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Leaders press for Brazil pilots' release

BY AUDREY DUTTON | Newsday Washington Bureau

November 23, 2006

WASHINGTON - The National Transportation Safety Board yesterday said air traffic controllers had cleared both planes involved in a fatal mid-air accident in Brazil to fly at the same altitude.

Citing lack of evidence for a criminal case, pilots' unions, aviation safety groups and Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford) have called for U.S. officials to put diplomatic pressure on Brazilian authorities, who have detained two Long Island pilots for 55 days without charges.

Major aviation groups, including unions representing business pilots, aircraft owners and international airline pilots, launched aggressive campaigns, sending letters to the State Department and the president of Brazil.

King made a second push for diplomatic pressure to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice last week after Brazilian investigators reported it may take 10 months to finish their review.

"Brazil ought to fish or cut bait, and say 'we have charges or we don't have any charges,'" said Nicholas Gilman, a former Justice Department aviation trial attorney. Political pressure could speed up that decision, he said.

The NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration "said they have talked with their Brazilian counterparts and urged them to move forward," said Steve Brown of the National Business Aviation Association. The group petitioned Brazil's president on Monday but has gotten no reply.

Brazil is legally entitled to hold the pilots while a criminal investigation is pending, Gilman and other legal experts said. They point out that the United States has similarly detained foreign citizens without charges.

But Brazilian police should drop the criminal investigation altogether, say advocates.

"Pushing a button wrong or having a confusing, ambiguous situation, those aren't criminal acts," said Bill Voss of the Flight Safety Foundation. "I don't know what we will accomplish by criminalizing them."

Gilman agreed. "The whole issue of criminalizing aviation accidents is becoming an epidemic," he said.

Since the Sept. 29 crash, Brazilian judges have refused to return the pilots' passports, preventing them from leaving the country. The pilots have not been arrested or charged.

The crash occurred 37,000 feet above the Amazon jungle. Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach, were piloting an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet when they struck a Gol Airlines Boeing 737, killing all 154 people on board the airliner. The Long Islanders and their five passengers survived.

Cockpit recordings and flight data cast doubt on whether the pilots are to blame. In a preliminary report released last week, minute-by-minute records show equipment failure and a communications breakdown may have contributed to the crash.