http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/noblat/...egro-44738.asp
Articles
Sent by Demóstenes Torres -
Dec 5, 2006 03:15 AM
In the country of the black hole
The New York Times journalist Joe Sharkey is a survivor of Brazil's worst aviation disaster. He was one of the passengers on the Legacy that collided with the Gol aircraft. Sharkey was the first reporter to denounce the pantomime of the Brazilian authorities in the management and safeguarding of the country's air space. At first he injured our patriotic spirits with the arrogant and ethnocentric tone of a Caucasian from the metropolis predisposed to disdain this third-world cane field. However, each new article published by the Brazilian media on the deficiencies of the air traffic control system has shown the North American to be right.
Joe Sharkey feeds his blog almost daily with caustic articles on the Brazilian tragedy. It's clear that he has taken on the mission of freeing the two pilots of the Legacy, after all, they saved his life. Until the investigations are concluded no one can be blamed, but the pilots showed extraordinary airmanship in landing the Embraer jet after the collision. That's because the pilot of a cargo aircraft, who spoke fluent English, oriented them on the position of the Air Force base in the Amazon jungle, since they were unable to communicate with the Brazilian controllers.
The journalist considers that the pilots are being maintained in a condition analogous to hostages, when they should be treated as heroes and sent home in first class, which seems inevitable considering the follies of the Brazilian government. The collision of the two aircraft was caused by a set of human and equipment failures, but wound up as a tragedy foretold because the government did not react promptly. Evasions and denials will not resolve the crisis of confidence in a public service that Brazilians were sure was one of the best in the world, especially after the billions invested in Sivam.
If it's true that the radars didn't work, that aircraft disappear in black holes and that there there's a shortage of air traffic controllers it's needful to admit that flying in Brazil is almost asking to die. Brazilian air space is equivalent to the country's precarious roads and what does the government do? Deny the evidence of the aviation blackout and promise that everything will be improved with a pothole-filling operation that will be done by summer. As Sharkey calls him, the Minister of Defense, Wonderful Waldir, lives with his head in another orbit: now he says that he wasn't informed of a certain problem, now he simply denies that there is a black hole, obsolete radar or impounded resources. As José Simão says the only things that's flying in Brazil is the Minister of Defense.
The problem, Minister, is that in this uniformly blue sky, not even passenger airliners are any longer seen. And what disrespect to the families of the dead of the Flight 1907 accident! The Air Force, Infraero, and ANAC knew that there were no survivors, but waited 48 hours to give the news. So it's a function of the State to create expectations so that suffering is less painful? I wrote in this blog that the delays would be assimilated by Brazilians and become normal. That's what's happened, to the surprise of a Dutchman who put up with a three-hour delay to make a connection at Congonhas Airport. What most intrigued the citizen accustomed to European composure was the cheer that the passengers in the chaotic departure concourse sent up for each flight confirmed. A full platter and more to reinforce Joe Sharkey's arguments.
Demóstenes Torres is a prosecutor and senator (PFL-GO)