Brazilian police accuse 2 U.S. pilots of exposing aircraft to danger in Amazon crash

SAO PAULO, Brazil -- Police on Friday formally accused two U.S. pilots in connection with Brazil's deadliest air disaster, saying their "lack of caution" at the controls of an executive jet played a role in the collision over the Amazon that killed 154 people.

One of the pilots' lawyers, former Justice Minister Jose Carlos Dias, called the accusation biased and said police were simply "looking for someone to blame for the crime."

If convicted of exposing an aircraft to danger, the men could face up to 12 years in prison apiece, Brazilian federal police said. Dias said the maximum sentence would fall to four years each if the factors leading to the collision were deemed unintentional.

Joseph Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore, N.Y., and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach, N.Y., were questioned by police for six hours Friday and then allowed to pick up their passports and leave the country. They went directly to the airport and took a charter jet to the United State. They were expected to arrive at an airport in Long Island on Saturday.

The pilots signed a legal document promising to return to Brazil for their trial or if required by local authorities. An extradition treaty between Brazil and the United States allows both countries to request the return of individuals if the offense committed is considered a crime by both nations.

Sept. 29 collision

Lepore and Paladino were piloting a Brazilian-made Legacy executive jet on Sept. 29 when it collided with a Gol Airlines Boeing 737-800 heading south over the Amazon jungle. All 154 people aboard the Gol flight were killed, while the Legacy landed safely with all seven people aboard unharmed.

A Jackson High School graduate was killed in the crash. Douglas Hancock, 35, was in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso for business, and was on the flight back to his home in Rio de Janeiro.

Police filed the accusation because "elements and evidence in the investigation indicated a lack of caution necessary and expected from pilots during flight," police said in a statement.

Under Brazilian law, a judge will now decide whether to indict the pilots and send them to trial, a process that could take weeks or months.

Lepore and Paladino invoked their right to remain silent and did not respond to authorities' questions Friday, saying they would address the accusations in court, police said. Another attorney for the men, Robert Torricella, said they were only notified of the allegations when they walked into Friday's meeting with police.

"The decision of this investigator to accuse Joe and Jan of a crime without ever hearing their testimony is incredibly absurd," Torricella said.

Brazilian authorities said there was plenty of evidence to support the accusations.

"We can't affirm their actions are solely responsible for the crash," Federal Police Investigator Ramon Almeida da Silva said. "But the evidence shows they acted with negligence."

The Legacy, owned by ExcelAire of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., 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. The pilots have denied any wrongdoing.

There is "no question they had permission to be at 37,000 feet," Torricella said. "They were never given a contrary instruction."

Joe Sharkey, a business travel columnist for The New York Times who was on board the Legacy jet, said the smaller plane stabilized after the collision until it landed at a Brazilian air force base in the Amazon state of Para, according to Times spokeswoman Diane McNulty.

Sharkey wrote in the Times in October that shortly before the crash he saw an altitude display reading 37,000 feet.

Warning systems failed on both planes before they collided, an Air Force investigator said last month.

Brazilian authorities seized the pilots' passports after the crash to prevent them from leaving the country, and they had been staying in a hotel on Rio's Copacabana Beach. A court released their passports this week, saying there were no legal grounds for restricting their movements.

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Associated Press Writers Frank Eltman in Long Island, New York and Iara Luchiari, in So Paulo, contributed to this report.