Two U.S. pilots charged over Brazil plane crash

SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazilian police on Friday charged two U.S. pilots with endangering air safety in the crash of a Brazilian airliner over the Amazon rain forest in which all 154 people on board were killed.

Joseph Lepore, 42, and Jan Paladino, 34, both of New York state, were at the controls of a small executive jet which clipped wings with the Boeing 737 operated by Brazilian airline Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes as they flew between Brasilia and Manaus on Sep. 29.

The Legacy executive jet, owned by ExcelAire, an aircraft charter company based in Ronkonkoma, New York, landed safely but the Boeing plunged to the ground, killing all 154 people aboard. It was Brazil's worst ever air disaster.

The two pilots had been prevented from leaving Brazil since the crash. They were charged when they appeared at a federal police headquarters in Sao Paulo on Friday to make a statement, a police spokesman said. The charges carry a maximum sentence of four years imprisonment, he added.

The pilots have denied any responsibility for the crash.

Despite the charge, local media said the pilots were expected to be allowed to return home to the United States on Friday after their enforced stay at a Rio de Janeiro hotel following the confiscation of their passports.

Their plight caused a wave of protest from U.S. pilots' associations, who urged Brazilian authorities to conduct the investigation under widely accepted international guidelines for civil aviation and not as a criminal probe.

While officials and the Brazilian media were quick to accuse the U.S. pilots in the first few weeks after the crash, media attention has recently shifted toward air traffic controllers, who complain of an excessive workload, low pay and blind spots in radar coverage.

Investigators still have to find out why collision avoidance equipment did not work and why the two planes were flying toward each other at the same altitude of 37,000 fee

Wow. This is going to be really interesting. They were said to be found guilty, but they are not being sentenced there? And they are returning back to the U.S.? Sad and Scary.

Friggin sneakey brazillian! and people wonder why the heck i said that i would not come back if i were them. Absolutely amazing.

Oh come on, it is not the pilots fault, based on their own statements, ATC cleared both planes for the same altitude, Crooked politics is what it is.

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Originally Posted by nwafan20

Oh come on, it is not the pilots fault, based on their own statements, ATC cleared both planes for the same altitude, Crooked politics is what it is.

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Could not agree more. We need to protect them.

Like I said the Brazillians are full of $hit and this is a game to them.

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Originally Posted by PHL Approach

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nwafan20

Oh come on, it is not the pilots fault, based on their own statements, ATC cleared both planes for the same altitude, Crooked politics is what it is.

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Could not agree more. We need to protect them.

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Not defending Brazil, but, one question remains, what happened to the TCAS?

You have two modern airplanes, both equipped with TCAS, & somehow, the aircraft still hit each other....... :?:

I am hearing they are back in the US, but I am looking for some news on it. Anybody have any links?

Even if TCAS was not functional, how in God's green earth can this be blamed on the pilots???

Well if they are back in the US than let us hope that they elect not to answer to the charges. If not find a bird and get out of the country is what I would do. A large of the airlines have a po0licy that if you have an accident in a nation other than your own you do not stick around. You get to an airport if not already there and get a flight out of the country to any other and than back home.

On the news now, they are in the air enroute to NY.

http://www.airportbusiness.com/article/ ... =1&id=9215

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Transcripts suggest the Legacy had been authorized by the tower in Sao Jose dos Campos to fly at 37,000 feet to Manaus, although that contradicted the plane's original flight plan.

Warning systems failed on both planes before they collided, an Air Force investigator said last month.

Air traffic controllers believed the Legacy was flying at 36,000 feet at the time it collided with Gol Flight 1907, Brig. Gen. Luiz Carlos da Silva Bueno recently told a Senate committee.

But "at departure, air traffic control cleared the Legacy to Manaus at 37,000 feet," ExcelAire lawyer Robert Torricella said at the time. "Absent a contrary clearance by air traffic control, the Legacy was required to remain at that altitude."

The lawyer for the pilots, former Justice Minister Jose Carlos Dias, said the pilots picked up their passports and were taken to Guarulhos airport for a charter flight to the United States.

Dias called the police decision "biased" and "discriminatory," and said police were simply "looking for someone to blame for the crime." He added that if the factors leading to the fatal collision were considered unintentional, the maximum penalty would fall to four years in prison.

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They are landing at ISP this morning, wish I could be there. The emotion will he high for their loved ones. Anybody going? I imagine they are landing in a biz jet.

Well, they're finally home. Let's hope it stays that way.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/worl...rtner=homepage

Typical for Brazil. It's an obvious error on the part of their ATC, which has had many problems to begin with, but they want to blame a homemade problem on the "evil gringo". That's the problem with Brazil and why that country is a mess, always has been a mess and will be a mess for the foreseeable future: There is no accountability for their own problems and they make no effort to remedy them. Charging those two pilots is just another example.

Now, question: now that they will be back in the states, will they have to answer to these bogus charges or will the US Government give them sanctuary and take care of it...?

I'd just miss that red and white A-330 if I were them when the time comes to do it personally but I think our goverment will take care of business for them.