9 Will cvilianisation of Brazil's air traffic management system help? How do you expect 2009 to pan out? Have your say on flightglobal.com/comment fligntglobal.com | Tailed to pick them up. Finally, one “wild card” event condemned all on board the Gol Boeing 737-800 to death — the transpond- er of the Embraer Legacy with which the Gol aircraft collided was inadvertently switched off, taking the Legacy off radar screens and simultaneously disabling its trafficalert and collision avoidance system, making it invisible to the 737’s TCAS, Controllers didn’t query the aircraft's disappearance, probably because — in that area—it was not rare for signals to be lost. The human failures were all passive ones — failures ofomission rather than commission. Ifthe report’s con- clusions about how the Legacy’s transponder was inad- The flight plan was forgotten, convention was ignored, and no-one questioned anything vertently switched off is true (a pilot’s foot on the high footrest contacted the radio management unit), that was a passive flightdeck design failure — but scarcely an ob- vious one. Passive failures are the most insidious be- cause they are the least likely to be noticed. Consider how easy it is not to do things. The Legacy was flight planned to climb straight to flight level 370 (37,000f/11,277m), but to descend to FL360 when passing Brasilia where it changed heading to join air way UZ6. But the clearance to descend to F360 never Does Amazonian f came, and the Ley from its flight-ple which the Gol fli tion — also at FL: would be normal governed by the naturally puts ar an even flight lev odd flight level. planned for FL36 So the flight pl nored, and no-on reducers like late eaves a load of sez faire flourish the Amazonian 1 nerability? Civil military-run AT! human price had looking for indus See Air Transport The end of the beginning I the 100 years since Flight International first rolled loff the presses, we and the industry we document have weathered many storms — among them world wars, a great depression and a global oil crisis. As we tighten our seatbelts for a turbulent 2009, it helps to take a long-term view. The next 12 months will be uncomfortable. But looking ahead 12 years, we have | every reason to be optimistic. Globalisation is making the world more prosperous and the middle classes are growing, Flying will become a way of life for billions of Asians, Latin Americans and eastern Europeans at school today. Technology will make aircraft more efficient and greener, even as oil be- comes scarcer. ‘There are thos progress: enviro horizons to a pre (or grinding pove to destroy all civi As Flight Inte our celebratory i upbeat. Down-cy will claim its vi bumpy year ort again about orde ing new program ill, it may not be we are at the end 46 December 2008 -£