alemaobaiano:
Here's my problem with the prosecutorial approach. The industry in general is willing to allow that most crew-related human error events are not criminal acts and that they are the consequence of a number of contributing factors. In other words, the people involved didn't intend to cause an accident. In most cases, how the events transpired "made sense to them at the time".
Is it not fair to assume that people within ANAC or Infraero were also well intended and were simply doing their best to work within the system they've been given? To me, the investigation and corrective actions should be focussed on fixing the entire system, including the political aspects of it. If officials go to jail, it is not a gaurantee that the system will be made better as a result. It's much more likely that you'll end up with an even more dysfunctional system with new rules written by administrators who don't understand the system in the first place. This is not a slight against Brazilian culture, but the system as it currently exists is the result of cultural norms. System safety improvements often require cultural change, and in this particular case, and the Gol mid-air collision case, culture change is needed to make the necessary improvements. Punishing people for living and acting within their cultural norms is something Al Queda does. It's not something we should do in aviation safety.
Last edited by J.O.; 17th Nov 2008 at 15:30.