Thursday, October 11, 2007

Hey, Here's an Idea: Stop Blaming People and Fix Your Busted Aviation System Before Somebody Else Gets Hurt



More than 350 dead in a year, and what have Brazil's government and Air Force done to address manifest major problems in its aviation system, which has been called flat-out "unsafe" by international aviation agencies? Nothing, actually. Rather than taking the effort to make their skies safe, thereby accepting responsibility, they just keep blaming individuals, which is ever so much easier. Translation by Richard Pedicini:

Air traffic controllers' leader is charged
October 9, 2007 – 13:15

The Air Force Command has asked for the administrative jailing of the vice-president of the Brazilian Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (Febracta), Moisés Gomes de Almeida. According to an article published this Tuesday by the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, the military accuses Almeida of having planned the mutiny which paralyzed air traffic in the country starting on March 30 of this year.

The accusations that weigh against Almeida – of incitement and insubordination – are based on messages left by him on the relationship site Orkut in the month of August. There, the vice-president of Febracta urged the category to make donations for the payment of a legal opinion requested from jurist Marcelo Neves on air traffic control in several countries.

In the text, Almeida made veiled criticisms of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB). The Air Force was not, however, cited directly. When the content of the posts reached the knowledge of the Air Force command, it was decided to begin an administrative inquiry.

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1 comment:

Tenney Naumer said...

Did your SP bureau chief tell you about the ATCs accusing their superior officers of mutinying for 3 days by turning over command of ATC to them? An article about this was recently published in O Globo.