Here's a great first hand account by John Sharkey, the NY Times writer who was onboard the Embraer.
Colliding With Death at 37,000 Feet, and Living
(if it asks for a login, sign up free, or use this one, goddemmit/goddemmit)
Sidenote (which is utterly unimportant relative to the 155 dead, but still noteworthy): Gawker points out that Sharkey was very likely in violation of NY Times rules against travel reporters accepting free or discounted travel, whether they're on assignment or not.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Sept. 4) - Two American executive jet pilots were ordered by a judge to stay in Brazil while authorities investigate whether they caused a midair collision with an airliner that crashed into the Amazon, killing all 155 people aboard.
Questions Remain in Crash
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Talk About It: Post Thoughts
A Brazilian newspaper reported that the pilots' Legacy jet, which was carrying seven Americans, disobeyed an order by the control tower to descend to a lower altitude just before coming into contact with Gol airlines Flight 1907.
A judge in Mato Grosso state ordered federal police to seize the passports of pilot Joseph Lepore and co-pilot Jan Palladino "as a result of the doubts surrounding the case and the emergence of indications that the accident was caused by the Legacy," Mato Grosso Justice Department press spokeswoman Maria Barbant said by telephone Tuesday.
She said the two were not arrested but "just prevented from leaving the country, at least until we know exactly what happened" in Brazil's deadliest air disaster.
The daily O Globo paper said the Legacy flew at 37,000 feet to the capital, Brasilia, but then ignored an order to descend to 36,000 feet to continue its flight to the Amazon city of Manaus. The Gol jetliner was flying at 37,000 feet from Manaus to Brasilia en route to Rio de Janeiro.
The damaged executive jet safely landed at a nearby air force base after the incident.
The pilots, who have been questioned by Mato Grosso investigators, were brought to Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday for routine physical tests. They were not injured in the incident.
The Legacy had been making its inaugural flight to the United States, where it had been purchased by an American company, said its manufacturer, Embraer.
Air force commander Gen. Luis Carlos Bueno also said the Gol flight, a brand-new Boeing 737-800, had a flight plan for 37,000 feet and the Legacy jet was authorized to fly at 36,000 feet, according to an interview Tuesday with Brazil's government news service Agencia Brasil.
Most Popular Stories
· Killer at Amish School Plotted for Days
· Foley Claims Abuse by Clergyman
· Alaskan Storm Cracks Iceberg in Antarctica
· Magazine Names Women Who Had Abortions
· Radio's 'Dream Doctor' in a Nightmare Illness
He said neither plane was authorized to deviate from the plans. He said only an investigation of the planes' black boxes could clarify the cause of the accident.
Neither the air force nor the National Civil Aviation Agency would comment on the reports.
Christine Negroni, an investigator for the aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler of New York, said in an e-mail that under international guidelines the Legacy should not have been at an odd-numbered altitude because it was heading northwest.
"All westbound flights fly at even numbers with 1,000 feet separation. East bound flights fly at odd numbers, same 1,000 separation," she said. "Since the American pilots were flying northwest, they should not have been at 37,000 since that's odd."
Investigators began examining voice and data recorders recovered from the jetliner Tuesday, but the National Civil Aviation Agency said one of the voice recorders was missing data.
"This unit is essential for analysis," the agency said on its Web site. It said military units were searching for missing parts.
Investigators will also look at why the pilots weren't alerted by special on-board equipment designed to avoid collisions. The air force said both jets were equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, which monitors other planes and sets off an alarm if they get too close.
The Gol plane crashed deep in the Amazon jungle in Mato Grosso state, some 1,100 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, killing all 149 passengers and six crew members.
There appeared to be only one American on the flight - Douglas Hancock, 35, of Missouri. He was in Mato Grosso for business and was returning to Rio de Janeiro where he lived, his father, Paul Hancock, told the Southeast Missourian newspaper.
Bueno said about 100 bodies were found within a half-mile of the wreckage and were flown to the coroner's office in Brasilia for identification. He said rescue workers would have to open more clearings in the dense jungle to try to recover the rest.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team of investigators, who would be joined by representatives from the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing Co.
The U.S. agencies were involved because the Gol plane was manufactured in the United States and the smaller jet was registered there.
Overheard on JFK TOWER - S Turns are fine, U-Turns are bad....
It seems now obvious that both the Legacy and the 737 were at 37,000 ft. Can anyone here who flies or works in aviation explain under what legitimate circumstance the Legacy would fly at an odd-numbered altitude in the direction it was heading?
It's a month later, but now your answer has come out:Originally Posted by Nonstop2AUH
Newsday...
Officials: Pilots not at fault
Brazil's air traffic control agency has confirmed that a transcript of a recording between controllers and an executive jet involved in a collision over the Amazon jungle verifies the American pilots' account that they were told to fly at the same altitude as the Boeing 737 that crashed after the impact, a Brazilian newspaper has reported.
The agency's confirmation follows an earlier report detailing the transcript of the conversation between pilot Joseph Lepore, of Bay Shore, and a Brazilian controller. Lepore was flying a jet owned by ExcelAire of Ronkonkoma with Jan Paladino, of Westhampton Beach, when it collided with Gol Airlines Flight 1907, which crashed, killing all 154 people aboard.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
i was reading something about how these guys are living in a hotel right on the beach but don't leave the hotel. For various reasons. Even though ATC cleared these guys for the same altitude as the 738 I get the feeling the Brazilian prosecutor has latched on to this "they turned off the transponder" thing and is going to run with it.
'My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.' Andy Warhol
Anyone read Newsday yesterday and today regarding the pilots wives?
And I, I took the path less traveled by
and that has made all the difference......yet...
I have a feeling a handle of people are going to be very interested in what I post in the near future.
http://www.jetphotos.net/showphotos.php?userid=187
No, post a link Mario.
Got it already please disregard
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longi ... -headlines
One of the Pilots is a fellow resident of Bayshore. I would love to take him for a beer at the Ground Round. He might need it when he gets back.
'My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.' Andy Warhol
I heard that the transponder BROKE, or rather that the article I was reading implied it did.
Email me anytime at [email protected].
I don't know if I read the same article but I read one that made a point that the same type of AC had a couple of other instances where the transponder malfunctioned. As a way to explain why the trasnsponder wasn't working in this case. I still get the feeling the authorites are going to try to railroad these two. It's a little scary.
'My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.' Andy Warhol
I'm guessing that the transponder is manufactured by a foreign firm and not by Embraer...do we know? If the transponder failure is Embraer's fault, then these guys will be the scapegoats. If they can blame the failure on the foreign firm though, these guys might have a shot. Brazil is the most advanced country in South America, but they're still brimming with corruption.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We have a small problem.
All four engines have stopped. We are doing our damnedest to get them under control.
I trust you are not in too much distress. —Captain Eric Moody, British Airways Flight 9
Here's the Newsday article:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15557337/
Email me anytime at [email protected].
I've been to Brazil several times and almost moved there last year. I'm pretty familiar with the country and culture there. I love the country a lot, but as much as I do, Brazilians can be really immature with their reactions and have a huge tenancy to blame their own problems on outsiders. So, their reaction to this really doesn't surprise me.
From reading the Brazilian newspapers, up until they leaked the blackbox transcript, they media placed the blame solely on the pilots, most likely because they were "gringos" and needed a foreign scapegoat for a made in Brazil catastrophe. Now that the transcript has been leaked and the pilots are not responsible for the crash, they're trying to pin something else on them so they can blame the "foreign devil", as they love to do. I should also mention that the Brazilian Air Force, which runs the ATC down there, is being very mum about these recent findings and still refusing to take responsibility. And notice that the leak came from Canada, where the flight recorder is being studied, not Brazil. In Brazil, even if the evidence is right there in front of their face, the authorities would still refuse to concede responsibility. There's so much pride there, especially in their government.
If these guys are convicted for something, they'll get the book thrown at them and be stuck there for a long time, just so the authorities can have their scapegoat. On the flip side, the country has the second highest murder rate in the world (after Venezuela) and common criminals, gangsters and murderers pretty much get a slap on the wrist. The judicial system is so messed up there. Don't forget, this is a country that started "fingerprinting" (I went through this several times, the machine is normally off when they do this. The only reason is so they can inconvenience people) Americans for spite with no legal ground for it.
So, as "advanced" as Brazil is, it's still Brazil and still a developing country. It's really advanced in many things and some people live as modern lives as we do here, but it's also a disaster in other aspects. It's unfortunate because the country has a lot of potential and Brazilians are generally open and welcoming people, but really the people and government have only themselves to blame, yet they will -- as in this case -- always try to find a devil "gringo" to pin the blame on.
Are you referring to when Amereicans would enter the country? If so this wasn't started by Brazil. They got pissed that Bush started doing it to Brazilians entering the US and out of spite they started doing it. Then an AA captain flipped the bird while getting his pic taken and that didn't help matters.
I have traveled to Brazil a lot too and you are right about all those things. I think these pilots are in trouble. Big trouble. They are not on American soil and are at the mercy of the courts there which is not a good thing.
'My idea of a good picture is one that's in focus and of a famous person doing something unfamous.' Andy Warhol
The difference between what we did was that we did it for everyone and for security reasons, so that was the official statement. They did it solely for spite because "they could". Not to mention, the judge who did it was from some small farming town and had an agenda to fill. His statements when he implemented the new measure were pretty funny. He equated our fingerprinting to something only the Nazis in Germany would do. The way the judicial system works there, basically any judge, even from some small two-bit farming town, can make up laws at a whim and implement them at will.Are you referring to when Amereicans would enter the country? If so this wasn't started by Brazil. They got pissed that Bush started doing it to Brazilians entering the US and out of spite they started doing it. Then an AA captain flipped the bird while getting his pic taken and that didn't help matters.
I have traveled to Brazil a lot too and you are right about all those things. I think these pilots are in trouble. Big trouble. They are not on American soil and are at the mercy of the courts there which is not a good thing.
Funny thing was that in Rio, they never fingerprinted anyone because they knew that it would decrease tourism and they went out of their way to make US tourists feel welcome when they arrived at the airport. But most tourists don't arrive in Rio...
I hear that the fingerprinting is only practiced sparingly now, even in Sao Paulo, because lots of US tourists stopped going to Brazil after it was done. Seriously, anyone who went through the thing would agree that it was a joke. Each time I was "fingerprinted", the machine was off. They just wanted to delay US passengers. Brazil was also considering dropping their visa requirement (I'm not sure if they actually went through with this or not) for US Citizens as a way to increase tourism and investment.
Looks like the Legacy600 that began it's journey to the US in 2006, finally arrived in 2010.
Legacy 600 Recovered From The Jungles Of Brazil By A US Company
November 20, 2010 - Constant Aviation, a maintenance, repair, and overhaul facility headquartered at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, announced they were the service center of choice to perform the recovery of the Embraer Legacy 600 involved in an incident mid-flight over Brazil in 2006.
The aircraft has remained out of service in a remote military base in the jungles of Brazil since the incident. The Constant Aviation Mobile Aircraft Recovery Team traveled to the aircraft to perform the recovery which consisted of wing repairs, avionics equipment replacement, elevator repair and replacement, and extensive systems testing.
The 10 member team, comprised of maintenance and avionics technicians, engineers, and crew members, spent three weeks in the remote location performing those necessary repairs to get the aircraft to the necessary flight standards... more
http://avstop.com/news_november_2010...us_company.htm
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks