Black box in Brazil crash reveals series of errors

SAO PAULO, Feb 18 (Reuters) The cockpit voice recorder from a private jet involved in Brazil's worst ever air crash and dialogues among traffic controllers point to a series of errors and misunderstandings that may have contributed to the accident, a local newspaper reported today.

The 290-page transcript of the recordings, obtained by the Folha de SPaulo, is part of an ongoing investigation into the causes of a mid-air collision between a Legacy business jet and a Boeing 737 on September 29 that killed 154 people.

The Legacy and the Boeing, operated by Brazilian carrier Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, clipped wings at 37,000 feet over the Amazon rain forest. The Gol plane crashed into the jungle, killing everyone on board.

The Legacy, made by Brazilian jet maker Embraer, made an emergency landing at a remote airstrip after losing a winglet.

The plane had just been delivered to ExcelAire, a charter service based in Ronkonkoma, New York.

The recordings, parts of which were published by Folha, show that the ExcelAire pilots had trouble understanding the English spoken by Brazilian air traffic controllers. The plane was flown by Joseph Lepore, 42, and Jan Paladino, 34, both of New York state.

According to the transcript, which Folha translated into Portuguese, the control tower in Sao Jose dos Campos authorized the Legacy before take-off to fly at 37,000 feet but made no mention of other altitudes foreseen in the original flight plan. Apparently unsure of what they heard, the pilots asked three times for clarification without getting a response.

The transcript, which was prepared by the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington, also shows that air traffic controllers in Brasilia mistakenly believed that the Legacy was flying at 36,000 feet.

The recordings suggest that Lepore and Paladino never saw the Boeing on their radar screen. At the time of impact, one of the pilots said: ''What the hell was that?'' Almost a half hour passed before they mentioned the possibility that they might have collided with another plane.

A spokesman for the Brazilian Air Force, which is leading the investigation, would not confirm or deny the content of the transcript. He insisted, however, that the document was not leaked by the Air Force and complained that its publication could hamper the investigation.

The transcript appears to corroborate the findings of a preliminary report in November by the Air Force, which pointed to potential problems with the Legacy's Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System.

The recordings confirm that the Legacy's transponder, which tracks a plane's position relative to the ground and other aircraft, was either turned off or had malfunctioned. They also show that the pilots did not realize the problem until after the collision.

Under Brazilian law, it is the control tower's responsibility to notify a pilot when an aircraft's transponder is not working properly.

REUTERS AB BD2325