(10/05/06) ISLIP ? Friends and family anxiously awaited news Thursday about two Long Island pilots at the center of an airplane collision in Brazil.

Brazilian authorities seized the passports of Long Island pilots Joseph Lappore and Jan Paladino. They are also forbidden to leave the country after their airplane clipped the wing of a Gol flight over the Amazon. Their plane, just purchased by Long Island-based ExcelAire, landed safely. All 154 passengers of the Gol plane died when it crashed. Reports coming out of Brazil say the American pilots turned off a navigational device that potentially could have helped avoid the collision. Lappore and Paladino deny those claims.

Long Island charter flight companies reached for comment refused to go on record. Some say Brazilian air traffic control is known for its poor quality, particularly in the Amazon region.