Lepore, Paladino Due In Court In August

Two US pilots and four air traffic controllers were indicted by a Brazilian judge Friday, on manslaughter-related charges stemming from a September 2006 midair collision that killed 154 people onboard a Gol Airlines 737.

The Associated Press reports Judge Murilo Mendes accepted charges made by a federal prosecutor last week. The decision has not been published yet in the official Brazilian newspaper Diario Oficial, according to court spokesman Fabio Paz. When that happens, those indicted will have five days to appeal the charges.

As ANN reported, an Embraer Legacy 600 piloted by Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino clipped the 737. The bizjet was able to made an emergency landing with its wingtip missing; the 737 crashed into the Amazon jungle following the September 29 accident.

Both pilots have denied any wrongdoing in the accident. 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."

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 are expected to appear before a Brazilian court for interrogation on August 27.

Air traffic controllers Jomarcelo Fernandes Dos Santos, Lucivando Tiburcio De Alencar, Leandro Jose Santos De Barros and Felipe Santos Dos Reis will appear before the court the next day.

Both pilots and three of the controllers face charges similar to involuntary manslaughter for their alleged roles in the accident, and face 1-3 years in prison if convicted. A fourth controller is charged with the more serious crime of knowingly exposing an aircraft to danger.

Joel Weiss, the attorney for the pilots, stressed the judge's decision Friday "has nothing to do with guilt or innocence," but rather whether or not the prosecutor's allegations should be presented before the court.

"The pilots' conduct was completely competent throughout the flight and cannot be fairly characterized as criminal," Weiss told the AP. "The allegations against the pilots are inaccurate, and the pilots are innocent."

An investigation into the accident is still ongoing.

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