The Legacy was not allowed to change its altitude as the 737 was on this level.

The transponder of the Legacy was off.

They did not answer the seven calls from the controllers, since they "desappeared" in the radar. The seven calls are recorded in the Control and in the Legacy tapes.

Seven calls and none response.

Janda: Your first argument makes no sense. The Legacy was originally cleared to FL370 so if it wasn't allowed to change altitude it was where it was supposed to be. The flight plan called for FL 360, but what matters it the altitude clearance the plane received from ATC. ATC had a primary target on the Legacy that should have followed it to the new center, especially with the upgraded radar system. Knowing the transponder was off and ATC could not communicate with the plane, they didn't know what altitude it was at, why didn't they give the 737 a lateral position change to avoid any potential head-on?

We don't know why the transponder was off. It may have been an equipment malfunction. It's no uncommon that new products have defects. Pilots know how stupid it is to turn off a transponder. Brazillian officials have admitted that unless they were running drugs it's unheard of. Brazil has a new ATC system that should have checks in it for when it's not receiving from a transponder. In general, the ATC system is made to compensate for equipment failures such as these.

From what I've read, they didn't answer the calls because they weren't on the correct frequency. But again, there are procedures in place for when the plane is NORDO (no radio). And is the only record of these calls from ATC? I've not heard that the plane received them. And when one center heard nothing back, why didn't they notify the last one that had a position report and find out where the plane was and assume it was still at that altitude? The ATC should alert the plane they are in contact with - the 737 - and have them change course laterally.

The investigation into this crash is far from complete. We don't have the answers yet. They take a lot of time. If someone was negligent, they should pay for this, but the rush to judgment is ridiculous and there's a lot of misinformation coming about that's not helping to do anything but inflame people. My understanding is the Brazilian Accident Investigations Committee is very good. And I'm sure they'll do a thorough investigation that relies on facts as opposed to emotions/politics. We don't know the answers yet. Yes, we can speculate, but some people seem ready to lock away the American pilots based on a few days on speculation. That's unfortunate.

Where did you find this information?

This was in a Newsday story yesterday:

Lt. Brigadier General Paulo Roberto Cardoso Vilarinho, director of the air traffic control system, said that investigators had stated that controllers in Brasilia tried to contact the Legacy seven times in more than one hour and only made contact after the impact. He added that shortly after the executive jet passed Brasilia, controllers noticed the transponder on the jet was not operating, and it began to operate again after the collision.

Wrong. Level 37 from São José dos Campos to Brasília. Level 36 from Brasília to Manaus. Understandable you don't know, not the pilots.

The transponder was ok till the controllers tell them to turn to the correct level. Then had a malfunction. But the Legacy hit "something", they need help and Shazam!, the transponder is ok!

I agree with you, the investigation is not complete and i'm not judging. I just answered a question. There are missing the 737 tapes and the controlers were not heard yet. We must wait for the experts conclusions to make any judgement.

In the meantime, we hear the proven news. I'm speaking about facts, not speculations.

If the American Press do not publish the news, it is not my fault. Sorry.

That was the flight plan; not the assigned altitude from ATC, as far as we know at this point. There is a big difference, which pilots and ATCs do understand, but the press has not made clear in this case. The pilots needed to receive the FL360 altitude clearance from ATC. Be wary of what you read in the papers. I'm sorry you'd rather resort to digs than try to understand more about this.

I've read a lot of the stories, including those from Brazil. No where have I seen that there is a recording of controllers assigning them FL360. Can you present a link to that? If that were true, and the pilots responded affirmatively but didn't change altitude, that would seem to prove pilot error. Electronics do strange things - especially new ones - a crash may have jolted it into working again. We simply don't know.

Good to see you're not judging.

The controllers were not heard yet? Then what about the seven calls? And the altitude change you seem certain they gave to the Legacy?

Janda, think about this ... if there was a plane out there you couldn't communicate with and you knew his last altitude was FL370 and you know there's another plane you are talking to flying head-on at that altitude, wouldn't you contact the plane you could get a hold of and play it safe and have him out of the way? This is the big question here. There are enough redundancies built into the system that with all the equipment failures, it still should not have happened. So why did it?

I wonder where in Brazil these pilots are staying. Given that there are hundreds of family members of those who perished, and you never know how the least stable among them might handle grief, I hope these pilots are somewhere very safe. A good spot for them right now would be an American embassy/consulate.

There is a known problem and outstanding AD (airworthiness directive) regarding some Honeywell transponders: http://www.tdatacorp.com/iaprch/06-19-04.htm

If you're not quick enough in changing the code, the unit drops into SBY. It would come back on-line as soon as they (quickly) dialed 7700 which I imagine they did after the collision.
(Disclaimer: I fon't know if this particular airplane had this model XPDR.)

Do not believe everything in the media, whatever their nationality.

The seven calls are registered on both tapes: the Legacy and the Cindacta.

I won't go on this discussion, as it is a matter of the authorities in the case.
I answered a question with known facts. That is all.

Generally plane crashes are result of 4 or 5 human mistakes in sequence. It doesn't matter the human beings' nationalities.

In the meantime, there are about 150 families grieving for the victims. It doesn't matter the victmis' nationalities.

And once i write in a terrible English and prefer reading to writing, i'm going back to what i like.

Just once more:

Nobody want any revenge against the pilots. Everybody knows that they never had an intention to kill anyone. More, they were theirselves in risk, too.

At this time it is not possible knowing which and whose are the mistakes. It is not possible to know all the mistakes and if there are or not any mechanical fault.

What caused a bad feeling was Mr. Sharkeys interviews talking a lot he really doesn't know. That is all, the pilots are safe.

They are in Rio de Janeiro, under de American Consulate protection and have a lawyer. If they can't leave Brazil now, it is not because they aren't brazilian citizens. Even brazilian pilots, if under investigation, cannot go out. It is the same in the USA, isn't it?

One pilot's wife is in Rio to be with her husband.

Don't worry, Brazil is a Democratic Nation. And we are not cannibals.
At least, we are not cannibals anymore. :p

Janda: There is a forum here that you can't access where members here have shown support for the Brazilian government in keeping the pilots in Brazil while the investigation takes place. Of course, that is the right thing to do, and yes, it's what would be done in the U.S. as well. No one on this forum or who I have talked to has expressed an attitude of the Americans must be right.

What's unfortunate in this whole thing is how one or two people's comments and a very sloppy press can create a very distorted view of things, and in turn stir up a lot of misplaced anger and on both sides (there are plenty of other thing to get worked up about about the US, let's wait on this one). There are a lot of bulletin boards where clearly distraught Brazilians have basically called for the heads of the American pilots before any of the facts are in. (Last I looked there were some very angry and disturbing comments posted to Sharkey's blog and we've had a few sign-up here for that purpose.) The preliminary investigation is not finished. I know you think you're citing facts, but they're not facts. There's very little that's been put out by reputable sources at this point (a US aviation lawyer made one of the more ridiculous comments I've seen). We do know two planes were at the same altitude and they shouldn't have been. We don't know why.

People here grieve for those who died as well. We want to see the proper outcome, whomever is to blame.

...and if it turns out that the blame largely rests with certain people, I hope everyone can recognize the limits of being human. So far, no one is even suggesting wanton disregard for life on anyone's part (e.g., pilots were drunk).

We can all make big mistakes, sometimes with horrible consequences for others.

Maybe the NYT should've asked you to write the damn thing. As Janda said, no one thinks the pilots hit the 737 on purpose. But we also do not think they should be called heroes. After all, 154 people died.
Had I known about the reporter's blog before, I would have written things like those myself. Oh, ok, he survived a near death experience. But making jokes, laughing and suggesting that we shouldn't keep the pilots here, among other things...is NOT the right way to do it.
This country is not plain jungle as most of you think. We would eventually see it...
And no, no one wants the pilot's head. Amazing you would think that. But I don't blame you for considering it. If the accident had happened the other way around, we would pretty much fear some kind of anti-terrorist war. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying you are all like that. As well as people in The US shouldn't be saying the same about us.
No matter what we do, those on the plane won't come back.

Yeah, let's protect the American pilots from the unstable Brazilians. Who cares who may be at fault here or the need to stick around and participate in the investigation? And Brazilians are notoriously murderous, especially in high schools, right?

BTW, they are staying at a very decent hotel in Rio, their families are welcome to jon them...and they will be going home within the next few weeks.

Are you going to guarantee that?