HAVE BEEN IMPOSSOBLE FOR THE LEGACY TO REACH 37,000 FEET BY THAT POINT SO CLOSE TO TAKEOFF]. The controller would also have referred to the route “São José-Eduardo Gomes”. This information may have induced the Legacy pilots to think that the flight plan was being changed, and that they should travel at 37,000 feet until the region of the Eduardo Gomes airport, in Manaus. [MY NOTE: THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT HE FLIGHT RECORDER SHOWS TO BE THE CASE] In an interview Friday, in the U.S., Lepore and Paladino claimed they were directed, both in São José dos Campos and in mid-air, near Brasília, to fly at the altitude of 37,000 feet. (MY NOTE: CORRECT.])
[MY NOTE: IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT MOST BRAZILIAN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS HAVE LIMITED ENGL.ISH LANGUAGE SKILLS. THE AMERICAN PILOTS HAVE BEEN CONSISTENT IN SAYING THAT THEY WERE TOLD BY SAN JOSE ATC TO MAINTAIN 37,000 FEET ALL THE WAY TO MANAUS. THEY SAID THEY CONFIRMED THIS SEVERAL TIMES].
The direction of Cindacta I, the Brasília control center, was given by controller Felipe dos Santos Reis, age 22. At that time he was acting as assistant controller. Reis started working as controller in June. Until August he was an intern. He was made a regular employee in September, a few days before the accident. {HMMMM, THE CONTROLLER IN CHARGE OF THE LEGACY AT THE CRUCIAL MOMENTS IN BRASILIA, ABOUT MID-POINT BETWEEN SAN JOSE AND MANAUS, WAS AN INTERN UNTIL FOUR DAYS BEFORE THE COLLISION? THIS IS THE SAME CONTROLLER WHO BELIEVED MISTAKENLY THAT THE LEGACY WAS AT 36,000 FEET, AND ALSO FAILED TO REPORT FOR 50 MINUTES THAT THE LEGACY TRANSPONDER WAS NOT SIGNALING].
… The controllers were induced to error by the radar screen. [MY NOTE: THAT'S A LITTLE LIKE SAYING WILLIE SUTTON WAS INDUCED TO ERROR BY THE BANK] When he started monitoring the Legacy, at 3.55 PM, Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos saw it was at 37,000 feet. Right after that, he noticed that the transponder wasn’t working. But he said he was not alarmed, “because the primary radar provided (…) all the required information, even though it is a less reliable indication”. It just so happens that the secondary radar, when it can’t collect the accurate altitude of a plane, indicates, after some time, the altitude anticipated in the system. That’s why the information on Santos’ screen started being 36,000 feet. (MY NOTE: HE WAS LOOKING, THEN, AT A FALSE ALTITUDE. ALSO, HE ADMITS THE TRANSPONDER WENT OUT, BUT HE `WAS NOT ALARMED?!’]
Marshal Rubens Maleiner, who took Santos’ deposition, asked the controller what his usual procedure is when an airplane changes altitude without asking for authorization. [MY NOTE: NO RESPONSIBLE PILOTS ROUTINELY CHANGES ALTITUDE WITHOUT CLEARANCE]. The controller said he had never been through such a situation. Maleiner asked how he would act if this happened. Santos said he would understand that as a potential failure in communications. And would attempt to contact the airplane. In the sequence, the obvious question: “In light of this, why didn’t you warn the Legacy over the radio?” Santos answered he isn’t in the habit of remembering the history of positions of each plane. [MY NOTE; CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS OF THAT ASSERTION THE NEXT TIME YOU FLY IN BRAZIL!!!]
… Sergeant Lucivando Tibúrcio de Alencar took over the control of the Legacy, replacing Santos, at 4.15 PM. Asked by marshal Maleiner whether he shouldn’t have communicated immediately with the Legacy pilots, since the transponder wasn’t working, Alencar said “he thought radio contact wasn’t necessary, since there was no other plane nearby.” [MY NOTE, OH, I DON’T KNOW…WHAT ABOUT THE GOL 737 WITH 154 ABOARD BEARING DOWN ON A COLLISION COURSE!] A few minutes later, Alencar said he started to become confused due to the lack of data of the secondary radar. He finally tried contacting the Legacy. He said he made five to eight attempts, getting no answer to none of them. [MY NOTE; THIS IMPLIES THE PILOTS IGNORED HIM. IN FACT, HIS RADIO TRANSMISSION WASN'T BEING RECEIVED, AS IS OFTEN THE CASE IN THAT SECTOR OF THE AMAZON] Even so, he said he believed the aircraft to be at 36,000 feet, because this was “the only accurate information he received from Jomarcelo”. [MY NOTE; THIS WOULD BE INFORMATION FROM THE RECENT INTERN WHO WASN'T ALARMED ABOUT THE 50-MINUTE GAP IN TRANSPONDER SIGNALS?]
The controllers were never asked about the position of the Gol airplane. [MY NOTE: THE GOL WAS NOW INCOMMUNICADO IN THE RADAR BLIND-ZONE THE BRAZILIAN MILITARY AUTHORITIES SWORE DID NOT EXIST] Nor whether it appeared on the radar, or whether somebody tried to warn them about the disappearance of the Legacy.
At 4.58 PM, the two planes crashed. [MY NOTE: THIS WOULD, OF COURSE, BE THE INEVITABLE RESULT OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL HAVING TWO PLANES AT 37,000 FEET IN A COLLISION COURSE]
In one point all 13 controllers agree. The Legacy pilots were wrong on failing to communicate that the transponder wasn’t working. [WAIT A MINUTE! 13 CONTROLLERS CAME UP WITH THAT WHOPPER? IT WAS AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL’S RESPONSIBILITY TO NOTIFY THE LEGACY THAT ITS TRANSPONDER WAS NOT SIGNALING – AND IT IS NOT IN DISPUTE THAT AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL IN BRAZILIA WAS AWARE OF THE LEGACY’S NON-SIGNALING TRANSPONDER FOR 50 MINUTES BEFORE THE CRASH]
… Another factor that contributed for the crash, according to the controllers, was that the Legacy entered a “zone of shadow”, as are known the regions in which there are failures in the radar and in radio communications. [MY NOTE: RE THE ‘ZONE OF SHADOW,’ AS IT IS SO QUAINTLY CALLED HERE. YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT FOR MONTHS, THE BRAZILIANS DENOUNCED ME AND ANYONE ELSE WHO STATED THAT BRAZIL’S AIR SPACE, ESPECIALLY OVER THE AMAZON, HAS BLIND ZONES WHERE RADAR AND RADIO DON'T WORK].. Some kilometers north of Brasília, between flight-marks known as Teres and Nabol, the jet allegedly disappeared from the radar screen. “It’s an area that is blind, deaf and dumb”, said Lucivando Alencar. [MY NOTE: AND WHO WOULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT?]
As a consequence of the disaster, Brazil is going through a sort of air chaos. When a disaster of this size occurs, it’s usual to remove the controllers that had any contact with the airplanes involved. They were ten professionals. Other ten controllers, psychologically shaken, asked for medical leave. This was enough for the sector to collapse. In the following weeks, the country found out that Brazilian air control is not receiving the resources required for working properly. There is allegedly a deficit of 300 air traffic professionals, and their qualification takes at least one year.
Noticing that their complains about the working conditions were finally starting to be heard, the controllers started making demands in the open. Previously they could not make them, because most of them are military, and owe strict obedience to their superiors. One month after the accident, on the eve of the November 2 holiday, the controllers refused to monitor more airplanes than what is allowed by the Brazilian safety rules. This caused delays and chaos at the airports. The situation is still not back to normal.
In an audit disclosed last week, the Union Audit Court (TCU) reached the conclusion that there were cuts and curtailment of R$522 million in the last three years. In addition, Infraero allegedly didn’t pass to the Air Force Command approximately $582 million since 2000. The minister of Defense, Waldir Pires, rebutted the TCU report.(that is because he stole the money) “In 2006 there was no curtailment. We didn’t hold a single penny”, claimed Pires. “In 2005 the curtailment was minimal. In 2004 not a penny. And on fiscal year of 2003, it was insignificant.” To solve the crisis, the Senate authorized the release of a R$ 60 million fund for air traffic control in 2007. The money is required, but any definitive solution of the problem will take years. The air companies started to openly pressure for the air control of civil aviation to pass to the hands of civilians. “Air Force will have to give up the rings in order to avoid losing the fingers”, said congressman Fernando Gabeira (PV-RJ) during hearing in Congress.
In the short range, to avoid chaos at the airports, the authorities summoned 60 controllers that were not active. In face of the pressure of the controllers, the Air Force commander, Luiz Carlos Bueno, said that, if necessary, he will order a “confinement to quarters”, to maintain them in service during the year-end holidays. “It’s an attitude that nobody wants to take”, he said. “But, if necessary, it will be done”. The president of TAM, Marco Antonio Bologna, stated he doesn’t expect further delays. As a matter of precaution, though, he said the company will take special measures. “Since a scalded cat is afraid even of cold water, we will reinforce the teams and increase the number of available planes.”
MY NOTE: WELCOME BACK DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE.
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By JOE SHARKEY
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