=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/2008/12/06/internatio= nal/i091647S04.DTL --------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, December 9, 2008 (AP) Some charges out against US pilots in Brazil crash By ALAN CLENDENNING, Associated Press Writer (12-09) 16:34 PST SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) -- A Brazilian judge has thrown out negligence charges against two American pilots accused of contributing to the crash of a passenger jet in the Amazon that killed 154 people two years ago, state media and a lawyer for the pilots said Tuesday. But the federal judge overseeing the case refused to dismiss charges similar to involuntary manslaughter for pilots Joseph Lepore of Bay Shore, New York, and Jan Paladino of Westhampton Beach, New York, according to their lawyer, Joel Weiss. Judge Murilo Mendes also dismissed some charges lodged against four Brazilian air traffic controllers accused of failing to keep the Embraer Legacy 600 flown by the American pilots from a collision course with a Brazilian Boeing 737, according to Agencia Brasil, the official news agency for Brazil. The larger Gol airlines jet plunged into the jungle after the two planes collided. It disintegrated on impact in thick jungle on Sept. 29, 2006, killing all aboard. The smaller plane was damaged but landed safely at a remote Brazilian military base deep in the Amazon. The crash was Brazil's worst air disaster until a jet ran off a slick runway less than a year later at Sao Paulo's airport for domestic flights and burst into flames, killing 199 people. The back-to-back disasters raised serious questions about Brazilian passenger air travel safety. They coincided with massive weather-related delays and cancelations, plus an Amazon area radar outage that forced passenger jets en route from the United States to reverse their courses in midflight. The dismissal of negligence charges against the American pilots in the G= ol crash "is to an extent good news," Weiss said in an interview. "The judge is certainly on the right track in reducing the charges. But all the charges against the pilots deserve dismissal." The case is on track to be tried next year, and the charge equivalent to involuntary manslaughter is punishable by as much as three years in prison. The dismissal came a day before results of a Brazilian Air Force investigation into the crash are due to be made public. Brazil's Estado de S. Paulo and Folha de S. Paulo newspapers reported ov= er the weekend that Air Force investigators determined the two American pilots had inadvertently placed their plane's transponder and the collision-avoidance system on standby. The newspapers said the Air Force also concluded that flight controllers failed to alert the pilots that they were on a collision course and failed to notice that the transponder was turned off. The 737 was operated by Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA and the executive jet by ExcelAire Service Inc. of Ronkonkoma, New York. The pilots have denied turning off the transponder and have said they we= re flying at an altitude designated by the air controllers. They were allowed to leave Brazil after agreeing to return if courts summon them. -----------= ----------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2008 AP <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> If you wish to unsubscribe from the AIRLINE List, please send an E-mail to: "listserv@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx". Within the body of the text, only write the following:"SIGNOFF AIRLINE".