Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907

Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907
Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 was a passenger fight from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro with a stopover in Brasília. Half of the left wing was sliced off by an ExcelAire Private Jet which caused it to spiral out of control and fall to the ground whilst separating into many pieces.

ExcelAire Private Jet
The ExcelAire Private Jet was a business trip coming back from São José to Long Island, New York. The flight also had stopovers in Manaus and Miami. The winglet was sliced off by Flight 1907 and the plane safely landed on the Campo de Provas Brigadeiro Velloso airstrip.

Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907
Captain Decio Chaves Jr. was in charge, and First Officer Thiago Jordão Cruso was by his side. When listening to the CVR, the captain was very brave and told the first officer to stay calm, even when the plane was spiralling out of control.

ExcelAire Private Jet
Captain Joseph Lepore and First Officer Jan Paul Paladino were in the pilots of this business trip, and at first the Brazilians thought it was their fault. They took away their passports until 2 months after the accident and they were charged for 'endangering an aircraft' and were forced to sign a document stating that they must return to Brazil for their trial when required. This was because they were charged for up to twelve years in prison, and so if it was required they must have their trial in Brazil.

The Collision
(Before this section begins, I want to point out that I couldn't find too much research on this project, and so there will be some unanswered questions.)

The Loss of Contact
The two flights began as usual, a sunny day flying over the Amazon Jungle, but then, something seemed off. The Private Jet was told by one air traffic control to level off and 37,000 ft. And Flight 1907 was also told to level off, but again at 37,000 ft. The flights continued, and as each entered the same airspace, the Private Jet lost contact with ATC. Strangely, both the pilots and ATC did not try to contact each other until 25 minutes later, when ATC made an attempted contact. No response. As well as not being able to speak to them, ATC could also not see their altitude. This was because the transponder on-board was not working, and so they could only see their location, and not their altitude. Because of this, the ATC thought that Flight 1907 and the Private Jet were on separate altitudes, and yet they weren't. Another problem with the transponder turning off was that the TCAS (Traffic Collision Avoidance System) did not work, meaning neither aircraft were alerted of each other. As the planes got closer and closer, no one knew of the catastrophe that was about to take place. Of course, that was until it was too late.

The Wing Slicing
At precisely 16:56:54 BRT, the Boeing 737 collided with the Private Jet. Flight 1907 took most of the damage, having half of the left wing sliced off, but keeping the engine on the aircraft. The ExelAire Private Jet only lost it's winglet, as it cut through Flight 1907's left wing. The Private Jet was still controllable and proceeded to fly after the collision. But for Flight 1907, it was a different story. By clicking here, you can listen to the CVR of the doomed jet, and you can hear what was said in the final moments. For those of you who don't want to listen to people die, here's a quick summary:

Upon the impact, the bank angle alarm started. This was because (very obviously) the plane was banking hard to the left. And by hard I mean they were in a spinning nosedive in seconds. First Officer Cruso began panicking, but Captain Chaves, against all odds, told him to stay calm. The plane began to break-up after reaching such high speeds, and the last words caught on the tape (excluding all the warnings that were going off) was First Officer Cruso shouting 'aii!'.

The ExcelAire jet landed on a military airstrip about 160 kilometres (100 mi) from the collision point.

Aftermath
This accident, along with many other factors, caused the Brazilian aviation crisis. Delays and cancelled flights were happening everywhere. The crisis lasted 10 months, and contained the two worst air accidents Brazil has ever seen. This was the second worst.

May all who died in this fateful collision rest in peace.