=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SFGate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/n/a/2007/01/22/internatio= nal/i132731S63.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday, January 22, 2007 (AP) Brazilian Controllers Share Crash Blame By MICHAEL ASTOR, Associated Press Writer (01-22) 13:27 PST RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) -- Air traffic controllers share some blame for the collision over the Amaz= on in September that killed 154 people in Brazil's worst air disaster, a spokeswoman for the chief investigator said Monday. It was the first time Brazilian authorities have said anyone other than the two U.S. pilots, who survived after their executive jet and a Boeing 737 clipped each other, could be held responsible for the Sept. 29 crash. The air traffic controllers and the pilots of the Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet will likely be held responsible when the official investigation is concluded in just over a month, said Tamares Carvalho, spokeswoman for lead investigator Renato Sayao. Carvalho confirmed statements by Sayao to local media on Sunday. All those aboard Gol airlines flight 1907 were killed when it plunged in= to the Amazon rainforest, while the executive jet landed safely with all seven people aboard unharmed. Because air traffic controllers are military personnel, federal police c= an only submit their findings to military justice officials, who would then decide whether to prosecute them, Carvalho said. The air traffic controllers could face up to 12 years in prison on homicide charges and exposing an aircraft to danger because they failed to divert the Boeing after the Legacy disappeared from their radar, Carvalho said. Carvalho said she did not know if authorities would pursue criminal charges against pilots Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, N.Y., and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach, N.Y., who have been formally accused by police with exposing an aircraft to danger. Shortly after the crash, Lepore and Paladino had their passports seized and were forced to remain in Brazil for 71 days before being allowed to return home on condition they agreed to return to face any charges. Authorities claim the pilots should have noticed that the jet's transponder, which transmits the plane's altitude and operates its automatic anti-collision system, was not working at least 50 minutes before the collision. Investigators, however, have not been able to determine whether the transponder was turned off by the pilots or was shut off by a malfunction. Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based ExcelAire, the owner of the Legacy, said Monday t= he "pilots did not intentionally or inadvertently disengage the Legacy's transponder or TCAS (anti-collision) system and that there was no indication in the cockpit at any time during the flight that the transponder or TCAS system were not operational." The Legacy was heading northwest on its maiden voyage from the southern city of Sao Jose dos Campos to the United States when the accident occurred at 37,000 feet, an altitude usually reserved for flights headed in the opposite direction. Transcripts suggest the Legacy had been authorized by the tower in Sao Jose dos Campos to fly at 37,000 feet to Manaus, although that contradicted the plane's original flight plan. In the aftermath of the crash, air traffic controllers said that at the time of the accident, they believed the Legacy was flying at 36,000 feet. -= --------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2007 AP