U.S. Pilot Error In Brazil Crash?

Police Say U.S. Pilots Might Face Manslaughter Charges In Deadly Accident

(AP)  The pilots were brought to Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday for routine physical tests.

"They have been interviewed by Brazilian authorities and they have been thoroughly cooperating with them in the investigation," said Glauco Paiva, a spokesman for the U.S. consulate in Rio de Janeiro.

The Legacy was making its inaugural flight to the United States, where it had been purchased by ExcelAire Service Inc., based in Ronkonkoma, N.Y.

The company "has never been involved in an accident since its founding in 1985," ExcelAire spokeswoman Lisa Hendrickson said by phone on Wednesday. "Both pilots were captain-qualified to fly the Legacy."

The company said the jet lost its left winglet in the collision and received damage to the leading edge of the wing.

Hendrickson told Newsday that Lepore, a commercial pilot for more than 20 years from Bay Shore, N.Y., had logged more than 8,000 hours of flight time while Paladino, of Westhampton Beach, N.Y., has more than 6,400 hours of flight time and has been a commercial pilot for a decade, she said. Air force commander Gen. Luis Carlos Bueno said Gol's brand-new Boeing 737-800 had a flight plan for 37,000 feet, while the Legacy jet was authorized to fly at 36,000 feet, according to an interview Tuesday with Brazil's government news service Agencia Brasil.

He said neither plane was authorized to deviate from the plans. He said only an investigation of the planes' flight recorders could clarify the cause of the accident.

Neither the air force nor the National Civil Aviation Agency would comment to The Associated Press on the reports.

Christine Negroni, an investigator for the aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler of New York, said in an e-mail that under international guidelines, westbound planes are supposed to fly at even-numbered altitudes, and eastbound planes at odd-numbered altitudes, as measured in feet.

"Since the American pilots were flying northwest, they should not have been at 37,000 (feet), since that's odd," she said.

Investigators began examining voice and data recorders recovered from the jetliner Tuesday, but the National Civil Aviation Agency said one of the voice recorders was missing a database.

The Gol plane crashed deep in the Amazon jungle near Peixoto de Azevedo in Mato Grosso state, some 1,100 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro, killing all 149 passengers and six crew members.

Among the dead was U.S. citizen Douglas Hancock, 35, of Missouri. He was in Mato Grosso for business and was returning to Rio de Janeiro where he lived, his father, Paul Hancock, told the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

[rarehorses]

I would like to know why the big cover-up with regard to Excel Aire. What are they hiding and why? Why has it seemingly escaped everyone's notice that Joe Sharkey, the NY Times columnist who was a passenger on the Legacy jet, has changed his story numerous times? Initially, he said that he was in the cockpit 'seconds' before the impact. The second printing of his story indicated that it was 'minutes'; and the third version states that he had been comfortably sitting in his seat, calmly working on his laptop. Which is it?

Again, I feel that Excel Aire has a MUCH larger role in this crash than they are 'fessing up to and are happily palming blame for this crash on to their pilots. For starters, how about the pressure that they put on their pilots to work outside of federal guidelines?

I pray for those that lost their lives, as well as the two American pilots who are being held.

I think it is too early to make any speculations. The pilots and crew of both aircraft were professionals and took the safety of their passengers and aircraft to heart. I think that being over the middle of the Amazon could certainly preclude any effective communication with air traffic controllers. Communication would be practically non-existent or intermittent at best in that region. I would also venture to say, without actually knowing for sure, that there was probably no radar coverage in that area either.

I give thanks to our Father in heaven for the lives that were spared; and I pray for those whose lives were lost.