Jet from Brazil crash back in U.S.

A business jet -- once owned by a Long Island company --  that collided with a passenger aircraft in Brazil in 2006, resulting in 154 deaths, has been flown to the United States for repairs, the online aviation trade publication AVWeb.com reports.

The Embraer Legacy 600 "was flown to Cleveland, Ohio, on Nov. 19, minus the winglet it lost in the collision, where it will undergo extensive repairs," says the report, written by the website’s editor-in-chief, Russ Niles.

Niles writes that the jet's registration has been changed to N965LL from N600XL, and it is no longer owned by the Long Island company, ExcelAire, of Ronkonkoma. Its new owner is Cloudscape Inc., of Delaware, AVWeb.com says.

"The aircraft was flown to the U.S. in the livery of its former owner ExcelAire," Niles writes.

Newsday reported Oct. 28 that a Brazilian Air Force flight controller was convicted of negligence in the collision over the Amazon.

The American pilots still face charges in an ongoing criminal case in Brazilian federal court. Joseph Lepore, now 46, of Bay Shore, and Jan Paladino, 38, of Westhampton Beach - were flying the Brazilian-made jet, which ExcelAire had just bought.

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