Flight GOL 1907
1 10 2006Flight 1907 from the carrier GOL, which I fly most of the times here in Brazil, crashed yesterday on its way from Manaus to Brasilia. An Embraer jet scraped the brand-new Boeing 737-800, after which it crashed. One can understand that two planes can crash above Heathrow or heavy-traffic Belgium; but above the Amzonia in Manaus??
The very strange thing is that some obvious questions remain completely unanswered in the news here:
- The Embraer legacy flew on the same altitude as the GOL Boeing (more then 10.000 m)?
- How can it be that the radar of the Boeing didn’t spot the Legacy jet? The reason they give here is “the weather”. Seriously…
- This Jet (registered in the US): did it have allowance to fly at that very place?
- How can it be that the Brasilian air traffic in a low-traffic area like Manaus, didn’t spot the two planes approaching and warn the captain of the GOL flight?
- Why didn’t the second polit of the GOL flight, after the impact, didn’t take any radio contact? The plane didn’t explode for minutes , that the passengers of the Jet clearly testified.
- What about the confidential information that the Legacy jet was flying with expensive ‘antiradar’ equipemnt aboard making it invisible for the flight control and the GOL Boeing? On the news some sources do testify that the Legacy was allowed to fly there, but no news whatsoever on the nature of this plane, neither it’s passengers.
I fear we’ll never know the answers on the above questions.
> How can it be that the radar of the Boeing didn’t spot
> the Legacy jet? The reason they give here is “the
> weather”. Seriously…
The radar you’re referring to is named TCAS (Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System).
In order to “see” the other aircraft, BOTH aircraft need to be equipped with such a TCAS system AND the equipment has to be working and turned on.
Both the Legacy and the Boeing must have had it. It remains a weird story, let’s see what comes out in a few weeks…
Most probably the TCAS of the Legacy was (turned) off.
See Het Belang Van Limburg on this.
“Brazilian police charge ExelAire pilots, who face up to 12 years in prison”
http://www.atwonline.com/news/story.html?storyID=7313