Authorities reopened the main runway at the country’s busiest airport on Friday for the first time since a TAM jetliner crashed there 10 days ago, killing 199 people in Brazil’s deadliest air accident.
A TAM airlines jet was the first to touch down on the 6,362-foot main runway, but the airline has imposed new restrictions since the crash, saying it will only use Congonhas airport when it is not raining.
The airport had been restricted to a 4,711-foot backup since the crash while investigators tried to determine if the main runway’s condition played a role in the accident. Both runways are relatively short by modern standards.
TAM Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, landed in driving rain and sped down the runway instead of slowing down on the main runway before crashing into a gas station and an air cargo building at 109 mph and exploding on July 17.
The accident created more chaos in Brazil’s air travel industry, led to the ouster of the defense minister and prompted a safety advisory from Airbus, though authorities have not yet publicized what they learned from the plane’s data recorders.
Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht would not specify the nature of the information from the data recorder and said Thursday that the advisory did not imply any conclusion about the causes of the crash. She said the notification to airlines stressed the need for pilots to follow proper landing procedures.
A pilot for a major international airline with a fleet of A320s said Friday that his company had just reminded pilots to pull the thrust lever to idle during the landing flare.
Leaving the throttles even slightly open on the A320 prevents speed-cutting spoilers and the auto-braking system from activating, said the pilot, who declined to be identified because of the airline’s policy.
Earlier speculation about factors in the crash have focused on a slick, short runway and a deactivated reverse thruster on the plane. TAM Linhas Aereas SA has said the thruster was turned off in keeping with proper maintenance regulations.
Brazilian investigators over the weekend will examine the information from the flight’s data recorder and listen to a recording of the cockpit conversation after both were analyzed in the United States.
Brig. General Jorge Kersul Jr., who heads the investigation into the crash, said he did not know whether the throttle was in the wrong position just before the plane landed. But he said investigators are probing that possibility and would use the data in the flight recorder to evaluate that as a potential crash factor.
Globo TV reported that it obtained a transcript of the conversation between pilots and controllers just before the crash, and that controllers warned the pilots that the runway was slick and slippery just before the jet touched down.
Someone said “Turn, turn, turn” at some point in the conversation recorded in the cockpit, but Globo said it wasn’t clear who said those words and at what point.
Kersal told reporters in Brasilia he could not confirm the report because he had not yet listened to the recording.
Associated Press writers Slobodan Lekic in Brussels, Belgium, and Vivian Sequera in Brasilia contributed to this story.