http://www.190milhoesdevitimas.com.br/eng/?p=inicio&a= On September 29, 2006 a Boeing 737-800 SFP (Short Field Performance), operated by Brazilian airline Gol Transportes Aereos, registration PR-GTD, with 154 people on board and designated as flight 1907, disappeared from air traffic control radar at 16:48 (UTC-3) while en route from Manaus (MAO) to Brasilia (BSB).
The wreckage was found the next day, September 30, in dense rainforest in the Serra do Cachimbo region, two hundred kilometres from Peixoto de Azevedo, in the state of Mato Grosso in northern Brazil. There were no survivors, making this the second deadliest air crash in Brazilian aviation history.
The aircraft fell from the sky after colliding with an Embraer Legacy 600 executive jet, registration N600XL, which was flying from São José dos Campos (SP) to Manaus on a delivery flight to its American purchaser, ExcelAire Service Inc. The Legacy managed to make an emergency landing at Brigadeiro Velloso Air Base, a Brazilian Air Force facility in the Serra do Cachimbo region in south-central Pará state, also known as the Cachimbo Latitude Air Base. After landing, it was found that the jet's left wing tip was damaged, specifically the winglet, as was the left edge of the horizontal stabilizer, which is the horizontal surface of the tail. The two aircraft involved in the collision were each equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) plus transponder.
The Boeing and the Legacy collided at 16h56min54s at 37,000 feet in the UZ6 airway linking Brasília to Manaus, near the city of Matupá. Being a two-way airway, UZ6 designates even –numbered altitudes (34,000, 36,000 and 38,000 feet, for example) for flights from Brasilia to Manaus, and odd-numbered altitudes (such as 37,000 and 39,000 feet) for flights from Manaus to Brasilia. Although the Legacy was heading from Brasília to Manaus, it was flying at 37,000 feet instead of where it should have been, at an even-numbered altitude.
Mr. Lepore was a pilot for ExcelAire, the company that had just purchased the Legacy from Embraer. He came to Brazil specifically to receive the new aircraft and fly it to the United States. Because of this, two senior ExcelAir executives were also on board.
Although he is a defendant in two criminal lawsuits in Brazil and for causing the deaths of 154 people, he continues to work for ExcelAire.
When he came to Brazil, Mr. Paladino was not an ExcelAire pilot. He was hired as a freelance pilot to fly next to Mr. Lepore on the Legacy's inaugural flight. This procedure is banned in the USA, a fact that was completely ignored by the American authorities.
Although he is a defendant in two criminal lawsuits in Brazil and for causing the deaths of 154 people, he is currently employed by American Airlines.
