And now the news.
Brazilian air workers union (
http://www.aeronautas.org.br) objects to criminalization of Flight 1907 and impounding of pilots' passports, while Minister Pires washes hands of passport impounding; pilots' lawyers respond to Federal Police report claiming pilots failed to note transponder was off.
http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Brasil/...1-5598,00.html
14/12/2006 – 09:03 – Updated 14/12/2006 – 09:32
Commandant rejects criminalization of air accidents
Union leader criticizes apprehension of passports of Legacy pilots
Jet collided with Gol Boeing; 154 people died
By G1, in São Paulo, with information from Agência Estado
In the committee of the Chamber of Deputies that is analyzing the air travel crisis, representatives of the sector asked for the beginning of a discussion at various level about the need to avoid the criminalization of air accidents. Commandant Célio Eugênio, flight security aide of the Aviation Workers' Union (Sindicáto dos Aeronautas) condemned the decision by the courts to impound the passports of the Legacy pilots, which collided with the Gol Boeing on September 29, for more than two months. Last week, the pilots were heard by the Federal Police and accused of placing at risk air security. Soon afterward, they left the country. If convicted, they could be sentenced to from one to three years of prison.
After the collision between the two aircraft, the Brazilian airline company's plane fell in the north of the state of Mato Grosso and the 154 people who were aboard died. It was Brazilian aviation's worst tragedy.
On warning that "the non-criminalization of the pilots is not a procedure to protect criminals", Célio Eugênio explained that accident investigations are undertaken to avoid other accidents occurring for the same reasons. "If we were to have hanging over us being accused of crimes we did not commit, we pilots could stop contributing toward improving the system", he declared.
Congressman Luiz Antônio Fleury Filho (PMDB-SP), however, contested the union leader's theory, alleging that "no one can be above the law". "It isn't possible that someone who's involved himself in a accident like this remain unpunished", he responded.
The Minister of Defense, Waldir Pires, made a point of emphasizing that the Government did not interfere in the case. "No one, strictly speaking, commits a crime [when piloting], unless he's a terrorist or a suicide. At no time did we interfere in the question of the passports. But a judicial decision must be complied with."
http://g1.globo.com/Noticias/Brasil/...3-5598,00.html
14/12/2006 - 18:04 - Updated 14/12/2006 - 18:11
Legacy pilots' lawyers respond to Federal Police report
Defense alleges that analyses of aviation rules are incorrect
According to lawyers, transponder was never turned off.
By G1, in São Paulo
Lawyers José Carlos Dias and Theo Dias, who are defending the pilots of the Legacy that collided with the Gol plane on September 29, issued a note, this Thursday (14), responding to the report that the Federal Police delivered Wednesday to the Federal Court in Sinop, in Mato Grosso.
For the superintendent of the Federal Police in Mato Grosso, Daniel Lorenz Azevedo, there is evidence that pilots Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino were partly responsible for the accident.
Here is the complete text of the note:
"In a highly complex investigation, as in an air accident, it is worrying to see a police chief, who has taken over the case only a few days before, make accusations based on incorrect analyses of the rules and procedures of aviation, as well as of the conduct of the pilots.
"The transponder was never turned off by the pilots, and, at the present moment, it is not possible to affirm if it was or was not working. The fact is that, for reasons that aren't known, the ground radar did not receive the signal emitted by the aircraft's transponder.
The pilots did not have any way to access that information. In accordance with IMA 100-12 (Rules of Air and Air Traffic Services of the Ministry of Aeronautics), it is the controller who should inform the pilot, or inform the next control position, when the aircraft's transponder is not operating or is operating inadequately.
"The police chief adventured into a technical universe with which he is unfamiliar, rushed to conclusions ahead of specialist, which has contributed only to throw into tumult the process of investigating the accident, which should be professional, cautious, and impartial.
"José Carlos Dias e Theo Dias"