Jet that survived Brazil collision had LI charter
By Bill Bleyer
Newsday Staff Writer
October 3, 2006, 11:44 AM EDT
The corporate jet that survived a mid-air collision with a larger commercial airliner Friday over the Amazon was owned by a Long Island charter company and flown by two local pilots.
The corporate jet had just been purchased by ExcelAire, based at Long Island MacArthur Airport, and was being flown by Joe Lepore, 42, of Bay Shore and Jan Paladino, 34, of Westhampton Beach.
The Brazilian-made Legacy executive jet with seven aboard collided with a Gol airlines Flight 1907, a Boeing 737-800, which plummeted into the jungle, killing all 155 on board.
Brazil's air force said today the airliner's cockpit voice and data recorders had been recovered from the wreckage of the plane's tail.
ExcelAire spokeswoman Lisa Hendrickson said the pilots were still in Brazil and had been instructed not to talk to the media by the National Transportation Safety Board, which is assisting Brazilian authorities in the investigation.
But the firm did release a statement: "All of us at ExcelAire extend our condolences to the families and those affected by the crash of the Gol Boeing 737 jet in Manaus, Brazil. On Sept. 29, the Brazilian-made Legacy in the ExcelAire fleet was flying from Sao Paulo to Manaus, on its inaugural flight from Embraer, where it was manufactured. While in flight, the Legacy suffered a jolt to the aircraft, and noticed the left winglet was gone along with damage to the leading edge" of the wing.
The company said it is supporting the investigation by Brazilian authorities, Embraer, Boeing, the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration. The two federal agencies are involved because the Gol plane was manufactured in the United States and the smaller jet was registered here.
The statement said "ExcelAire has a flawless safety record and has never had an accident in the history of the company," which was founded in 1985. The private jet charter and aircraft management company employs more than 90 people and has one of the largest fleets of Gulfstream jets in the metropolitan area.
Investigators are trying to determine how two new aircraft equipped with the latest anti-collision technology collided in midair. The Associated Press said that Brazilian media reports suggested yesterday that a lapse in communication between air traffic controllers in different cities may have led both planes to fly at the same altitude.
The Brazilian air force said both jets were equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System, or TCAS, which monitors other planes and sets off an alarm if they get too close.
John Hansman, an aeronautics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said air traffic in Brazil is complicated in vast regions that are not covered by radar, especially over the ocean and the Amazon jungle. Pilots often propose a route then along the way check in with controllers who verify the plane's location, altitude and bearing. "Apparently that process broke down somehow," Hansman told the AP. "When you get to the jungles of Brazil, you have people going in all directions."
It was the first major disaster for Gol Linhas Aereas Intelligentes SA, Brazil's second-largest airline, founded in 2001.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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