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Please Help Pilots Stuck In Brazil

Old 11-16-2006, 11:07 PM
  #1  
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Default Please Help Pilots Stuck In Brazil

Please Help Pilots Stuck in Brazil
The following forwarded e-mail is from my good friend and fellow Continental pilot Doug Marotta. His friend Joe Lepore was the captain of the executive jet that had a mid-air collision with a Brazilian 737-800 airliner over Brazil in September. Joe is a former Trans States (ALPA) and Jan is former Eagle and furloughed American (ALPA and APA).

Joe and his copilot Jan have been held in Brazil with their passports confiscated by the local authorities for almost two months.

Please review the forwarded e-mails and the attached sample letter I am sending to you. Please forward this email, along with the sample letter, to others (especially to those that live in New York state.)

Ask all who are forwarded these emails to send the sample letter to the listed US officials to create the political pressure needed so Joe and his copilot can return home to their families.

Thank You,





I got the following email from Ellen Lepore, Joe Lepore's wife. All along we've been asked if there's anything that we could do to help Joe and Jan, his co-pilot. Well, now there is. Please send letters to the politicians in the accompanying email as soon as possible. Make sure your spouses, family, friends, EVERYONE YOU KNOW sends one. It's important that these guys finally get home to their families. Please send this email to everyone that you know. Now's the time to step up and do whatever we can to help. Remember, not only is Joe a great guy who doesn't deserve the treatment he's getting, but it could also be you down there needing help, wishing someone would write a letter. Please help and write the letters as soon as possible. It'll only take a moment, and you can reunite two families for the holidays. Thanks so much for your help. I know Joe for many years, and I know he and his family would be very appreciative and thank you all as well. Thanks!




I just wanted to let you know that we got the OK to put the pressure on the US Gov't to try and get Joe and Jan home. I've attached a document that includes the names of a few politicians along with a sample letter. Please pass this along to anyone you think might help.

Thank you!!

Ellen







CONTACT INFORMATION


Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Fax: 202-228-0282
Phone: 202-224-4451
476 Russell Senate Office Building
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Old 11-16-2006, 11:09 PM
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The guys are locked up in a hotel in Rio. Unfortunately, their whereabouts can't be disclosed out of fear for their safety. The Brazilian press has whipped up a fervor against these guys, and they have not set foot outside their hotel in almost 6 weeks. They've been widely portrayed in the Brazilian press as two millionaire playboys playing around in Daddy's jet, doing loops and rolls at FL370. Seriously, that's what's been said. In actuality, Joe is just a charter pilot trying to eke out a living trying to feed his family, and Jan is a AA guy on furlough. Millionaires, indeed. The public is in such a frenzy about this that they've been locked away in the hotel for their own good.

They got to actually go outside for some sun and air twice in 6 weeks - both times for about 10 minutes at a time on the rooftop of the hotel. At this point, they just want to come home to their families. The evidence in their favor is overwhelming. ATC personnel and the CVR tapes clearly show that they were told to maintain the altitude that they were at. No one yet knows why the transponder didn't work. There was no reason whatsoever for them to turn it off, and Joe swears he didn't touch it. This was the aircraft's maiden voyage, and I personally suspect it just plain failed, which would normally just be a plain old squawk on a new plane under different circumstances. ATC has testified that they tracked the plane for over an hour with no mode C, and yet they never notified the crew. The politics down there is such that the Brazilian govenment is left with egg on their face, and they're trying to extridite themselves from this without looking like fools. I believe the Chinese call it saving face. Meanwhile these guys rot in Brazil. It's really a shame, but as I said earlier, it could easily be any of us. Scary, isn't it?
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Old 11-16-2006, 11:10 PM
  #3  
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CONTACT INFORMATION


Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton
Fax: 202-228-0282
Phone: 202-224-4451
476 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20514


Congressman Pete King
[email protected]
436 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-7896


Senator Charles Schumer
757 Third Ave.
Suite 17-02
New York, NY 10017
Fax:202-228-3027


Gary Ackerman
202-225-1589 (fax)
2243 Rayburn Office Buildinglace
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-2601
202-225-1580 (fax)

Congressman Peter King's fax number is 202-226-2279

Joe's local Congressman is:

Congressman Steve Israel
432 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Phone - 202-225-3335
Fax - 202-225-4669




SAMPLE LETTER
Nov. xx, 2006


Dear xx (senator or congressman)

We are writing to engage your assistance in the return of Jan Paladino and Joe Lepore, two professional pilots from New York, who have been unlawfully detained in Brazil for more than six weeks.

Brazilian authorities continue to hold their passports since their involvement in a mid-air collision on September 29th, despite the fact that there has been no evidence to suggest that these pilots caused this tragic accident. They have been prevented from returning home to their families, without any charges, in violation of Brazilian law, and international aviation treaties.

Sadly, Brazilian government officials have tried to scapegoat these pilots to conceal the shortcomings in their own aviation system. Air safety depends on the integrity of accident investigations. Without free and open discourse championed by ICAO and such internationally respected organizations as the Flight Safety Foundation, the cause of air safety is impaired.

This heavy-handed treatment of these New York pilots, while they are fully cooperating with authorities, is unfair and impedes the aviation investigation and threatens the safety of air travelers throughout Brazil.

We ask for your prompt assistance in helping to bring these honorable pilots home.

Regards,

Xxx
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Old 11-16-2006, 11:13 PM
  #4  
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ALPA President Elect John Prater told me IFALPA has issued a statement of support for these two pilots and he will be contacting the US State Department.

Could somone from American forward this information to your APA leadership and ask for their assistance with one of their furloughed pilots in need.

THANK YOU.
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Old 11-16-2006, 11:25 PM
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Gentlemen,

A suggestion for you. Get in contact with the Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations in Washington DC.. They respresent 5 of the major pilot unions, including the APA.. Infact, the current CAPA president is from APA. These guys have a lot of pull in DC with certain groups, and might be able to help! Their airline unions inlcude those from AirTran, UPS, Southwest, ABEX and American.
capapilots.org

Hope it helps!

EKBC
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Old 11-16-2006, 11:51 PM
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Thank you John Prater. I will e-mail CAPA.


Release #06.063
November 16, 2006

ALPA and IFALPA Call for Immediate Release for Legacy Pilots
WASHINGTON, D.C. --- Both the U.S. pilots union and their international umbrella federation are calling for the release of the two American pilots who are being detained in Brazil pending the investigation of a tragic midair collision there.
The Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA), which represents most airline pilots in the U.S., fully supports the following announcement issued today by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Associations (IFALPA), of which ALPA is a member:
“The International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations (IFALPA) calls on the Brazilian authorities to expedite the conclusion of an independent technical investigation into the circumstances surrounding the tragic mid-air collision between a Gol Airlines B-737 and an Excelair Embraer Legacy business jet, and to release the findings of this investigation in a timely fashion.

“Thus far, only contradictory facts, rumor and unsupported allegations have been forthcoming from Brazilian government officials. To date there has been no indication from the Court, which has retained the passports of the Excelair pilots, that it has made any objective assessment of the circumstances surrounding the event.

“Furthermore, the Federation notes that there are internationally agreed procedures enshrined by treaty that allow countries to pursue appropriate criminal prosecutions against citizens of another state if sufficient evidence can be presented to show that an internationally recognised crime has been committed.

“Therefore, there is no valid reason for the continued detention of the two Excelair pilots. As a result, the Federation demands that the Brazilian authorities immediately return the passports of the Excelair pilots and that these pilots be allowed to return to their homes forthwith.”
The action by the Brazilian authorities reflects a disturbing trend in worldwide aviation to impose criminal sanctions on individuals who are involved in aviation accidents. Criminal prosecution is rare in the U.S. It is unfair and unwarranted in all but a very few extremely egregious cases. More importantly, it works against the public interest in preventing future accidents because it inhibits the free flow of information that is crucial to uncovering the causes of accidents and taking corrective measures.
ALPA, founded in 1931, represents 61,000 airline pilots at 40 U.S. carriers. Its website is www.alpa.org. IFALPA, through its member associations, represents more than 100,000 airline pilots in more than 95 countries. Its website is at www.ifalpa.org.
# # #
CONTACT: Gideon Ewers, IFALPA Media Communications Officer
+44 1932 579041 or e-mail at [email protected]
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Old 11-17-2006, 12:06 AM
  #7  
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CAL EWR:

I have some more contact information for a "Good Guy" within CAPA and APA Security if you need it.. I can't seem to PM you and I won't put it out here.. Do you have an alternate contact?

EKBC
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Old 11-17-2006, 12:17 AM
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Just signed up for this forum maybe a tech error. My e-mail [email protected] thanks for your help.
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Old 11-17-2006, 12:41 AM
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CAL EWR

Thanks.. Sent.. Hope it helps..!

EKBC
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Old 11-17-2006, 05:02 AM
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It's time that we as pilots and as a country turn the heat up on this issue. US airlines pour a TON of money into Brazil in the form of aircraft orders. The aircraft that Jan and Joe was a brand new delivery from Embraer only serves to prove that point.

This has been a biased investigation from DAY ONE. Controllers that were involved in the processes leading up to the collision, STILL HAVE NOT BEEN INTERVIEWED BY INVESTIGATORS, yet a preliminary report has already been issued.

Don't just write! CALL YOUR SENATORS as well as the representitives in NY that represent these pilots.
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