Comments on: Joe Sharkey: Quite a Different Perspective on the Brazilian Midair

By: Rob Mark

Rob Mark — Tue, 22 May 2007 14:30:42 +0000

Another item I’m really having trouble with is that despite the chaos in the ATC system in Brazil, it hasn’t slowed down the numbers of foreign carriers one bit.

What in the world is preventing the same kind of midair from happening again?

By: B N Sullivan

B N Sullivan — Fri, 18 May 2007 18:55:20 +0000

Rob,

I have been following this story closely, and I, too, have been wondering about what part of the story might have been revealed by the CVR/FDR from the Gol aircraft.

Second point, I agree with Dave, above, on the prosecution issue. It should be noted for the record that there is an ICAO treaty, ratified by ICAO’s 189 member states, which mandates that operational investigations of aircraft accidents should be complete before courts attempt to establish criminal negligence.

Finally, regarding the TCAS — It is the job of ATC is to direct separation between aircraft, is it not? TCAS is a supplementary aid for collision avoidance, not the primary means.

By: Dave Koch

Dave Koch — Thu, 17 May 2007 15:18:35 +0000

Rob,

Regarding the Brazilian government’s insistance on prosecuting the Legacy pilots: If they get away with it and send the pilots to a Brazilian jail, I for one will never fly south of the border again. I wonder how many corporate and airline pilots will take the same stance.

I believe incidents like this put another damper on new-pilot recruitment (along with long duty days, low pay, lack of respect from management and the public and industry instability),

By: Robert Mark

Robert Mark — Sun, 13 May 2007 02:09:45 +0000

I did promise Joe I’d fix that NY Times comment since he is indeed a freelancer. I missed this last line.

I, of all folks, should also have remembered he was on assignment for BJT.

Thanks for helping keep those details straight.

By: Chad Trautvetter

Chad Trautvetter — Sun, 13 May 2007 01:51:49 +0000

Rob, Joe Sharky wasn’t “brand new” to business aviation when he boarded the Legacy. He’s been writing about business aviation since 2005, and I flew with him on a Flight Options press flight in late 2005.

Also, Joe wasn’t on assignment for the NY Times for the Legacy Flight. He was doing a story on Embraer for Business Jet Traveler when he boarded the twinjet on September 29.