Brazil mourns air crash victims

Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has declared three days of national mourning after the crash of a passenger plane with 155 people aboard.
There is no sign of survivors at the crash site in the Amazonian state of Mato Grosso, the air force said.

Soldiers dropped into the remote area have been clearing dense vegetation so that helicopters can land.

The Boeing 737 was flying from Manaus to the capital, Brasilia, when it vanished from radar screens on Friday.

Aviation officials are investigating the possibility that it collided with a smaller plane.

Disaster record

If no survivors are found, Friday's crash would become the worst air disaster in Brazil's history.

The plane was operated by the budget airline Gol.

"It would be very difficult for anyone to survive such a crash," Jose Carlos Pereira, president of the Brazilian airport authority, told journalists.



"Our experience shows that when one cannot find the fuselage relatively intact and when the wreckage is concentrated in a relatively small area, the chances of finding any survivors are practically non-existent," he added.

A Gol airline statement state said the wreckage had been found 30 km (19 miles) north of the town of Peixote Azevedo.

Dozens of anxious relatives and friends of those missing have gathered at airports in Brasilia, Rio de Janeiro and Manaus, seeking information about their loved ones.

Initial reports said the airliner collided with a smaller private plane, but aviation officials now say this cannot be confirmed.

It had been scheduled to fly on to Rio de Janeiro from Brasilia.

Gol has expanded rapidly in recent years to become Brazil's number two carrier.

This is the first major crash involving Gol, which was founded in 2001.

Gol says the plane involved was new, having come into service this month.

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BBC

Brazilian authorities seize passports of pilots from jet that collided with airliner
By PETER MUELLO

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) - A Brazilian court ordered police to seize the passports of two U.S. pilots whose executive jet clipped a commercial plane in midair last week shortly before the larger aircraft crashed, killing all 155 people onboard, a spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian newspaper reported on Tuesday that the Brazilian-made Legacy executive jet, which was carrying seven Americans, disobeyed an order by the control tower to descend to a lower altitude just before coming into contact with Gol airlines Flight 1907.

The daily O Globo paper said the Legacy flew at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) to the capital Brasilia, but then ignored an order to descend to 36,000 (11,000 meters) feet to continue its flight to the Amazon city of Manaus. The Gol jetliner was flying at 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) from Manaus to Brasilia en route to Rio de Janeiro.

The executive jet was damaged but landed safely at a nearby air force base.

A judge in Mato Grosso state, where the Gol plane crashed deep in the Amazon jungle, ordered police to seize the passports of Legacy pilot Joseph Lepore and co-pilot Jan Palladino "as a result of the doubts surrounding the case and the emergence of indications that the accident was caused by the Legacy," state Justice Department spokeswoman Maria Barbant said.

She said the two were not arrested but "just prevented from leaving the country, at least until we know exactly what happened."

The pilots, who have been questioned by Mato Grosso investigators, were brought to Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday for routine physical tests. They were not injured in the incident.

The Legacy had been making its inaugural flight to the United States, where it had been purchased by an American company, said its manufacturer, Embraer.

Air force commander Gen. Luis Carlos Bueno also said the Gol flight, a brand-new Boeing 737-800, had a flight plan for 37,000 feet (11,300 meters) and the Legacy jet was authorized to fly at 36,000 feet (11,000 meters), according to an interview Tuesday with Brazil's government news service Agencia Brasil.

He said neither plane was authorized to deviate from the plans. He said only an investigation of the planes' black boxes could clarify the cause of the accident.

Neither the air force nor the National Civil Aviation Agency would comment to The Associated Press on the reports.

Christine Negroni, an investigator for the aviation law firm Kreindler & Kreindler of New York, said in an e-mail that under international guidelines, westbound planes are supposed to fly at even-numbered altitudes, and eastbound planes at odd-numbered altitudes, as measured in feet.

"Since the American pilots were flying northwest, they should not have been at 37,000 (feet) since that's odd," she said.

Investigators began examining voice and data recorders recovered from the jetliner Tuesday, but the National Civil Aviation Agency said one of the voice recorders was missing a database.

"This unit is essential for analysis," the agency said on its Web site. It said military units were searching for the missing parts.

Investigators will also question why the pilots weren't alerted by special on-board equipment designed to avoid collisions. The air force said both jets were equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, which sets off an alarm if other planes get too close.

The Gol plane crashed deep in the Amazon jungle near Peixoto de Azevedo in Mato Grosso state, some 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers) northwest of Rio de Janeiro, killing all 149 passengers and six crew members.

Among the dead was U.S. citizen Douglas Hancock, 35, of Missouri. He was in Mato Grosso for business and was returning to Rio de Janeiro where he lived, his father, Paul Hancock, told the Southeast Missourian newspaper.

Questions multiply in Brazil air disaster probe

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 5, 2006 (AFP) - Six days after a mid-air collision over the Amazon jungle killed 154 people in Brazil's worst air tragedy, a raft of key questions about what caused the disaster went unanswered Thursday.

A small business jet, with two US pilots, and a GOL airline's Boeing 737 collided; the smaller plane managed to land safely, but the GOL jet's passengers and crew perished on the jungle floor.

Brazilian authorities on Wednesday detained two US pilots to face possible manslaughter charges. Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino were the pilot and co-pilot of an Embraer Legacy 600 business jet that collided last Friday with a Boeing 737 belonging to GOL airline at 11,200 meters (37,000 feet).

A judge in Mato Grasso state, where the GOL plane crashed, ordered their passports confiscated.

GOL revised the death toll in the crash from 155 to 154 people killed, saying it had counted one passenger twice.

Investigators want to know why the Legacy's anti-collision system failed to work, and why the pilot had turned off the plane's radio.

The radio was working, for they used it to issue a mayday call and eventually to find the military airport they landed at. According to police, the pilot was out of the cabin when the radio signal was interrupted.

Among the looming questions: Was the tragedy a result of pilot error by someone flying the Legacy? Was it caused by a Brazilian air traffic controller? Or was there a mechanical malfunction?

Authorities believe only the full investigation, which they said should take about 90 days, will tell.

The Boeing's "black boxes" were found seriously damaged, and were sent to Canada to be examined by experts.

Lepore and Paladino have been questioned twice by Mato Grosso police. They made their emergency landing at the Serra do Cachimbo military base there.

In Washington, the State Department said the United States was following the probe.

"We have been in touch with the Brazilian Government about this issue and also have been, through our consular officials, talking with the individuals involved," said Tom Casey, a State Department spokesman.

"But my understanding is they are not charged with any criminal violations. This is simply part of a standard procedure that the Brazilians are applying under their law as they proceed with the investigation," he said.

Other questions up in the air include: Why did the anti-collision system not work at the moment of impact? Why did the system start working again later? Why was the Legacy in the air route reserved for the GOL jet? Why did communication between the Legacy and the control tower in Brasilia fail?

According to the flight plan, the Legacy left from Sao Jose dos Campos, in Sao Paulo state, ans was supposed to drop to 36,000 feet on its way into Brasilia headed for Manaus, capital of Amazonas state, where it was supposed to have a stopover en route to the United States.

The pilots told police they lost contact with the Brasilia control tower minutes before the impact, raising the hypothesis of a problem with the Brazilian-made Legacy's anti-collision system.

Embraer, which makes the Legacy, on Thursday declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Meanwhile, some 200 Brazilian troops remained on the ground picking through bits and pieces of the aircraft and recovering victims' remains, in an operation that is slow and difficult in the jungle. Remains of about 50 people have been moved out so far, authorities said Thursday.