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Has Brazil Overcome its Aeronautic Crisis?

Three ANAC directors ( Denise Abreu, Jorge Luiz Veloso and Leur Lomanto) have resigned, leading ANAC ( Brazil’s National Civil Aeronautics Agency) to claim that the country’s aeronautic crisis has been overcome–a political move laying the blame of the entire system on the heads of three individuals.

President Lula told local radio that “problems still exist at the airports.” Statistics show that 11 percent of flights, 20 percent of which were canceled, were delayed during the holidays on Independence Day.

ANAC claims that problems began in Sept. 2006, when a GOL plane crashed in Mato Gross, killing 154, but the problem stems from a much earlier budget cut. The air disaster merely drew attention to the growing problem. The underfunded Brazilian air system has suffered from cutbacks and lowered standards across the board. Planes have been out of service for maintenance, and the airline Varig stopped flying.

When overworked traffic controllers stated their demands, a group of them was transferred from Air Defense to Civil Aviation.

After the TAM plane crash in July, killing 200 people, the Congonhas runway (known for its abbreviated length) in Sao Paulo was closed for resurfacing.

Replacements for Denise Abreu, Jorge Luiz Veloso and Leur Lomanto, have not been selected.

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    Delhi International Airport Partners with IBM to Create a Smarter Air Terminal

    NEW DELHI, Dec. 16, 2010 — Delhi International Airport (P) Limited (DIAL) has partnered with IBM (NYSE: IBM) India to establish a common-use infrastructure in New Delhi’s Passenger Terminal Building 3 that will automate its operations and improve customer satisfaction to give the airport a competitive edge through quality service. The unified network solution integrates all of the communications across Terminal 3 and its facilities so that airport operations, airlines and other tenants can better share and exchange key information across their related operations to more efficiently deploy their resources and meet the growing demands of the India aviation market.

    “IBM’s solution reflects the need of Delhi International Airport (P) Limited — a solution providing quality management of our internal systems and delivering greater service to the users of the airport while reducing issues pertaining to interoperability through this infrastructure,” said I. Prabhakara Rao, CEO Airport Project Development, DIAL. “We are happy to be working with IBM where they have placed us better in catering to our immediate business requirement.”

    DIAL chose IBM’s Managed Network Infrastructure (MNI) solution, which forms backbone for all the IT and non-IT systems in Terminal 3. It combines video, voice and data over a single network platform using Intelligent Cable Management System with high levels of redundancy and scalability. IBM designed and implemented this network to meet DIAL’s objective of achieving a world class common use IT infrastructure for its customers, thereby supporting and improving service quality levels due to its high available design. The MNI covers the length and breadth of Terminal 3 with wired and wireless network coverage providing common use but highly virtualized network services to airport core systems, IT and non-IT systems, corporate users, government offices, lounges and public facilities. All this has been done with well defined work methods statements, detailed working plans and test and integration plans.

    “DIAL wanted a partner who could understand the complexity of airport systems while being equipped with extensive experience in handling large-scale deployments at international airports,” said Sameer Batra, Vice President, Distribution Sector, IBM India/South Asia. “This project will help DIAL in addressing their requirement for a unified and secure solution that aims at improving the airport experience while positioning them for future growth.”

    With more than 50 years experience working with the world’s leading airlines and airports, IBM provides consulting services and information technology to top airlines and airports across the globe to enable them to deliver more highly differentiated customer experiences and improve their operational efficiency.

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    Part Two of the Gol Sentences, in which ATC is Accountable

    We recently mentioned when the pilots of the two US pilots were sentenced to US community service for the 2006 Midair collision between a GOL Boeing and a business jet.

    In addition to the pilots, the Air Traffic Controller Lucivando de Alencar was sentenced. Judge Murilo Mendes revoked Alencar’s license, and sentenced him to three years of community service.

    Flight 1907, en route from Manaus to Rio, disappeared from radar over Mato Grosso when it collided in mid-air with an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet piloted by the two pilots who were sentenced earlier this week. The Legacy jet landed safely at Cachimbo Airport but 148 passengers and 6 crew members died in the Boeing that crashed into the Amazon.

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  • Brazil Air Chaos

    Stranding passengers got a taste of Brazil.

    Political cronyism to chronic underfunding in Brazil’s aviation system are considered as possible contributors to two major air disasters in less than a year––followed by a major radar failure over the Amazon.

    For about three hours, air traffic controllers closed Brazilian air space.

    An Airbus 320 operated by TAM Airlines crashed Tuesday at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, killing all 187 people aboard and at least four on the ground. Jorge Botelho, president of Brazil’s union representing air traffic controllers, on Sunday ridiculed the possibility of sabotage. He said that the government wants to blame the controllers to avoid responsibility for systemic air safety problems.

    Brazilians have been suffering flight delays and cancellations since September, when a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 collided with an executive jet and crashed in the Amazon rainforest killing 154 people. Four air traffic controllers and the executive jet’s two American pilots, face criminal charges.

    The accident touched off months of delays and canceled flights, as air traffic controllers held work slowdowns and stoppages to protest precarious conditions.

    Brazil’s airports are seriously underfunded and stretched to the limit.

    “There have been warnings, warnings, warnings about the need to do something about the communications systems, about the runways,” Brazilian aviation consultant Elias Gedeon said. “The government didn’t understand the importance of this. This is very bad for Brazil.”

    Problems stretch back at least five years. Spending on aviation safety has averaged about $250 million a year since Silva took office in 2003, half of what was spent in 2002.

    That the government has doled out top aviation posts to political appointees with little or no expertise in the field. The government spent millions to renovate the terminal at Congonhas airport. Tarmac improvements were saved for last and the runway was reopened before the renovation could be completed.

    On Sunday, Amaury Guedes, a 72-year-old retired flight attendant, summed up the feelings of many Brazilians. “It was a tragedy waiting to happen because the planes kept growing, the wide bodies, and the runways were never extended to handle them,” Guedes said. “There are just too many passengers, and infrastructure hasn’t kept up with the growth.”

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    Washington National: Act III

    Click to reveal audio window

    You’ve heard about Act I, the American Airlines Boeing, which landed without the benefit of ATC guidance at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport

    You’ve heard about Act II, the United Airlines Airbus, which also landed without benefit of ATC guidance.

    So why was the tower offline? Simple. The controller apparently fell asleep on duty. The supervisor was on duty alone that night

    It is interesting and perhaps significant to note that the media is much more alarmed about this than most pilots seem to be. The midnight shift at many airports has minimal traffic and there is only one air traffic controller on duty. As was the case at Reagan National, Pilots have access to other air traffic towers. When failing to raise National, the two planes that landed on Wednesday contacted a nearby Warrenton Tower.

    The controller is not a beginner. He’s been on the job at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport for 17 years. This was his 4th successive night on the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m shift. There’s no denying that he should not have fallen asleep, or that there should have been two controllers there. But there are some factors to consider.

    • The accident would have been a whole lot worse if there had not been established protocols for dealing with an airport deemed “uncontrolled.”
    • The first crew designated an advisory frequency. (Emergency procedures.)
    • The second flight crew was aware of the problem, having been informed via that frequency about the silent tower.
    • Washington noise abatement prevents all but a few midnight flights.

    Yes it was a bad situation, but it could have been worse. It’s a good thing there were fall back procedures for the pilots to rely on. At least they never lost radar. And pilots are trained to land without ATC guidance, just in case something like this happens. And, after all, there are airports like Casa Grande, Arizona which are unmonitored and uncontrolled. Listen to the pilots in the audio below. They don’t sound at all stressed by the situation.

    There are consequences that will be far reaching. A minimum of two controllers is going to be mandatory. The controller who fell asleep has been suspended and will be handled according to procedures in the Human Resource Policy Manual.

    But there may be more to come after this. Policy changes, perhaps a lawsuit, perhaps even criminal charges.Or perhaps only retraining for the controller. Time will tell. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has ordered two controllers on the midnight shift at National.

    Airport ATC Audio

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    Is Brazil a One Trick Pony?

    In May, will Tam become the only Brazilian airline flying out of Brazil? If Ocean Air and Varig cancel all their International flights, their fleets of Boeing 737, Ebraer and Folker airplanes will service only Intra-Brazilian destinations.

    Brazil’s aviation safety record is notoriously negative. In 2007, electrical problems shut down Brazilian airspace for 2½ hours. Brazil diverted incoming flights to return to their respective points of origin or unscheduled landings at airports from Chile to Puerto Rico. (This was subsequent to the Sao Paulo Airbus A320 TAM Airlines Flight 3054 crash, but it was by no means the first disaster.) The last couple of years,in fact, Brazil’s entire civil aviation system has been in crisis, suffering from safety issues, air traffic controller strikes as well as flight cancellations and delays. The so-called “Apagão Aéreo” (Aerial blackout) followed the Gol Flight 1907 mid-air collision.

    The four CINDACTA, or “Centro Integrado de Defesa Aérea e Controle de Tráfego Aéreo (Integrated Air Traffic Control and Air Defense Centers) are run by the Brazilian Air Force. The government’s Tribunal de Contas da União (Union Accounting Tribunal) holds the Brazilian Government responsible for the disastrous record, due in part to Pan American World Airways Flight 202 ( April 28, 1952), VASP Flight 168 ( June 8, 1982), Varig Flight 254 ( September 3 1989), and TAM Transportes Aéreos Regionais Flight 402 (October 31, 1996), among others.

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