LAPA Flight 3142 - Criminal Proceedings

Criminal Proceedings

After the accident, the criminal case remained in the hands of federal judge Gustavo Literas, who, during the first months received the preliminary report of the JIAAC and took testimony from dozens of LAPA mechanics.

At the beginning of March 2000, the judge called 540 people to testify, most of them LAPA pilots, copilots, and flight attendants. From this point the investigation centered on the theory that, in addition to pilot error, the ultimate cause of the accident was structural problems in the management of flight operations. During the first two weeks of March testimony was taken from some 140 people, and by this time almost all the survivors had also given testimony.

On May 14, judge Carlos Liporaci, who replaced judge Literas por licencia, ordered a search of LAPA headquarters and their operations room at Aeroparque, seizing the files of the company's pilots. According to the newspaper Clarín, the court secretary, Pablo Bertussi, said, "When the accident happened, we took only the files of the pilots of that flight. Now we want to review those of the other pilots of this company."

On May 18, the JIAAC delivered its final report on the accident to the judge. The report was questioned by judicial sources because it focused solely on laying blame on the pilots. Regarding this report, the newspaper La Nación said the next day:

Even so, according to judicial sources, the dossier is still one more expert's report, and Judge Gustavo Literas, who is investigating the case, asked the Air Force to send him the files that prompted the report's conclusions. The judge wants all of the allegations to be based upon and supported by documents, according to our sources."