Brazilian official's quote

[NYRANGERS]

Brazilian reporter's quote

Unbelievable....they equate an accident with the worst terroist attack in history.


"There is a sense of mourning in the country," Vieira said. "After September 11, the American people were looking for someone to blame. After Brazil's worst air disaster, it is a natural feeling to blame these two pilots."

 

[crash-proof]

While I don't agree with this extreme and sensationalist position from the reporter.............there WERE 155 lives taken. If in fact the Xtransponder was purposely turned off, then there will be a price to pay.

Let's turn this around and pretend this happened here, in the US, where a Southwest 737 gets knocked down by a Legacy flown by brazilian demo pilots. Would they get away with this? So far all I've been hearing on this board is "get them out of Brazil!!!" but if they truely are guilty, does it really matter whether it happened in Brazil, USA, Russia, England.....Allow the investigation take its course, and we'll see what happens. Remember, the NTSB is heavily involved in this, I don't believe there will be any tampering or meddling on the part of the braz. aviation authorities. Big-time diplomacy involved too.

note: this post written after mild consumption of cap n coke

 

[crash-proof]

And, may I add, what right does the US have to claim rights over the term "9-11"? If so and so reporter claims that this is Brazil's 9-11, why the fuss? No one is attributing this to terrorists, they are drawing parallels to the human tragedy aspect. Is it heresy to use the term 9-11?

This is HUGE news down there, and will be for quite a while.

 

[Going2Baja]

I admit I haven't been following this that closely - but are you saying that the pilots of the Legacy may have had the X-pndr turned off? If so why? And if we think for a second that the Brazilian Govt wouldn't turn the knob to the off position to try and save their hides - we're crazy. Don't be fooled - Brazil isn't that far off of being a third world country. I've spent a few months down there and have seen it first hand.

Baja.

 

[glasspilot1]

If in fact the Xtransponder was purposely turned off, then there will be a price to pay.

Lets say they turned the XPDR off for whatever reason. They are in a non-radar environment. Before landing they turn it back on. (The pilots have their story and they're sticking to it.) Can anybody prove it was off?

What if the 737's XPDR was off? I know, very unlikely, but remember they were in a non-radar environment, so who knows? It will be interesting if the 737 voice recorder reveals any TCAS commands.

The fact is TCAS is one of the biggest safety tools we have. Any professional pilot who doesn't use it is a fool, especially with no radar separation!

 

[glasspilot1]

And if we think for a second that the Brazilian Govt wouldn't turn the knob to the off position to try and save their hides - we're crazy.

Keep in mind that you normally turn the transponder to "standby" after landing. "But we had it on in the air"!

 

[ground stop]

sao paulo(sic) is pretty much a war zone. if anything should be brazil's 9-11 it should be their prison uprisings, not that this detracts from the horror of having a plane full of people go down. if there was anywhere you'd want your tcas on it would be where there is little to no radar coverage. just doesn't make sense to have the xponder off, but then again there's alot that dooesn't make sense when it comes to tragedy.

 

[Going2Baja]

Are the Brasilians suggesting that the Legacy had the Xpdr off (or standby?)

 

[J32driver]

Theres another thread running with an AD about the transponder. Apparently under certain conditions it can turn itself off with no warning to the pilots. The AD was proposed towards the middle of September with an effective date of the beginning of October I think. Its possible these people were victims of the AD.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Comparing 9/11, a pre-meditated attack on civilians on a massive scale to an airline accident, even if deliberate negligence occurred is not a fair comparison. The comparison is disingenuous and dishonest.