As with any accident, mistakes were made all around. The pilots didn’t notice that their Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) and transponder were turned off. This could also be blamed on the manufacturer for not making the warnings more clear. On the other hand, the Brazilian air traffic controllers also failed in their duties to keep the aircraft apart and to properly respond to radio calls. The only people who seem to be without cause here are sadly those who perished, the Gol pilots and everyone onboard.

Now would I call the pilots heroes? No. They did a very good job of landing a severely disabled aircraft, but I don’t think that makes them heroes. But the important thing here is whether or not anyone had criminal intent. As I said in a previous post, had the pilots deliberately flown a plane into a skyscraper, then yes, they should be treated as criminals. But instead we have what we find in most aviation accidents. Many small things added up to create a horrific accident. There was no criminal intent, and the pilots should not be treated as such in the interest of safety. In the US, they would not be treated that way regardless of nationality.

Instead, we need to all learn from this accident and ensure that something like it never happens again. If you’d like to consider further discussion, I ask that you move it back to a relevant thread:
http://crankyflier.com/2006/12/08/brazilian-federal-police-earn-cranky/

[Updated 12/8 @ 1028a to fix link to Vanity Fair article]

now tell me one thing, if a brazilian pilot turns off the TCAS in US and more than 150 americans where killed, what the american press would say?

the american pilots where called HEROES by the american press.

what kind of HERO is this???