I am glad to see that the moderators are taking an interest in the thread and deleting pure rubbish. Let me say that I hope they leave it open (as opposed to the peremptory manner in which they closed the Congonhas thread).
My take is as follows. Our Brazilian colleagues on this thread (as, before it was closed, on the Congonhas thread) are seriously trying to figure their way through two horrendous accidents that have occurred in the last year. I have today downloaded the 713-page final report of the parliamentary committee (CPI) of the Chamber of Deputies concerning what they officially term the "Crisis in the Air Traffic System". The report of the Senate committee is yet to come. The information was given to me by someone who has been "banned" from discussing these events in this forum, although I judge he has resurfaced under another name.
I am gratified to find my slight contributions to this debate (through one of the newspapers, Folha) considered on p210. I haven't read the complete document (it was enough for me to print it out today!)
This is a serious discussion, with two sides that are having a very hard time understanding each other. It is very noticeable that our Brazilian professional pilot colleagues are saying absolutely nothing. There is a reason for this.
We are debating with Brazilian lawyers and concerned others. It is very worrying to me that what are (by us) regarded as international air traffic control standards were apparently not followed, and that the consequences of that event are being drawn differently by Brazilians that by non-Brazilians. This indicates to me a significant cultural discrepancy that needs to be bridged.
The clearest statement of the non-Brazilian view has to my mind been given by
[email protected]:11.56. I must say I agree with this view completely.
I appreciate the citation by ATC Watcher of work by Sidney Dekker. Sidney is one of the most persuasive purveyors of the view that when competent operators screw up, one should look for the faults inside the system design rather than in the operators' mental states (which, as he and I would argue, should be accounted for in any system which requires human operators essentially). Another advocate of this view is Don Norman. Don does not deal much with airplanes (he is more into door handles, tea kettles and coffee machines) but he is very readable and his insights translate.
PBL