Pilots Say ATC To Blame For Issuing Nonstandard Altitude

Federal investigators in Brazil concluded this week the two American pilots of an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet should be held liable for the September 29 midair collision that brought down a Gol Airlines 737 over the Amazon.

Brazil's O Globo newspaper reports federal authorities found pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino failed to notice the Legacy's transponder was not transmitting, until after their aircraft and the airliner clipped each other. The Legacy was able to execute a successful emergency landing, but the airliner crashed in the jungle, claiming all 154 people onboard.

A spokeswoman for federal police investigator Renato Sayao confirmed to The Associated Press the criminal investigation into the accident had ended, with its findings sent on to the Justice Ministry. She refused to discuss its findings, however, or say when the report would be released officially.

Both pilots have denied any wrongdoing in the accident. As Aero-News reported, the two aircraft collided at 37,000 feet, an altitude normally reserved by ICAO guidelines for eastbound aircraft. Lepore and Paladino were flying on a northwesterly heading, and wouldn't normally have been at that altitude... but Paladino said they were flying at an altitude assigned by ATC, adding, "Air traffic controllers have responsibility to manage that traffic."

"We were compliant with all regulations," Paladino said in a December interview. "We were doing exactly what we were supposed to be doing, and we just experienced, automatically, just a jolt out of nowhere."

Joel Weiss, an attorney for the pilots, states Brazilian police are too quick to blame the American pilots.

"From the press reports, it would appear that the police have prematurely accused the pilots in response to public pressure and have not conducted a complete and thorough investigation of the facts," Weiss wrote in an e-mail to the AP.

Brazilian investigators have conceded air traffic controllers bear some responsibility for the accident. The civil investigation did not focus on what role ATC may have had in the crash, however, as controllers fall under military jurisdiction in that country.

Lepore and Paladino were detained in a Rio de Janeiro hotel for over two months following the accident. They were allowed to leave Brazil in December, but not before being charged by police for "endangering air safety." Both men have said they would return to Brazil to face any criminal charges.

Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board issued three safety recommendations related to the Gol Airlines investigation, aimed at solving what the Board called a "critical safety issue" when traffic collision avoidance systems (TCAS) fail, without the flight crew's knowledge. Those systems rely on functioning transponders to operate.

FMI: www.voegol.com.br/INT/, www.brasilemb.org, www.ntsb.gov