Family members of Gol's flight 1907 victims believe that the transponder of the Legacy jet was voluntarily disconnected by US pilots, Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, causing the accident of September 29, 2006 in Brazil with a death toll of 154 people.

"We already knew that they could not have disconnected the transponder inadvertently with their feet, their laptop or any other way; however, the civil aviation authority's statement, that there is no indication of intentional disconnection, is unacceptable as they were cognizant of their entire dialogue during the trip," says Angelita De Marchi, president of the Association of Relatives and Friends of Gol's Flight 1907 Victims.

De Marchi says a transcript of Gol's flight 1907 black box conversations support the families' beliefs.

Rosane Gujthar, Rolf Gujthar's widow, agrees that the civil aviation authority cannot exclude the possibility of intentional disconnection of the transponder given the pilots' own remarks, recorded in the black box, which she says illustrates their lack of good judgment, negligence and lack of expertise with the equipment.

FMS (Flight Management System) is responsible for the management of several of the plane's functions, like flight planner, navigation, performance calculation, fuel consumption, etc. "It cannot be said that they did not disconnect the transponder intentionally, since they assumed the risk of piloting an unfamiliar airplane, even its FMS," states Gujthar.

"So, with all this, we want to know which other devices from the Legacy were turned off, besides the transponder and the TCAS, which we know of from the investigations. After all this, how can the civil aviation authorities claim that there is no indication of intentional disconnection? Their decision to pilot an unfamiliar aircraft, not knowing their equipment and international manuals, is an indication that they knew they could endanger the lives of the crew and other people."

After the accident, at 19h56min54s UTC (Coordinated Universal Time), a conversation between the crew took place, while they tried to establish contact with Brasí­lia's control tower. The American pilots began to look for the closest airport, and the pilot, Joseph Lepore, assumes he has the TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) turned off.

"The most ironic thing is that minutes after the collision at 19h57min50s, the Legacy's transponder reappeared in the secondary radar of the Amazon ACC, fully identified, with speed, altitude and aircraft information," says Rosane.

Captain George William Araripe Sucupira, president of the Pilots and Airplane Owners Association (APPA), states that "it would be practically impossible" to have an involuntary disconnection of the transponder/TCAS system.

"It is impossible to disconnect a transponder without the pilot's intervention. How can I turn off the transponder if I did not mess with the button? I can only turn it off if I change its position. Therefore, the transponder can only be deactivated voluntarily by the pilot, either by pressing or turning the button. The transponder of modern airplanes is coupled with a TCAS. The TCAS is a very basic instrument. That hypothesis does not exist. There is no way to turn off the transponder by accident."

Angelita De Marchi states that the families are stressed due to the lack of answers. "We are surprised every time with a new analysis or a new statement about the accident. We are tired of not getting straight answers about what happened the day of the accident and who is responsible. We cannot go on with our lives until this is over," she says.

The victims' families are awaiting the official report from the civil aviation authority, as well as the decision on the Positive Conflict Competence, which is under revision by Justice Paulo Gallotti of the Supreme Court.

In a interview to Brazil's official government news agency, Radiobrás, Minister Jobim defended Brazil's air traffic control system and said comments that another air accident was inevitable were politically motivated.

"This is a game within the corporation, in other words, they're playing politics. We can't excuse this type of manifestation," Jobim told Radiobrás.

Jobim's remarks came in response to comments Marc Baumgartner, president of the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers made to the BBC Brazil Wednesday at a seminar in the United States.

According to BBC Brazil, Baumgartner said "it's a question of time before a new air accident happens again in Brazil."

Baumgartner also harshly criticized the Brazilian Air Force, which oversees the nation's air traffic control system, for trying to punish the controllers involved in the Sept. 29, 2006 crash of a Boeing 737 operated by Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA over the Amazon, killing all 154 people aboard.

"The Brazilian Air Force invested lots of energy to arrest and prosecute its own workers but none to fix its (air traffic control) system," Baumgartner was quoted by the O Globo news agency.

The September 29 crash was Brazil's worst air disaster until July, when a TAM Linhas Aereas SA Airbus crashed into a warehouse in São Paulo killing 199 people. The second accident had wide ranging political repercussions, with many accusing the government of failing to act on problems exposed by the Gol crash.

Following the accident President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sacked Defense Minister, Waldir Pires, and named Jobim who was given full support to implement all reforms he considered necessary to improve the Brazilian air system.

One of the steps taken was to redistribute operations from Brazil's busiest air terminal Congonhas in São Paulo to other airports and drastically cutting flight delays and cancellations. Jobim is also considering the possibility of handing air traffic control from the Air Force to civilians.

However Jobim admits that to a certain extent the "feeling of lack of safely and chaos persists" and has repeatedly requested for support from travellers.

Earlier this week, a military court declined to indict five Brazilian air traffic controllers in connection with the Gol crash. Military prosecutors want to try four of the controllers on charges of breaking regulations, and the other one faces charges of involuntary manslaughter.

Four of the controllers and two American pilots who were aboard and executive jet that collided with the 737 still face charges in a civilian criminal court in connection with the accident.

A Congressional commission investigating air chaos in Brazil just issued its final report. The report excluded a request to indict four air traffic controllers in connection with the Gol crash but supported the indictment of American pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino.

Mercopress

Further shaking Brazilians' confidence, authorities said they had mistaken a piece of the fuselage from Tuesday's accident for the flight recorder and sent it to the United States for analysis.

The radar outage from 11:15 p.m. Friday to 2:30 a.m. Saturday, caused by an electrical problem, forced at least 700 flights heading to Brazil from the U.S. to return to their points of origin and make unscheduled landings at airports from Puerto Rico to Chile.

Eight of the 17 planes flying in the coverage area of the radar system were rerouted, and some airlines canceled flights bound for Brazil.

While the nation has had chronic problems with delays and cancellations on domestic flights over the past 10 months, the radar outage was the first time that international flights have been severely affected.

The confusion followed a nationally televised speech by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who tried to calm the nation Friday night by announcing new safety measures and saying authorities will build a new airport in Sao Paulo, where an Airbus A320 operated by TAM Airlines crashed, killing at least 191 people.

All 187 people aboard and at least four on the ground died when the jetliner raced down the runway, skipped over a crowded highway and exploded in a fireball that was still smoldering three days later. Many experts have said that the short, rain-slicked runway could have contributed to the disaster at the downtown Congonhas airport, Brazil's busiest.

Silva's speech Friday night was his first public pronouncement about the crash except for a brief statement.

"Our aviation system, in spite of the investments we have made in expansion and modernization of almost all Brazilian airports, is passing through difficulties," Silva said. "The security of our aviation system is compatible with all the international standards. We cannot lose sight of this."

Silva said aviation officials will limit the number of flights and restrict the weight of planes traveling into Congonhas airport and that the location of the new airport will be chosen within 90 days.

But São Paulo's Mayor Gilberto Kassab told reporters Saturday that building a new airport, which could take between five and 10 years, was not a priority for the city, which would instead seek to claim houses around Congonhas airport as eminent domain in order to lengthen runways.

Also Saturday, officials said they had mistakenly sent part of the plane's fuselage to the United States, thinking it was the flight recorder.

Gen. Jorge Kersul Filho, head of the air force's accident prevention division, told reporters in São Paulo that the real flight recorder had been located early Saturday in the wreckage and would be sent to Washington for analysis, a process expected to take several days.

The radar outage was caused when a short circuit cut off electricity during routine maintenance Friday night in the jungle city of Manaus, Brazil's Air Force said in a statement. Power was restored by 1:30 a.m. Saturday and the radar coverage was working again an hour later.

When the power went out, 17 flights were within the coverage area of the radar system in a large swath of the Amazon, the statement said. Nine planes continued to their destinations, and eight were rerouted. None of the jets were in any danger, the statement said.

The problem forced American Airlines to divert 13 Brazil-bound planes that had departed from New York, Miami and Dallas, said company spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

Two American Airlines flights from São Paulo to Miami made unscheduled landings in Manaus, said Celso Gick, a spokesman for Brazilian airport authority Infraero. Brazilian media reported that another American Airlines flight landed in Santiago, Chile.

Four United Airlines flights were also canceled as a result of the outage, spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. In addition, Brazil's Globo TV reported on its Web site that Brazil-bound flights from Colombia, Panama and Venezuela were affected.

The September Gol crash in the Amazon was the country's worst air disaster until Tuesday's accident and it exposed widespread problems with the country's air traffic control system.

It also touched off months of work slowdowns by air traffic controllers protesting precarious working conditions. Congressional investigations turned up holes in the country's radar coverage; antiquated equipment and flight controllers with only rudimentary knowledge of English.

Mercopress

Congonhas airport should halt operations "until its security conditions are examined and questions about the accident are answered," said Brazil's Public Ministry, which acts as an ombudsman in matters of public interest.

However it was unclear when judges would rule on the request for the airport that lies in the heart of Sao Paulo. Doing so would likely create huge problems for civil aviation throughout Latin America's largest nation because Congonhas is a key hub, but prosecutors called the move essential to ensuring air safety.

"It is necessary to temporarily paralyze the activities at the Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo until a complete renovation of both of its runways can be completed and there is certainty that they are fully secure," prosecutors said in a statement.

For months, air safety concerns have been aired in congressional hearings, and pilots and traffic controllers have worried for years about the short, slippery runways at Brazil's busiest airport.

Landing on the 6,362-foot runway at Congonhas airport is so challenging that pilots liken it to an aircraft carrier – if they don't touch down within the tarmac's first 1,000 feet, they're warned to pull up and circle around again. The un-grooved runway becomes even more treacherous in the rain, when it turns into a slick landing surface.

Making things worse this Thursday a TAM jet pulled out of an attempted landing at Congonhas. The TAM jet was rerouted to São Paulo's international airport after coming in at an unsafe angle to Congonhas, the nation's airport authority Infraero said. Besides on the day before the crash, two other planes skidded off the runway's end.

Congressional investigations have raised questions about Brazil's underfunded air traffic control system, deficient radar and lack of investment in infrastructure, even as airlines struggle to cope with a surge in air travel caused by the booming economy.

President Luis Inácio da Silva has been unable to wrest control of the civil aviation system from the military, which oversees Brazil's air traffic controllers and has filled top positions at the national aviation agency with political appointees.

Brazil's airway infrastructure has been under scrutiny since the September crash of a Gol airliner with 154 people on board in the Amazon jungle. The plane had been clipped by a smaller jet.

Congonhas main runway had been resurfaced last month, but more work was scheduled for September to build grooves to improve water drainage.

"Control tower operators had warned the runway should be closed because it didn't have 'grooving,' but no one in the government wanted to hear about it," said Sergio Oliveira, who heads the Federation of Air Controllers.

The probe of the crash should take about 10 months, according to investigators, who hope they will be able to retrieve recorded data from one of the black boxes found at the site of the crash.

Congonhas is Latin America's busiest airport, with an average of 630 daily landings and take-offs. It is mainly used for flights from other parts of Brazil and South America. But like many congested urban airports, Congonhas's domestic air travel hub is surrounded by development and has no room for the runway extensions recommended by air safety groups.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations said the accident shows the need for the next best thing – braking systems of soft cement beyond the runway, where wheels can sink in and slow the jets to a safe stop.

Known as an arrestor bed, the system has prevented several planes from ending up in the bay next to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said Gideon Ewers, the pilot group's spokesman.

The accident is certain to have political ramifications, however, if only because the dead included federal Deputy Julio Redecker, 51, a leader of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party and vocal critic of Lula da Silva's handling of the aviation crisis.

Mercopress

The ITF also backed Ifatca (International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations) and Ifalpa (International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations) in their warning that the crash proves that the problem of runway lengths must be urgently examined.

Ingo Marowsky, Secretary of the ITF's Civil Aviation Section, said: "Like everyone else who works in the industry or has ever been a passenger our hearts go out to the families of all those affected. But even while the investigation continues we must also work to make sure that this kind of tragedy does not happen again.

"We and the Brazilian trade unions have repeatedly stated that safety was being compromised. There is no better proof of this than that union representatives were meeting with management in the TAM building at the time of the crash to complain about safety."

Marowsky continued: "It gives us no pleasure to say that Latin American aviation is on the verge of a crisis. I hope that everyone concerned – governments, airlines and trade unions – will now commit themselves to an emergency meeting to address that fact and see what can be done to pull the aviation sector there back from the brink."

The ITF also backed a full investigation into the crash including, if the investigation demands it, prosecution of those who allowed the situation to degenerate to such a hazardous state.

It also called for the immediate release of the two air traffic controllers who had been courageous enough to warn that this kind of accident was likely, and for a review of industry standards, including fair competition, so as to increase safety and working standards to a decent and safe level when compared with the rest of the world.

The ITF stated that the need for a plan to improve the industry in Brazil and the Mercosur countries was predicted several years ago by trade unions, who, as long ago as 2004, helped the ITF draw up just such a plan, which sought to avoid the kind of problems that have subsequently occurred.

fThe Brazilian House of Representatives's commission in the 200-page report is recommending that Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino, the two American pilots, be indicted for murder. They are considered the main culprits of the accident for having – as the report concluded – turned off the Legacy's transponder, equipment connected to the plane's flight control system.

Lepore and Paladino are accused of acting with malice. Although they had no intention to kill anybody, the document says, they knew their action posed that risk.

As for flight controllers Felipe dos Santos Reis, Leandro José Santos Barros, Lucivando Tibúrcio de Alencar and Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos from Brasí­lia's Air Control Center they are also considered guilty and the CPI recommends that they be indicted for involuntary manslaughter for their negligence.

The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office had asked that Jomarcelo be charged with intentional felonious homicide, but the CPI's reporter, Marco Maia, from the Workers Party said that the congressional committee didn't agree with that decision.

"The controllers also failed," said Maia, "especially when they handed over the information and when they didn't follow all the legal rules. But the crime they committed didn't carry any criminal malice."

Maia believes that by turning off the transponder the American pilots contributed decisively to the accident. "The truth of the matter is that the transponder was turned off and this is an instrument of major importance for safety. Another consideration is that the aircraft commander is the one responsible for the flight. He needs to be attentive to all the situations," said the representative.

"All the elements show that the transponder was off and that both pilots were in a wrong way course," added Maia.

The American pilots responsibility, ponders the legislator, is even bigger when you consider that the pilots didn't know the Brazilian air space, had little knowledge on how to operate the Legacy's equipment and had a "very low situational awareness" in the hours leading to the accident.

Maia informed that after the Congress recess, from July 18 to August 1st, the Air Traffic Blackout Inquiry will start a new stage in their investigation. In this second phase the inquiry will concentrate on three specific themes: air space control system, the establishment of regulations for the sector and examination of the contracts signed by Infraero, the state-owned company in charge of the Brazilian airports.

The Boeing had 155 people aboard, including 6 crew members, and it’s feared that no one has survived the crash.

According to Brazil’s National Agency of Civil Aviation seven military men spent the night in the area of the crash and 200 agents of the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) are working today in search of bodies, which according to some reports have been mutilated beyond recognition. 

Part of the FAB’s job is to open clearings in the dense forest where the plane fell. Six experts from Brasí­lia’s Coroner’s Office (IML) have been sent to the area to help with the identification of the bodies. 

The seven people in the Legacy plane that collided with the Boeing were heard by investigators during about 9 hours on Saturday and early this morning. All of them repeated that they didn’t notice when the other plane got close.

Joseph Lepore and Jan Palldino, pilot and co-pilot of the small plane said that they were in contact with the control tower when the collision occurred.

According to them the Legacy aircraft flew at a speed of about 800 km/h. The collision occurred at 37,000 feet, but did not have too great of an impact, according to the testimonies.

National Mourning

Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva has declared three days of national mourning.

The Boeing 737-800 Next Generation plane was flying from Manaus to the capital, Brasí­lia, when it vanished from radar screens on Friday.

If no survivors are found, Friday’s crash would become the worst air disaster in Brazil’s history.

"It would be very difficult for anyone to survive such a crash," Jose Carlos Pereira, president of the Brazilian airport authority, told journalists.

"Our experience shows that when one cannot find the fuselage relatively intact and when the wreckage is concentrated in a relatively small area, the chances of finding any survivors are practically non-existent," he added.

A Gol airline statement state said the wreckage had been found 30 km (19 miles) north of the town of Peixoto Azevedo.

"Speculation won’t get us anywhere at this time," Gol’s president, Constantino said, adding that the plane, Gol’s first to suffer an accident, was among "the most modern aircraft, with all equipment functioning in perfect order" noted that the Boeing aircraft had capacity for 178 passengers plus the crew members, had been received from the manufacturer on Sept. 12 and had just 234 flight hours.

"Gol’s airplanes have flown more than 650,000 hours without a fatal accident since the company entered into operations on the 15th of January 2001," Oliveira Junior said.

Gol has grown exponentially since it took to the skies, dramatically boosting its fleet using the same model of plane to keep costs down while giving passengers cold box lunches and soft drinks instead of hot meals and free alcohol, the norm on most Brazilian flights.

The company is now Brazil’s second-largest airline after Tam Linhas Aereas SA, with more than 500 daily flights within Brazil and to Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Crew Profile

Gol, on Saturday provided more details about the passengers and crew on board Flight 1907, a Boeing 737-800:

People on board: 155
113 men
42 women

Passengers: 149
109 men
40 women
(including four children under 12 years of age and an infant – 11 months)

Flight crew: 6
4 men
2 women

Passenger destinations (cities):
Brasí­lia 65 and 1 infant
Rio de Janeiro 28
Vitória 13
Campinas 9
Porto Alegre 8
Salvador 8
Goiânia 6
São Paulo 4
Recife 4
Belo Horizonte 1
Curitiba 1
Maceió 1

Crew Profile

Captain Décio Chaves Junior, born on February 23rd, 1962, 44 years old, married. Chaves Jr. started his career as a pilot in 1980 and joined Transbrasil in February 1986. As Captain, he flew Boeing 727 and 737 aircrafts.

A Gol pilot for the last five years, he joined the company on October 22nd, 2001, flying Boeing 737 NG’s. He was also currently working as a route instructor. Total hours flown: 14,900. Hours flying Boeing 737 NG: 3,900.

Co-pilot Thiago Jordão Cruso, born on April 20th, 1977, 29 years old, single. Cruso started his piloting career in 1999. A Gol employee for more than four years, he joined the company in June 2002. Total hours flown: 3,850.