Day 52 and counting
By Robert Mark on November 19th, 2006This is the 52nd since the late September midair collision between a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 in the skies over the Brazilian rain forest and quite honestly, I’m baffled.
Like others, I’m obviously perplexed by how these two modern day aircraft ran together, especially since both were equipped with the latest in traffic avoidance technology.
But what truly amazes me is that the two U.S. pilots – Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino – are still under house arrest in Brazil, reportedly somewhere near Rio. The two have not been charged with a crime. The Brazilian government simply won’t let them leave. No one I’ve spoken to from any of the aviation alphabet groups in the United States seem to have any idea of when these two will be freed.
Does it seem odd to anyone else that the only discussions about the crash focus around the failure of the technology or the system?
In a chat last Friday with the folks at ICAO in Montreal, I was told this may not be an international incident because the airplane, on an apparent delivery flight to the United States, might still have been linked to its Brazilian registry making the entire problem no more than a case of internal Brazilian politics.
There are plenty of aviation industry people and diplomats who should have some idea about the efforts that could, or should be, under way to get these two out, but no one’s talking.
So why the silence about these men? Is some one at work behind the scenes trying to get them out? Perhaps these two remain under arrest for some unspoken crime. If it were me down there in Brazil, I’d want people up here – and around the world – to be asking questions like these and plenty more. I also wouldn’t want people to assume is working on my behalf during all the silence.
I wonder if the Brazilian response to this crash would have been the same if these two men were British Airways’ pilots or the cockpit crew from a French business airplane.
Perhaps. But I doubt the French would be idly sitting back watching a couple of French citizens languish in jail with no mention of them back in Paris.
Certainly, each country has the right and indeed the duty to enforce its own airspace, just as those with oceanic borders enforce their three or 12-mile offshore limits on the high seas.
While we try to get Joe and Jan out, we should also be wondering how this collision and the resulting arrest of these two pilots will impact international civil aviation operations and law from this point forward.
If a similar incident occurred today in Thailand, or China, should crewmembers also expect to be detained without charge, for the un-defined length of an accident or incident investigation?
ICAO calls itself a “UN Specialized Agency and the global forum for civil aviation that works to achieve the safe, secure and sustainable development of civil aviation through cooperation amongst its member States.”
Everyone wants to know why those two airplanes ran together over Brazil, but it’s high time to get Joe and Jan out of Brazil.
It’s also high time that ICAO and the other groups that represent aviation around the world demand diplomacy take over if no one else can bring these two home while the investigation takes place.
As aviation industry professionals, we can’t simply stand back and hope someone else is working on the solution. Whether this is a domestic or an international issue, I’ll be happy to journal my apologizes and even embarrassment at my lack of faith in our governing bodies if these guys soon come marching home.
But if no one is making an effort, which seems apparent right now, I’d like to encourage everyone to help get these guys home. Call the NBAA, call you’re newly elected members of Congress, as well as the ones who are still around, call State Department, the FAA and let’s start calling the Brazilian Embassy in Washington.
Wouldn’t you want this kind of help if you were stuck in a country that’s acting as if it were a third-world nation?
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December 1st, 2006 at 3:05 pm
Sure I would like this kind of help but international diplomacy is complex. The two pilots could take refuge in the U.S. consulate which is by definition U.S. soil. Since these men are not charged with any crime the Brazilian government could not require the release (what would be equivalent to an extradition).
Now getting them out of the country is another matter.
The consulate could issue another passport but then helping them get out of Brazil would create a fairly major diplomatic incident. Of course issuing another passport in itself would be enough to create some turmoil. This is why you do not see too many politicians or alphabet groups get involved. There is really not much that can be done with the exception of putting pressure on the Brazilian government.
Brazilians are not crazy about Americans but they like our dollars, so telling them we are not spending our dollars down there might help…not that it helped with Major Daley and Meigs field though.
Right now these men are not safe as there is a mob mentality.
This, like most diplomatic conflicts, can be either debated behind closed doors or in the media.
If you have independent sources prove that the pilots were not at fault and you are able to get that information accepted by the people in Brazil, it might be tougher to keep them there. At least then, U.S. assistance would not cause a major upheaval. But right now, people in Brazil feel these guys are at fault and U.S. intervention would surely be taken extremely negative putting possibly other Americans who are in Brazil at risk.