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Brazil judge convicts controller in plane crash

20 May 2011 00:54 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A Brazilian federal judge has convicted an air traffic controller of endangering air safety in connection with a 2006 mid-air collision that killed 154 people, APA reports quoting news.yahoo.com website.

On Thursday Judge Murilo Mendes sentenced Lucivando de Alencar to three years and four months of community service and revoked Alencar’s professional license.

A court statement says another controller on duty during the accident has been cleared of the same charge.

A Boeing 737 run by Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes SA of Brazil collided with a business jet operated by two U.S. pilots. The larger plane crashed, killing all aboard, while the business jet landed safely.

Mendes found both U.S. pilots guilty earlier this week, sentencing them to community service in the U.S.