U.S. Pilots Reject Return to Brazil

Carchar · 08-24-2007, 02:03 AM

Quote:

GARDEN CITY, N.Y., Aug. 23 (AP) — Two American pilots facing criminal charges after their executive jet collided with a commercial airliner over the Amazon last year, killing 154 people aboard, are willing to testify in the case but will not return to Brazil next week to do so, their American lawyer said Thursday.

The lawyer, Joel R. Weiss, cited the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, which he said would allow the pilots to testify about the case from their home country.

The pilots, Joseph Lepore of Bay Shore, N.Y., and Jan Paladino of Westhampton Beach, N.Y., are accused of turning off the transponder on their Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet before it collided with a Boeing 737 operated by the airline Gol last September.

The pilots deny the charges and say they were flying at an altitude designated by air controllers.

The United States National Transportation Safety Board has attributed the crash partly to the cockpit systems’ failure to alert the American crew that the jet’s anticollision equipment had failed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/wo...ef=todayspaper

RGoltsch · 08-25-2007, 08:35 AM

Good for them. Foreign countires sometimes do not give the same rights in a trial as the US does......Once they are there, they are at the mercy of a government that is looking for scapegoats. From what I have read over the last year or so, the air traffic control system in Brazil is a mess.

The Brazilian government seems to be looking for someone to pin the blame on. Face it, two faceless foreigners might be just the people to pin the cause of the loss of over 150 lives. They wouldn't be the first government to blame outsiders for their own failures (Insert GB joke now).

Ron

nws2002 · 08-26-2007, 08:53 PM

GOOD FOR THEM! I wouldn't go back to Brazil either, they were stuck there forever after the incident, and the State Dept. had to intervene to finally get them back home.

RGoltsch · 08-27-2007, 05:46 PM

From my own personal experiences, things move slowly through the government in Brazil. It took me two months to get a travel visa to enter their country legally.....

I can only imagine how long it would take these two pilots to get out once the Brazilian government has them.

Ron

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08-25-2007, 08:35 AM	#2
RGoltsch Simply worn out traveler Silver Poster Member since: May 2005 Location: New Jersey Age: 46 Posts: 393 Rep Power: 57	Good for them. Foreign countires sometimes do not give the same rights in a trial as the US does......Once they are there, they are at the mercy of a government that is looking for scapegoats. From what I have read over the last year or so, the air traffic control system in Brazil is a mess. The Brazilian government seems to be looking for someone to pin the blame on. Face it, two faceless foreigners might be just the people to pin the cause of the loss of over 150 lives. They wouldn't be the first government to blame outsiders for their own failures (Insert GB joke now). Ron

08-26-2007, 08:53 PM	#3
nws2002 Senior Member Silver Poster Member since: Apr 2007 Location: Newark, NJ Posts: 211 Rep Power: 44	GOOD FOR THEM! I wouldn't go back to Brazil either, they were stuck there forever after the incident, and the State Dept. had to intervene to finally get them back home.

08-27-2007, 05:46 PM	#4
RGoltsch Simply worn out traveler Silver Poster Member since: May 2005 Location: New Jersey Age: 46 Posts: 393 Rep Power: 57	From my own personal experiences, things move slowly through the government in Brazil. It took me two months to get a travel visa to enter their country legally..... I can only imagine how long it would take these two pilots to get out once the Brazilian government has them. Ron