U.S. Pilots under Investigation after Deadly Brazilian Airliner Collision

By Thomas Hall

Published on October 05, 2006

The Defense Minister of Brazil says a Legacy 600 business jet piloted by two U.S. citizens was flying at the wrong altitude when it crossed paths with a Brazilian jetliner at 37,000 feet, apparently scraping the airplane.

The commercial jet, operated by low-cost carrier Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, was bound from Manaus to Brasilia when it crashed in the Amazon jungle. The Legacy jet was being flown to the United States at the time the two planes intersected. None of the seven aboard the Legacy was injured after the jet made an emergency landing at a military base.

The small jet was equipped with an anti-collision system; however, officials believe the pilots may have shut off the plane’s transponder, rendering the system useless. A plane’s transponder is crucial for anti-collision technology. Authorities say if one of the planes had shut its transponder off, the planes would not have detected each other.

Comment on this article →