RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) – Federal investigators have concluded that two American pilots of an executive jet were responsible for a collision with an airliner that killed 154 people, Brazilian news media reported Wednesday.

The Gol airlines Boeing 737 and an Embraer Legacy 600 jet clipped each other Sept. 29 over the Amazon jungle. The Gol airlines jet crashed, killing all aboard, while the Legacy jet owned by Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based ExcelAire landed safely.

The Web site for O Globo, one of Brazil’s largest newspapers, reported that federal police found the pilots failed to notice the plane’s transponder wasn’t working until after the crash. The transponder sends out a signal locating the plane for other aircraft and controllers.

Tamares Carvalho, spokeswoman for federal police investigator Renato Sayao, confirmed that the criminal investigation into the accident had been concluded and sent to the Justice Ministry.

But she said she could not divulge its findings or say when they would be announced.

Legacy pilots Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, both of New York, earlier were accused by police of exposing an aircraft to danger. They have agreed to return to Brazil to face any criminal charges.

A lawyer for the pilots denied they were to blame.

“From the press reports, it would appear that the police have prematurely accused the pilots in response to public pressure and have not conducted a complete and thorough investigation of the facts,” attorney Joel R. Weiss wrote in an e-mail.

“The pilots are not at fault. We have not yet seen the report and will comment further after having an opportunity to review it,” he said.

ExcelAire last month blamed Brazilian air traffic controllers, saying its analysis showed they had cleared both planes “to fly at the same altitude and the same path, in opposite directions.”

The Brazilian investigators’ report did not focus on air traffic controllers because they are under military jurisdiction, Ms. Carvalho said by telephone from Mato Grosso state, where the crash occurred. Brazilian investigators, however, have said the controllers bear some responsibility for the crash.

The Legacy was flying from the southern city of Sao Jose dos Campos to the United States when the accident occurred at 37,000 feet, an altitude usually reserved for flights headed in the opposite direction.