Pilots Say Controller Misguided Jet

A newspaper report that a Colombian air traffic controller may have misguided an American Airlines jet that crashed is speculation, an aviation official said.

Two veteran American Airlines pilots told the Miami Herald that the crew of the Boeing 757 that hit a mountain Dec. 20, killing 160 people, was misled by a controller who didn’t know the jet’s location.

The pilots’ opinion of what led to the crash was based on a review of a transcript of the flight’s pilot-to-ground conversations, the newspaper reported Wednesday. The plane was heading down a valley toward the southwest city of Cali when it veered off course.

But Carlos Rubio, head of civil aviation in Cali, dismissed the pilots’ comments as “speculation.” He also said an investigation in Washington of the “black box” flight recorders will determine the cause.

The pilots, who spoke anonymously, criticized a report from Colombian authorities that suggested crew error was to blame.