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Old 7th Oct 2006, 13:57
  #386 (permalink)  
onetrack
 
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FolhaOnline has revealed, in a current news item, that at least one of the ATC's involved in this incident, has been removed from his position and taken for "psychological treatment" .. indicating a possible realisation of his ATC error/s, and an accompanying nervous breakdown.

The item continues that the ATC had 6 years in the job, and was regarded as experienced .. however, the article also goes on, to discuss the work load on the ATC's and the likely possibility of overwork with this particular ATC, with inadequate breaks.

The article states that the ATC's are supposed to work 2 hrs and then have 2 hrs break .. but this rarely happens, due to the work pressure from the Military heirarchy that controls Brazilian airspace (around 2500 civilian and 10,469 military employees) .. the relatively poor pay, and the threat of job loss, if they don't put in more hours than laid down.

Another item on the same site, states that the ATC people, know of a communications 'Black hole' in the region of the Cachimbo Mtn Range, between Manaus and Brasilia .. in precisely the region where the planes collided .. and that .. (quote) "Pilots tell, that there, they count only on the equipment of the airplanes" ..

Of course, the biggest single question is why the Legacy was at FL37, when it should have been at FL36, in line with the odd/even separation of the Nth/Sth air routes. This odd/even separation of FL's has been in place for a couple of years, according to reports, so it's not that unfamiliarity could be brought up as a contributing factor ..
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