Jackson grad aboard crashed jetliner

~ Brazilian authorities say no one survived the crash in the Amazon jungle last week.

A Jackson High School graduate was among the 155 people aboard a Brazilian jetliner that crashed in the Amazon jungle Friday. Authorities have said there were no survivors from 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 to spend time with his wife over the weekend, said his father, Paul Hancock, who lives in Jackson.

Aviation officials have said the Boeing 737-800 and a smaller executive jet clipped each other in midair last Friday, causing Gol airlines Flight 1907 to crash in jungle so dense that crews had to cut down trees to clear a space for rescue helicopters to land. The smaller plane -- carrying Americans -- safely landed at a nearby air force base.

The Brazilian air force said in a statement that rescue workers had combed through the wreckage and found no signs that anyone could have survived the crash. Rescue workers had recovered two bodies by Sunday night and airlifted them out by helicopter, the statement said.

"It was a freak accident," said Paul Hancock, who spoke with his son about five days before the crash.

Doug Hancock moved to Brazil in 2000 when he was employed with the McKenzie Company. Last year, he started his own business consulting firm in Rio de Janerio.

His father said Doug Hancock had been in Mato Grosso for about three weeks. He had been flying home to Rio de Janerio on the weekends to see his wife, Bianca.

"He wasn't on vacation -- just working," Paul Hancock said.

Last September, Paul Hancock traveled to Brazil to visit his son. "We went fishing in the Amazon. It was a great time," he said.

While attending college at Washington University in St. Louis, Doug Hancock met his Brazilian wife, Bianca Pi. Bianca's brother, Daniel Pi, was her husband's business partner.

"Usually Doug's brother-in-law is on the same flight with him. For some reason he wasn't on Friday's flight, he just took Doug to the airport that day," Paul Hancock said.

The Brazilian flight crashed about 3 p.m. U.S. Central Standard Time, and wasn't reported missing until the next day, said Paul Hancock.

"It went down in a very densely forested area, where very few people live. It wasn't until the next day that they found the wreckage," he said.

Doug Hancock was very close with his extended Brazilian family, his father said.

"We never worried about him being down there. He had a great family and great people taking care of him," Paul Hancock said.

About 30 Brazilian air force troops were at the site late Sunday looking for more bodies.

"It's extremely difficult to get there," said Ademir Ribeiro, a foreman on the nearby Jarina ranch, the center for rescue operations. The ranch was located in the central state of Mato Grosso, some 1,090 miles northwest of Rio de Janeiro.

The Globo news agency said Sunday that police questioned the seven passengers and crew aboard the executive jet, which had been headed to the United States. The passengers, all Americans, included Joe Sharkey, a journalist for The New York Times.

The seven said they felt a bump and the plane shake when the planes clipped each other, Globo reported. The pilot then took manual control for the landing, the news agency said.

Authorities have not given a definitive cause for the crash, and the investigation was continuing.

Brazil's deadliest airplane crash before Friday was in 1982 when a Boeing 727 operated by the now-defunct Vasp airline went down in the northeastern city of Fortaleza, killing 137 people.

The flight data recorder of the Legacy was flown to Sao Jose dos Campos, the base of aircraft manufacturer Embraer. The recorders of the 737 had not yet been recovered.

The crash was the first major disaster for Gol Linhas Aereas Intelligentes SA, a Brazilian airline that took to the skies in 2001 with six Boeing 737s, serving seven Brazilian cities. Gol said its jet had been delivered by Boeing Co. just three weeks ago, and had flown only 200 hours.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

jfreeze@semissourian.com

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