New York Times, "Focus
of Brazil TAM Airlines Crash Shifts Away from Runway"
Debate
over the cause of Brazil's worst air crash shifted on
Thursday from widespread claims of a faulty runway to
potential pilot error or failure of the plane's braking
systems. 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 Airbus A320 skidded
before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal.
But Globo TV said
the jet had been flying without one of its thrust reversers, which help slow
the plane at landing. It reported the device was turned off after a malfunction
last week and that the plane had difficulty braking on the same slippery runway
one day before the crash. Still, an executive for the airline said technical
norms allowed flying the jet even with two reversers shut. A reverser is temporarily
deployed at the rear of a jet engine to divert its thrust forward and aid braking.
A video of the botched
final landing by TAM Linhas Aereas plane released by the national airport authority
Infraero also seemed to cast doubt on whether the runway was at fault in Brazil's
second major aviation disaster in less than a year. Infraero chief Jose Carlos
Pereira 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 percent.
