Two US pilots on an executive jet could have prevented a midair collision that killed 154 people aboard another plane if they had noticed their jet's transponder was turned off, a preliminary police report said.
The report released on Wednesday said the pilots -- who were formally accused by police of exposing aircraft to danger but were allowed to return to the US -- played a role in the Sept. 29 crash over Brazil's Amazon jungle.
Federal police superintendent Daniel Lorenz Azevedo added that "other people may be charged after the investigation is finalized." He did not give any names, but authorities have said flight controllers have been under investigation as well.
The report said the pilots -- Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach, New York -- should have noticed that the jet's transponder, which transmits the plane's altitude and operates its automatic anti-collision system, was turned off for at least 50 minutes before the collision with an airliner.
The pilots have denied any wrongdoing. Their lawyers in Brazil could not be immediately reached for comment.
Evidence from flight data recorders and radar information showed the device was turned on about two minutes after the collision, police said.
The report said that it was not possible to know whether the transponder was turned off by the pilots or malfunctioned, but added that if the pilots had immediately turned it back on the crash likely would have been avoided.
"There's evidence and indications that the pilots' actions contributed to the crash," Lorenz told local media.
The pair were detained in Brazil after the small executive jet they were flying collided with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737-800 over the Amazon jungle.
All 154 people on board the Gol flight died, while the smaller Legacy jet, owned by ExcelAire of Ronkonkoma, New York, landed safely with all seven passengers unharmed.
Before leaving Sao Paulo on Friday, the US pilots were formally accused of playing a role in the air disaster. Police said their "lack of caution" and "negligence" contributed to the accident. If convicted, the men could each face up to 12 years in prison.
The pilots' lawyers have called the accusations absurd.
One of them, former Justice Minister Jose Carlos Dias, called the formal accusation biased and said police were simply "looking for someone to blame."
Former Nicaraguan president Violeta Chamorro, who brought peace to Nicaragua after years of war and was the first woman elected president in the Americas, died on Saturday at the age of 95, her family said. Chamorro, who ruled the poor Central American country from 1990 to 1997, “died in peace, surrounded by the affection and love of her children,” said a statement issued by her four children. As president, Chamorro ended a civil war that had raged for much of the 1980s as US-backed rebels known as the “Contras” fought the leftist Sandinista government. That conflict made Nicaragua one of
COMPETITION: The US and Russia make up about 90 percent of the world stockpile and are adding new versions, while China’s nuclear force is steadily rising, SIPRI said Most of the world’s nuclear-armed states continued to modernize their arsenals last year, setting the stage for a new nuclear arms race, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said yesterday. Nuclear powers including the US and Russia — which account for about 90 percent of the world’s stockpile — had spent time last year “upgrading existing weapons and adding newer versions,” researchers said. Since the end of the Cold War, old warheads have generally been dismantled quicker than new ones have been deployed, resulting in a decrease in the overall number of warheads. However, SIPRI said that the trend was likely
BOMBARDMENT: Moscow sent more than 440 drones and 32 missiles, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, in ‘one of the most terrifying strikes’ on the capital in recent months A nighttime Russian missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine killed at least 15 people and injured 116 while they slept in their homes, local officials said yesterday, with the main barrage centering on the capital, Kyiv. Kyiv City Military Administration head Tymur Tkachenko said 14 people were killed and 99 were injured as explosions echoed across the city for hours during the night. The bombardment demolished a nine-story residential building, destroying dozens of apartments. Emergency workers were at the scene to rescue people from under the rubble. Russia flung more than 440 drones and 32 missiles at Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Indonesia’s Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki yesterday erupted again with giant ash and smoke plumes after forcing evacuations of villages and flight cancelations, including to and from the resort island of Bali. Several eruptions sent ash up to 5km into the sky on Tuesday evening to yesterday afternoon. An eruption on Tuesday afternoon sent thick, gray clouds 10km into the sky that expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud visible as much as 150km kilometers away. The eruption alert was raised on Tuesday to the highest level and the danger zone where people are recommended to leave was expanded to 8km from the crater. Officers also
RSS