Hmmm .. seems like I've poked a raw nerve here ....
This following Princeton/Rochlin publication is an excellent read .. see paragraph 37 for the point I previously made about military vs civilian training ..
http://www.pupress.princeton.edu/boo...hapter_07.html
This is not an article that I've just found to satisfy your regular need for irrefutable proof .. its an issue that has been raised previously, as a matter of possible concern .. and the issue was .. the large number of RAAF trained pilots, who left the RAAF, to join Qantas. It was a regular joke that the RAAF was known as the Qantas flying school.
Note that the Princeton/Rochlin article goes on at length about the workload on AT Controllers possibly being subtly increased by extensive computerisation.
Seeing as Brazil is reputed to have spent $122M on ATC upgrades in the last couple of years, one has to ponder the possibilities of too much of that money going into technology, and not enough into training, and the human factor.
Despite you trying to savage me over every single one of my comments, there can be no doubt that ATC failed in this case in at least two areas. No doubt other contributing factors will be found .. but Brazilian ATC will in no way come out of this, squeaky clean.
In the case of communications failure during the IFR flight, pilots will follow the exact route in the IFR clearance, and ATC will anticipate their path, altitudes, and times along the route, based upon a combination of the IFR flight plan and the IFR clearance issued by ATC to the pilot.