Air crash fatal to 154 blamed on 2 U. S. pilots

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SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — A Brazilian Air Force investigation has concluded that a switched-off transponder contributed to a plane crash that killed 154 people in 2006, local media reported on Saturday.

The Estado de Sao Paulo and Folha de Sao Paulo newspapers said that Air Force investigators determined that the two American pilots of a New York-based executive jet had inadvertently placed the transponder and the collision-avoidance system on standby before colliding with a jetliner on Sept. 29, 2006.

The newspapers said the Air Force also concluded that flight controllers failed to alert the pilots that they were on a collision course and failed to notice that the transponder was turned off. The report is scheduled to be released formally on Wednesday.

The Boeing 737 operated by Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA collided over the Amazon rain forest with an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet owned by ExcelAire Service Inc. of Ronkonkoma, New York.

Everyone aboard the Gol aircraft was killed, while the Legacy landed safely.
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