I’m not sure how many of you are following the aviation scene in Brazil these days, but there have been plenty of developments related to the Gol 737 crash that are enough to frighten anyone.

For those who don’t remember, back on September 29, a Embraer business jet clipped a Gol 737 at 37,000 ft over the Amazon. The Gol aircraft crashed into the jungle while the Embraer jet was able to land safely. On that Embraer jet was New York Times journalist Joe Sharkey, who has been obviously covering this story very carefully.

Initially, the government suggested that the Embraer was doing acrobatic moves in the sky and that its reckless behavior was responsible for the accident. In fact, they went so far as to detain the American pilots of the Embraer in the country until the investigation was complete.

As more and more details come out, this account appears to be false, and the complete violation of civil liberties is frightening. The pilots have now been detained for 2 months at a hotel in Rio. They have been able to interact with family, but that is all.

In the meantime, more evidence has come out pointing to air traffic control, not aerobatics, as a major problem here. According to this article by Sharkey, the Embraer pilots has initially filed for an altitude of 36,000 ft but air traffic control has them flying at 37,000 ft instead. Meanwhile, the Gol aircraft had filed to fly at 41,000 ft, but they were being held at 37,000 ft as well. Tapes on the Embraer show that the pilots tried to contact air traffic control 19 times and they were unsuccessful each time.

After the crash, the air traffic controllers in Brazil went into a frenzy protesting the dangerous working conditions and problematic systems in use. The unrest went far enough that the head of the country’s air traffic control was recently reassigned.

Now, though it appears air traffic control was a major problem in this accident, it clearly was not the only one. As in all accidents, a trail of problems led up to the final outcome. For example, had the traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) functioned and been followed correctly, the pilots could have avoided each other even despite the air traffic control failures.

That being said, perhaps the most disturbing thing here is how the pilots have been treated. There is little reason to believe at this point that the pilots committed a crime. In fact, they have not been charged at all in this mess. They are simply being held against their will in defiance of Brazilian law. If that’s not enough to disturb anyone, then how about this . . . according to Joe Sharkey’s blog, the general response in the country can be summed up as “Payback for Guantanamo! Serves them right for being Americans.”

I’m sitting here at the Eye for Travel conference in Chicago listening to a session talking about blogging, so I thought it would be a great time to use the wi-fi in this frozen room and do a little writing.

The most interesting news today involves the unearthing of details of the crash of the Gol 737-800 with 155 people onboard. It seemed very strange when it happened because all newer aircraft of this type should be equipped with Traffic Collision Avoidance Systems (TCAS) that would have encouraged at least an attempt to avoid a collision.

These TCAS systems give an audible warning in the cockpit of each plane when two of them approach each other giving specific directions on how to avoid the accident. When a pilot hears TCAS alerts, he/she is supposed to follow instructions immediately and ignore any other directions that may come from air traffic control or instinct. As an example, this should have prevented an accident in Europe in 2002, but while one plane followed instructions, the other listened to air traffic control (which gave opposite instructions) and the planes collided.

Back to Brazil, what seems strange is that neither aircraft seem to have attempted evasive action. In the end, they were both cruising at 37,000 ft and the Gol flight crashed while the private jet landed with this damage:

Yeah, that’s a missing winglet, and they’re lucky to be alive. Interestingly, New York Times columnist Joe Sharkey was onboard the private jet and addressed the accident in this week’s column. He noted that the flight was at 37,000 ft, but now it sounds like they should have been 1,000 feet lower.

CNN reports today a couple of very interesting things. They cite another report that the private jet missed or ignored an instruction to descend to 36,000 ft and that the transponder may have been turned off. The problem with the former is obvious – if the flight descends, the accident doesn’t happen. The latter, however, is a little more complicated.

Let’s go back to TCAS. The only way TCAS systems can detect other airplanes around them is through transponders. Each aircraft turns on a transponder for identification purposes during the flight. If the transponder was turned off, the Gol plane never would have seen the private jet coming.

We don’t know what happened for sure yet, but these initial accusations have been enough for Brazil to refuse to allow the American pilots of the private jet to leave the country during the investigation.

• Looks like the Wright Amendment deal has cleared Congress and is now on the way to the President for signing. PlaneBuzz and State of the Airlines had pieces on this today. This means that in eight very long years, the distance restrictions for flights from Dallas/Love Field will be lifted. At least as soon as this takes effect, airlines can begin selling connecting flights from Love to anywhere they want. That should help Southwest considerably.
• Upgrade: Travel Better points out a very helpful mileage earning offer today. Looks like US Airways will allow all points to be elite qualifying through the end of the year. This means that any points you earn at hotels, car rentals, even flower deliveries will count toward elite status. You need 25,000 miles to qualify for the lowest level. The good news is that my current plan has me 500 miles short, so this will be nice. The bad news is that it means a lot more elite members and the benefits will be diluted. They also point out something that I found in my email inbox today. United is giving double elite qualifying miles through the end of the year if you pay $499. Yikes. That’s pricey, but I guess if you need it, it’s worth it.
• Many of you have heard about the horrific crash in Brazil between a corporate jet and a Gol 737-800 on a scheduled flight. Though the corporate jet was able to land, the Gol flight crashed and all 155 people on board perished. It’s extremely sad when something like this happens, and it’s even more difficult to swallow when it’s something that seems so preventable. The planes were cruising at 36,000 ft and they both should have had a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) installed. It will be very interesting to hear what actually happened here.

I’ll try to post a couple times when I can this week, but I may be too busy. Talk to you all again soon.