Jailing Innocent LATAM Pilots Was A Miscarriage Of Justice

As if the stress of being involved in a collision with a fire truck was not bad enough, two LATAM A320 pilots spent a portion of their weekend in jail despite all evidence suggesting neither was at fault.

LATAM Pilots Arrested, Placed In Jail After Accident They Were Not Responsible For

On Saturday, a LATAM Airbus A320 collided with a firetruck on the ground at Lima Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM). Two firefighters were killed, but no one onboard the flight died. It has now emerged that the two pilots were arrested and spent the night in a Lima jail.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) released a scathing statement about the internment:

Holding individuals in custody who are already under intense psychological pressure due to an accident is extremely detrimental to flight safety and can only hinder the investigation. Further, it shows a complete disregard for the Positive Safety Culture principles laid out by Annexes 13 (Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation) and 19 (Safety Management) to the Convention on International Civil Aviation. It may also lead the public to conclude that the accident resulted from the flight crew’s intentional acts, rather than technical issues or a string of errors originating from multiple factors.

In any similar circumstances, the flight crew should be provided immediate medical care and evaluation. In no circumstances is it appropriate to question them in the immediate aftermath of any accident or incident until they have been professionally evaluated by qualified medical personnel who can determine their mental and physical fitness to contribute accurate information to investigators.

I quite agree with the assessment of One Mile At A Time, who said, “The fact that the pilots were arrested is even worse when you consider the details we know so far about the incident, which points to the pilots having done nothing wrong.”

If anything, the pilots were heroes and helped to avoid even greater calamity by expertly guiding the aircraft once the firetruck hit it. It has emerged that the firefighters were on a training exercise and did not have permission to cross the runway.

It may be that this is standard protocol in Peru. Perhaps the pilots were arrested to collect blood samples to ensure neither were under the influence while operating the flight. But even if that is the case, the IFALPA is right: incarcerating the pilots after such a traumatic incident is only likely to exacerbate their stress and trauma from the incident. There is little justification for it and if the arrest was legal, I hope the law is changed. There simply is no valid justification for it: we must be guilty until

CONCLUSION

The two LATAM pilots involved in the A320 collision wtih a firetruck spent nearly 24 hours in jail. This incarceration occurred despite all evidence pointing to the firefighters being at fault. Such action represents despicable government overreach and has made a harrowing situation even worse for the two pilots involved.