Luck can change in an instant. Pilot Joe Lepore and copilot Jan Paladino were cruising along at 37,000 feet in the cockpit of the brand-new Embraer Legacy they were delivering from the factory in Brazil to its new home base on New York’s Long Island. As the sun fell lower toward the horizon on September 29, all they could see beneath the airplane was the vast canopy of the Amazon jungle, and for the pilots and their five passengers in the cabin behind, life was good.
But their luck turned suddenly sour, and then just as suddenly sweet again. The head-on collision with a Gol Airlines 737 that they were unlucky enough to suffer did not tear their business jet apart. Instead, the Legacy lost most of its left winglet and took a hit to the horizontal stabilizer, but it remained flyable. The 154 airliner passengers were not so fortunate, losing their lives when the 737 plummeted out of control and slammed into the jungle.
