The radar recordings shows the Legacy as a primary target as "floating" from 35500 to 36500 feet? (According to reports from the local press quoting officials)
… can someone explain to me how modern
Primary (skin return only) Radar can calculate altitude?!? … I have never seen nor heard of it in a civil sense … as I understand it, there were some older mil systems that used slant range and ‘known’ distance to calculate alt … surely you are not suggesting that in this case!?! …. SSR is the only civil means of detecting Alt and that depends on the output of the TXPDR’s!
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.. does the DFDR on the Embraer record TXPDR/TCAS setting/serviceability??
…. repeatedly told investigators they never turned off the device that transmits a plane's location and believed that it was working just before the collision, said Denise Niederauer, a spokeswoman for the Mato Grosso do Sul State Public Safety Department.
.. I am assuming that if a failure/fault occured, an EICAS message is generated and would be recorded?!?
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.. the Comm's/Electrical issue is intriguing ...
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.. how much stored data (time) is on the CVR??
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.. truly amazing that a brand new aeroplane can have apparently no problems .. then ... coincidental Comm and TXPDR/TCAS faults that both correct immediately after a bump!
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.. I am still not clear on wether that report of the ATC calls were found on the Embraer recorders or just the ATC tapes??
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.. did the Embraer pilots make any attempt to contact ATC during that hour (CVR)?? an hour that included a turn on to a new airway that included a flight plan descent requirement??
Brazil's air force said it investigated air traffic controllers' procedures on the day of the crash and found no irregularities.
.. if ATC had not had confirmation that the Embraer was going to be at FL360 before entering conflict with the B738 ... that B738 would have been recleared pronto! …. From the little bits we have heard from the authorities, ATC were obviously satisfied the Embraer was at FL360 prior to conflict … ask yourselves WHY they might have thought that??
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.... was the descent instruction read back before TXPDR and Comm loss??
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.. does anyone know for sure that the Embraer pilots had not reported at FL360???
Authorities said, however, that there was not enough evidence to accuse anybody.
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"We don't have elements to talk about that," Federal Police Investigator Renato Sayao told the official government news service Agencia Brasil
... what will be interesting is the content of the
two way communications before the Comm/Elec outage?