Accidents
Amazon Legacy 600 Midair Collision Case Closed
The federal judge ruled that too much time had passed to sentence the American pilots
Joe Sharkey and damaged Legacy
Joe Sharkey was one of the passengers in this Embraer Legacy 600 that was involved in a midair collision in Brazil. (Photo courtesy of the author)

A Brazilian federal judge has extinguished the case against two U.S. pilots of an Embraer Legacy 600 that collided in September 2006 with a Boeing 737 over the Amazon. The judge ruled that too much time had passed for a sentence to be imposed.

Joseph Lepore and Jan Paul Paladino were piloting the aircraft on its delivery flight to ExcelAire on Long Island when Brazilian air traffic control cleared them on a collision course with a B737-800 operating as Gol Flight 1907. The midair collision sheared the Boeing’s wing, and all 154 aboard died in what was then the country’s worst air disaster. The Legacy 600 made an emergency landing with all seven aboard uninjured, including journalist Joe Sharkey, who was on assignment for AIN sister publication Business Jet Traveler.