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Pilot for charter company in NJ crash is sentenced

Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. – A pilot for a now-defunct charter jet company whose plane crashed at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport while overloaded with fuel has been sentenced to six months in federal prison.

Fort Lauderdale, Fla., resident Francis Vieira pleaded guilty last September to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to defraud the United States. He was sentenced Monday in Newark.

Vieira wasn't involved in the crash. He admitted flying commercial charters for Florida-based Platinum Jet Management even though the company wasn't licensed for that type of flying. He also admitted falsifying Federal Aviation Administration paperwork.

The 2005 crash occurred when one of the company's jets failed to lift on takeoff. Twenty people were injured.

Three other defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in the coming weeks.