Federal investigators have concluded that two American pilots of an executive jet were responsible for a collision with an airliner that killed 154 people, Brazilian news media reported Wednesday. The Gol airlines Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 jet clipped each other Sept. 29 over the Amazon jungle. The Gol airlines jet crashed, killing all aboard, while the Legacy jet owned by New York-based ExcelAire landed safely.
          The Web site for O Globo, one of Brazil's largest newspapers, reported that federal police found the pilots failed to notice the plane's transponder wasn't working until after the crash. The transponder sends out a signal locating the plane for other aircraft and controllers. Tamares Carvalho, spokeswoman for federal police investigator Renato Sayao, confirmed that the criminal investigation into the accident had been concluded and sent to the Justice Ministry. But she said she could not divulge its findings or say when they would be announced.
          The report did not focus on air traffic controllers, blamed by some for the incident, because they are under military jurisdiction, Carvalho said by telephone from Mato Grosso state where the crash occurred. Legacy pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, both of New York, earlier were accused by police of exposing an aircraft to danger. They have agreed to return to Brazil to face any criminal charges. A lawyer for the pilots denied they were to blame.

Learn more about the Gol 1907 crash.