Focus of Brazil air crash shifts away from runway

Sao Paulo, July 20: Debate over the cause of Brazil's worst air crash shifted from widespread claims of a faulty runway to potential pilot error or failure of the plane's brakes.

Soon after Tuesday's fiery accident at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, which killed all 186 people on board and more on the ground, many officials and aviation experts blamed the rain-soaked runway where the plane skidded before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal.

But a video of the botched landing by the Airbus A320 released by the national airport authority Infraero suggested other factors were also at play in Brazil's second major aviation disaster in less than a year.

Infraero chief Jose Carlos Pereira yesterday said the runway was safe for aircraft the size of the A320 and that the recently repaved landing strip was not to blame. Nevertheless, he said air traffic in Congonhas would be cut by nearly 20 per cent.

According to Infraero, the footage shows the TAM Linhas Aereas plane accelerating instead of braking when it touched down on the short, slippery runway -- perhaps because the pilot was trying to lift off again.

Others expressed doubt.

''The government is clearly trying to convince public opinion that the runway at Congonhas was not at fault,'' said Elnio Borges, president of the Varig Pilots' Association.

''They're going to do everything they can to blame the pilot.'' By Yesteray afternoon, firefighters had sent 205 body bags to the morgue, explaining that some contained only portions of charred bodies and that the exact number of corpses could not yet be established. Only 18 bodies have been identified.

Four badly injured victims died in hospitals. At the TAM cargo building hit by the plane, eight people were missing.

Safety Concerns

The crash highlighted long-standing safety concerns about Sao Paulo's aging domestic airport. Congonhas, which sits in the middle of South America's largest city, is known for its short and slick runways.

The TAM plane was landing on a surface that had been repaved in June after officials tried to ban large jets over fears they could skid off the runway.

But the landing strip still had not been grooved to drain rainwater, prompting criticism that the airport was reopened prematurely because it is so important to Brazil's economy.

''The real question is why was Congonhas reopened in that state,'' said Paulo Sampaio, an aviation consultant at Multiplan Consultora in Rio de Janeiro. ''It's a crime.'' The airport resumed operations on Wednesday with an alternate runway. But federal prosecutors filed a petition to have it shut until both runways were determined to be in line with safety standards.

The video of the landing seems to cast doubt on whether the runway was at fault. It appears to show the plane speeding up after touching down very close to the designated limit for landings and suggests the pilot tried to take off again after realizing he could not brake in time.

''It's evident that something went wrong that didn't allow him to slow down in time,'' said Infraero's Pereira.

''We have to clarify why the plane accelerated again,'' he added. ''But only the black box can tell us that.'' Firefighters have recovered both of the plane's cockpit recorders, which will be sent to the United States for analysis. French and U.S. safety investigators are helping Brazilian authorities probing the cause of the crash.

Air travel in Brazil has been chaotic since a Boeing 737 clipped wings with a private jet last September and crashed in the Amazon jungle, killing 154 people.

Air traffic controllers, fearing they were being made scapegoats for that accident, have staged periodic work slowdowns to protest against deficient radar and radio equipment, as well as poor pay.

Delays and cancellations have become routine, prompting frustrated passengers to occasionally storm onto airfields.

Reuters>