palgia841,
You're definitely entitled to your own opinion, but I encourage you to go back and read through the news articles that surround this accident. This is certainly no vacation for either of these pilots. I used to work with Jan, and he has corresponded with me about his situation. Make no mistake. This crew is under house arrest and are fearful of their own safety.
Comparing them with Guantanamo detainees is ridiculous. They are professionals that were involved in a terrible accident. Following the accident they willfully submitted to the requests of the Brazilian government by being debriefed and interviewed multiple times.
Three days after the accident, things went south. The Defense Minister publically accused the pilots of intentionally turning off their transponder and performing aerobatic maneuvers to "test the limits of their new aircraft." He also accused them of deviating from a filed flight plan, and not complying with ATC instructions. Keep in mind that this is the same person that is charged with ensuring that the investigation is unbiased and fair. Also keep in mind that on this delivery flight there was a reporter, and several executives from both Embraer and the company that employed the pilots, ExcelAire. Not exactly the situation where I would be going out and doing steep turns and stalls (let alone aerobatic flight).
Shortly after, the ministry of justice announced that they were planning to seek charges (including possible murder charges) against any responsible parties. The Brazilian public was out for blood.
As a result, these pilots have spent no more than a handful of hours under the sunlight. Those hours that they have been out of their rooms, I've been told that it was on the roof of the hotel, also under close guard for their own protection. They are locked in their hotel rooms. Their families are not available any longer, as life must continue back in the states.
In the past weeks, it has become more apparent that ATC has played a significant role in this accident. If you've ever been to Brazil and flown through the area where the accident occurred, you would know that both radar coverage and particularly radio coverage can be sporadic. CVR recordings have apparently revealed that ATC did infact assign the Legacy the altitude at which they were flying, and the FDR shows that the Legacy was in straight and level flight at the time of impact.
In addition, the government has yet to interview the controllers that were working on the day of the collision. These controllers have been placed on ADMINISTRATIVE MEDICAL LEAVE, and have refused to cooperate with the investigators or give any type of statements.
Today marks 50 days since the accident. These pilots have fully cooperated with the Brazilian authorities. If (and this is a big if, IMHO), it is found through a thorough investigation, that there was extreme negligence on the part of the pilots that warrants criminal charges, then there are established extradition treaties for their return to Brazil.
However, I think that it sets a very dangerous precedence when governments (of any country) start any aviation disaster investigation with fingerpointing and threats of criminal prosecution, instead of investigating to find the cause and prevent it from happening again, especially if the investigators want full cooperation from all parties... The fact that the controllers have clammed up shows exactly why it's imperative not to point fingers and toss claims of "murder charges" around during an active investigation.
Finally, if you know anything about this business, accident investigations take months, if not years to come to a final determination. Do you expect these pilots to be confined until then?