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Debate over the cause of Brazil's worst air crash shifted yesterday from claims of a faulty runway to potential pilot error or failure of the plane's braking systems.
Soon after Wednesday'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. The device had been turned off after a malfunction last week and that the plane had difficulty braking on the same slippery runway a day before the crash. But an airline executive said technical norms allowed flying the jet even with two reversers shut.
A video of the botched final landing by the TAM Linhas Aereas plane released by the national airport authority Infraero also seemed to cast doubt on whether the runway was at fault. Infraero chief Jose Carlos Pereira said the runway was safe for aircraft the size of the A320. Nevertheless, he said air traffic in Congonhas would be cut by nearly 20 per cent.
According to Infraero, the footage shows the jet accelerating instead of braking when it touched down - perhaps because the pilot was trying to lift off again after realising he could not brake in time.
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 yesterday afternoon, firefighters had sent 207 body bags to the morgue. Only 25 bodies have been identified. Four injured victims died in hospitals. At the building hit by the plane, eight people were missing.
Firefighters have recovered the plane's cockpit recorders, which have been sent to the United States for analysis.
- Reuters
