by the federal government was to blame for the crisis. Gol Flight 1907 On September 29, 2006, a Gol Transportes Aéreos Boeing 737-800 collided with an ExcelAire Embraer Legacy 600 over the state of Mato Grosso, leading to the loss of 154 lives in what was, at the time, the deadliest air disaster in Brazilian history. It is still the fifth highest death toll of any accident involving a Boeing 737 behind Lion Air Flight 610, Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, Air India Express Flight 812 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. Investigations concluded that the air traffic controllers had made multiple errors, resulting in the two airplanes being directed to operate in opposite directions on the same airway. Further, the Legacy aircraft's transponder was found to have been off from 54 minutes before the time of the crash until 3 minutes after, when the crew turned it on again, thereby disabling the collision avoidance system on both aircraft. Footage of the radar screens at the time of the incident reveals that the primary radar lost contact with the Legacy 28 minutes after Legacy's transponder was off. Following this accident, many technology and personnel issues were made public, pointing to the poor situation of Brazilian aviation's infrastructure and transforming the crash into a catalyst for the crisis. Facing the possibility of being blamed for an accident which—in their opinion—could have been avoided by appropriate corrective measures, the air traffic controllers decided to take protest action. Air traffic control chaos Following the Gol incident, the situation deteriorated rapidly, with controllers commencing a work-to-rule protest which culminated in massive flight delays and protests from passengers and airlines alike. The apex of the crisis occurred in December 2006. Due to a combination of equipment failures, understaffed ATC and the holiday travel season, travel at many Brazilian airports stopped altogether for some days. With the airlines unable to clear the backlog of passengers due to the canceled flights, and under pressure to solve the crisis from the general public, the government pressed into service several Brazilian Air Force jets, including one of the president's own planes. International organizations joined the protest by complaining of the work conditions experienced by the Brazilian air traffic controllers, citing long hours and low pay. At the same time, two different congressional inquiries were established to look into the matter. The executive branch's own inter-ministerial work-group concluded that the issue