Flight controller convicted in Amazon crash trial
A Brazilian Air Force flight controller has been convicted of negligence in the 2006 collision over the Amazon between an executive jet piloted by two Long Islanders and a passenger airliner in which 154 people died.
In the first criminal conviction stemming from the incident, a military tribunal Monday gave Sgt. Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos a 14-month suspended prison sentence - the minimum allowed by law - for his role as the primary controller when the planes collided on Sept. 29, 2006, according to Brazilian news reports.
The court convicted the controller of failing to note and report the executive jet's transponder signal had disappeared from his screen, failing to direct the pilot to make a frequency change and failing to properly heed the correct altitude designated for the airway. He also should not have turned over the flight to his relief without alerting him of the problems, the court said.
Defense attorney Robert Sobral said he would appeal the 4-1 verdict because dos Santos "was not allowed to prove that he does not speak English," which is the official international language for air traffic controllers.
The Brazilian court acquitted other controllers, but two controllers and the American pilots still face charges in an ongoing criminal case in federal court. The pilots, who are back in the United States, face two charges of unintentionally endangering an aircraft, which is similar to involuntary manslaughter. They have agreed to testify next year in this country, according to their attorney, Joel Weiss of Uniondale.
"Fixing the blame on the controller and Brazil's air traffic control system is the accurate outcome," Weiss said. "The accident was caused by the failure to monitor the plane and understand its altitude."
The Long Island pilots - Joseph Lepore, now 46, of Bay Shore, and Jan Paladino, 38, of Westhampton Beach - were flying a Brazilian-made Embraer Legacy 600 jet recently purchased by their employer, Ronkonkoma-based ExcelAire. Above the Amazon rain forest, a wing of their jet struck a wing of the GOL Boeing 737. Paladino and Lepore managed to land the damaged Embraer, which carried five passengers. But all 148 passengers and six crew members aboard the Boeing were killed when it crashed.
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