Reuters: Two U.S. pilots charged over Brazil plane crash

[Eugene]

Two U.S. pilots charged over Brazil plane crash
08 Dec 2006 17:32:05 GMT
Source: Reuters

By Todd Benson

SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dec 8 (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 <GOLL4.SA> as they flew between Brasilia and
Manaus on Sep. 29.

-snip-

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.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N08373523.htm

[ThomCat]

1. I hope that's just a formallity.

I remember reading that they were deviating from their flight plan because of specific instructions from the air traffic controller, which take priority over the flight plan. So this appears to be a clear-cut case in which it was not their fault.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Also their transponder supposedly wasn't working

I remember reading that the week of the crash - don't know if info changed since then.

[DemoTex]

2. When I went through ALPA accident investigation school we were told ..

If you are involved in an aircraft accident in any other part of the world, get out of that country as quickly as and by any means possible. While I do not know enough about the details of the Legacy-Gol mid-air, I do know that in the past there have been instances where US flight crew members were scape-goated by foreign governments. Imagine being sentenced to a prison term for an accident in a state where aircraft accident investigation techniques are, at best, rudimentary.

[Judi Lynn]

4. AP story:2 American pilots charged in Amazon crash

2 American pilots charged in Amazon crash
Collision killed 154 people; men could face up to 12 years in jail

Updated: 12 minutes ago
SAO PAULO, Brazil - Brazilian federal police on Friday charged two U.S. pilots involved in a collision that killed 154 people with exposing an aircraft to danger. The charges could carry a penalty of 12 years in prison.

Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, and Jan Paladino, 34, Westhampton Beach, were questioned by police for six hours and then were allowed to pick up their passports and leave the country, but they are required to return for their trial.

The two pilots from the Long Island area of New York state told police they would reply in court, and did not speak to media after questioning.

Police had seized their passports after the Sept. 29 crash to prevent them from leaving the country, and they had been staying in a hotel on Rio's Copacabana Beach. But a Brazilian court released their passports this week, saying there were no legal grounds for restricting their movements.
(snip/...)

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