TAM Airlines Flight 3054

Coordinates: 23°37′11″S 46°39′44″W / 23.6198°S 46.6623°W / -23.6198; -46.6623
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TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054
A view of the burning wreckage.
Occurrence
DateJuly 17, 2007
SummarySkidded off Runway (to be confirmed)
SiteCongonhas-São Paulo International Airport, São Paulo, Brazil
Aircraft typeAirbus A320-233
OperatorTAM Linhas Aéreas
RegistrationPR-MBK[1]
Passengers174Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Fatalities195 estimated (includes 15 people on the ground; 40 confirmed)[2] ;
Injuries13 (people on the ground)[3]
SurvivorsNone

TAM Linhas Aéreas Flight 3054 (JJ 3054) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Porto Alegre and São Paulo, Brazil. It crashed upon landing during rain in São Paulo on July 17, 2007.[4] The plane reportedly overran the runway, crossed a major thoroughfare during rush hour, crashed at high speed into a TAM Express warehouse and exploded.[5][6] There were 180 people on board: 174 passengers and 6 crew members.[2] Authorities at the scene have indicated everyone on board the aircraft died in the crash,[7] and the São Paulo fire department reports "at least 200" deaths (including casualties on the ground).[4]

Flight chronology

The plane departed from Salgado Filho International Airport in Porto Alegre at 17:16 local time (20:16 UTC). It crashed upon landing at Congonhas-São Paulo International Airport in São Paulo at 18:50 local time (21:50 UTC).

Crash

The aircraft touched down on the runway but failed to decelerate normally in the heavy rain. According to some eyewitnesses, the plane was traveling so fast they thought it was actually taking off.[4] The aircraft continued off the end of the runway, across Avenue Washington Luis, a major thoroughfare, and impacted a four-storey TAM Express facility which included both offices and a warehouse, inducing a significant fire.[8]

The runway had recently been resurfaced but work on water-channeling grooves, to reduce the danger of hydroplaning, had not yet commenced.[4]

A doctor at São Paulo's mortuary said 30 badly charred bodies had been brought in.[9] São Paulo state Governor José Serra said: "I was told that the temperature inside the plane was 1,000 °C (1,830 °F), so the chances of there being any survivors are practically nil."[9]

Safety concerns at Congonhas

The crash site was across Avenida Washington Luis from the runway (The runway's approach lighting system red-and-white tower is visible to the right)

Air safety in Brazil, in general, has been under scrutiny recently following the mid-air collision in September 2006 over the Amazon of Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 and an Embraer Legacy 600. Congonhas has been singled out for having safety issues relating to operations in wet weather due to its location and runway characteristics for the traffic it serves.

The Congonhas runway is 6,365 feet, compared with a 7,003-foot runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport, which accommodates similar planes, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots sometimes refer to Congonhas as the "aircraft carrier". They say they are instructed to touch down in the first 1,000 feet of runway, or do a go-around if they overshoot the immediate landing zone. In February 2007, a Brazilian judge briefly banned flights using Fokker 100, Boeing 737-800 and Boeing 737-700 aircraft in and out of the airport. The Airbus A320 was not among the aircraft banned, despite being heavier than the Fokker 100 and the Boeing 737-700. Pilots had complained that water had been accumulating on the runway reducing aircraft braking performance and occasionally causing planes to hydroplane. The judge claimed the runway needed to be 388 metres (1,275 ft) longer for these aircraft to operate safely. At the time, a spokeswoman from Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency claimed "The safety conditions of the runway and the airport as a whole are adequate."[10] TAM also objected to the decision with a spokesman stating "If the injunction stands, it will cause total chaos" claiming over 10,000 passengers per day would be inconvenienced. [10] The airport authorities appealed the decision, resulting in it being overturned the following day. An appeals court overruled the ban on the three types of planes, saying it was too harsh because it would have severe economic ramifications and that there were not enough safety concerns to prevent the planes from landing and taking off the airport. "The runway was reopened because of popular pressure," Gianfranco Beting, an aviation consultant, said in a TV interview. "This was a tragedy waiting to happen."[11]

Infraero, the Brazilian state-company which administer many of the country's airports, has since been doing remedial work to reduce the chances of runway flooding, but the work was not completed. The airport's main runway was recently closed for several weeks while it was repaired because of a problem with water collecting on the runway. The recently resurfaced runway did not yet have water-channeling grooves cut into it to reduce the danger of hydroplaning.[4] On July 16, a day before the fatal TAM accident, two aircraft were reported to have had skidding issues on the runway, although no injuries were reported. [2] One of the planes, believed to be a Pantanal Linhas Aéreas ATR-42, ran off the runway onto the grass in a heavy downpour and similar conditions. The airport had been closed 18 times in the first quarter due to rain and water accumulation beyond minimum safety levels.

Notable passengers

Among the passengers were:

Aircraft

The aircraft was an Airbus A320, like the one pictured here.

The aircraft was an Airbus A320-233 registered as PR-MBK and manufacturer's serial number of 789. It was powered by two International Aero V2527E-A5 engines. According to Flight International, the aircraft was built in February 1998 and first entered service in March flying for Grupo TACA and later in November 2003 by Pacific Airlines. The aircraft was owned by Pegasus Aviation, prior to the crash, and entered into service for TAM in December 2006. As of April 20, 2007, the aircraft had flown 20,379 hours over 9,313 cycles.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Ionides, Nicholas (2007-07-18). "BREAKING NEWS: TAM A320 crashes in Sao Paulo". Flight International. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c "Plane carrying 176 people crashes in São Paulo". 2007-07-18. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ Montoia, Paulo (2007-07-17). "Bombeiros deverão iniciar logo a retirada dos corpos das vítimas do acidente com avião da TAM" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e "Plane crashes at Sao Paulo airport". CNN. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "Incêndio permanece fora de controle; chances de sobrevivência diminuem" (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Três vítimas do acidente com avião da TAM são atendidas no hospital Alvorada" (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Mikevis, Dayanne (2007-07-17). ""Tem 200 mortos aí", diz coronel dos bombeiros sobre acidente da TAM" (in Portuguese). Folha de S. Paulo. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  8. ^ "O acidente do avião da TAM" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b "Brazilian plane crash 'kills 200'". BBC News. 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b "Jets banned from Sao Paulo runway". BBC News. 2007-02-06. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  11. ^ "Up to 200 feared dead in Brazil crash". Reuters. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-17. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  12. ^ Marcos Chagas and Aloisio Milani (2007-07-17). "Listas de nomes divulgada pela TAM ultrapassam previsão oficial de 176 passageiros" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 71.JULIO CESAR REDECKER {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  13. ^ "Redecker estava no vôo da TAM que pegou fogo em SP" (in Portuguese). Brazilian Social Democracy Party. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ "Deputado do RS estava no vôo que sofreu acidente" (in Portuguese). Terra Brasil. 2007-07-17. Retrieved 2007-07-18. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ Marcos Chagas and Aloisio Milani (2007-07-17). "Listas de nomes divulgada pela TAM ultrapassam previsão oficial de 176 passageiros" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. Retrieved 2007-07-18. 106.PAULO ROGERIO AMORETTY SOUZA {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

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23°37′11″S 46°39′44″W / 23.6198°S 46.6623°W / -23.6198; -46.6623

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