Investigations on plane crash continue

Brazilian authorities are still trying to determine how a Boeing 737 carrying 155 people collided in mid-air with a smaller business jet plane over the Amazon on Friday, resulting on the death of all aboard the larger plane. The pilots from the Embraer Legacy, which was carrying seven people and managed to land in a military air base, are still being questioned by the police in regards to what happened at the time of the accident. Their passports are currently being held by request of the local authorities, who want to make sure they do not leave the country while the investigations are not concluded.

One of the possibilities being investigated is that the pilots from the Legacy may have turned off the plane's tracking equipment, in order to perform some tests in the handling of the new plane - which had just been acquired prior to the flight, by an American company. Without the tracking devices turned on, the plane could not be identified by the Boeing's own equipment, leading both planes to keep the collision course without taking any measures to avoid the crash until visual contact had been established.

Meanwhile, a New York Times reporter which was aboard the Legacy has returned to the US, and wrote his take on the accident for the newspaper. The article can be read by clicking here (external link to the newspaper's website).