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An Airbus jet landing in Sao Paulo Brazil skidded of the runway today during a rainy landing. The plane overran the runway and hit a nearby gas station. As a result, 176 people were burned to death when they thought they had reached the "safety" of the ground. The temperature inside the airplane was about 1800°F. It was like being cremated alive!

My point is as follows: live life to the fullest each and every day. Work just hard enough to support your pleasures. Finally, enjoy that last tica and drink like it was your last! Tomorrow is not a guarantee to anyone.

Pura Vida....

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I will travel the world over to find a better latina! Gringas have flat asses..

A real downer post...

Who has a gas station near an airport runway? Would they get rid of it...

Its hard to believe that they would allow a gas station anywhere near a runway.

It is hard to believe....but

razil plane crash kills 'up to 200'
Email Print Normal font Large font July 18, 2007 - 9:09AM

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AdvertisementUp to 200 people are feared dead after a plane skidded off a runway at Brazil's busiest airport and slammed into buildings, mirroring a crash that claimed 99 lives there two years ago.

All 176 passengers and crew aboard the TAM airliner are believed to have died, along with others on the ground including 16 workers in a building owned by the airline.

The plane lost control on landing at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, skidding off the rain-soaked runway and across an avenue before slamming into a petrol station and the TAM office and bursting into flames.

Aviation experts have for years warned the airport's runway is too short and larger planes were banned from landing there earlier this year, but the ban was lifted for economic reasons.

One witness said he saw people leaping out of windows to escape the flames that took hold in the low-rise building on Wednesday.

Only the tail end of the Airbus 320 remained visible from outside and the fire quickly spread to neighbouring buildings and threatened houses.

Sao Paulo state Governor Jose Serra said there was almost no chance of any survivors from Wednesday's crash. Rescue crews have recovered 45 bodies so far.

"I was told that the temperature inside the plane was 1,000 degrees, so the chances of there being any survivors are practically nil," Serra said.

Witnesses gave harrowing accounts of the tragedy.

"I saw about 25 charred bodies around the plane, and a dead couple inside a car," said Douglas Ferrari, a doctor who assisted firefighters in their rescue efforts.

"It was horrible," he said, adding that many people had jumped out of the windows of the low-rise office building.

"The plane accelerated when it reached the end of the runway and tried to take off again to avoid the avenue, but it crashed into the building and exploded," salesman Junior Matos said.

In 1996, a TAM airlines Fokker-100 skidded off the runway at Congonhas airport and down a street before erupting in a fireball. That crash killed all 96 people on board and three on the ground.

A federal court in February cited safety concerns when it banned takeoffs and landings of three types of large jets at the airport, which handles much of Brazil's domestic air travel market.

But an appeals court overruled the ban, saying it would have severe economic ramifications and there were not enough safety concerns to justify the ban.

And only on Monday, two smaller planes slipped off the airport's runway in rainy weather. No-one was injured.

"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."

Today's crash is expected to be Brazil's deadliest air disaster, and the country's second in less than a year.

Last September, a Brazilian Gol Boeing 737 crashed into the Amazon jungle killing all 154 people aboard after it was clipped in mid-air by a small private jet.

It is likely to pressure President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to swiftly improve air safety. Critics say he has been too slow to address nagging aviation woes.

"How long will this go on? Are we going to have to wait for a third accident for the government to do something?" said Arthur Virgilio, a senator from a leading opposition party.

A ranking member of Virgilio's party was on the TAM flight that crashed, an aide said. His fate is not known.

Da Silva decreed three days of national mourning and Congonhas airport was closed to air traffic, with flights diverted to other airports serving the Sao Paulo area.

The crashed plane was flying from Porto Alegre in southern Brazil. TAM is Brazil's largest airline.

Anyone ever look how close you get to the end on the runway in San Jose during landing and takeoff. One side and your off an embankment, the other side and your flying thru traffic. Was there any survivors in this accident?

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"You can only keep a secret between two people if the other one is dead." Ben Franklin

Last I heard they feared all were dead.

LK,
Actually, SJO has a relatively long runway. The reason why many planes are long when landing is because the mountains, heavy cross-winds, and fog can make it hard to land at SJO and also they know they have a margin of error if they don't nail the approach right on. One time, I landed and it seemed like we hit the pavement about half-way down the runway.

The runway is just under 10,000 feet (I looked it up ), almost 2 miles. Because of the long runway, they can land large jets (A300 that American uses, B747, and the A340).

There was another plane crash yesterday in Colombia, as reported in today's Inside Costa Rica. The plane slid off the runway, and landed in the Caribbean Sea. Only 6 people injured.

Passenger jet skids off runway in Colombia
A Colombian plane carrying 54 passengers skidded off a wet runway and plunged nose-first into the Caribbean Sea Tuesday in Santa Marta, 950 km north of Bogota, injuring at least six people, local aviation officials said.

The plane, operated by Aero Republica, smashed through the fence at the end of the runway at Simon Bolivar airport and slid halfway into the water when landing in heavy rain, the officials said, adding that the plane was evacuated and six people were slightly injured.

The city of Santa Marta is a tourist destination on Colombia's north coast.

If you want to see a pic, here's the link:
http://insidecostarica.com/dailynews/20 ... /reg05.htm

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You ALWAYS have an option ....... "NEXT" !!!

I saw this also. Very depressing. In my mind it is all the more reason to fly AA or Delta down to CR. I trust american flight crews.

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I had a good time with Burt Reynolds. I must admit that Burt was very generous. He's like a brother to me. He really is amazing.

- Dom DeLuise

The Brazilian crash most likely wasn't the crew's fault. They have had issues at that airport for some time now. This one seems to be about money. A judge ordered the airport against landing large jets but the tourism commission (or whatever they call it there) appealed saying that they would lose too much tourism money, so another judge overturned the decision. So, in the end, 200 people died probably for the usual reason MONEY! Read this article, it'll make you think twice about flying to Brazil and their air traffic control situation:

Critics predicted Sao Paulo crash
By Will Grant
BBC News

It is the second major crash in Brazil in less than a year
Critics of Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo have said for years that a major accident would eventually happen on its runway.

In February, a federal judge banned three types of large passenger jet from using the runway because it was too short to accommodate them, and because of concerns over the airport's drainage system.

The authorities at Congonhas appealed against the decision and it was overturned in court the following day.

After the case, the authorities began to resurface the runway and improve its drainage system.

However, should it be proved that the TAM plane overshot the runway, difficult questions will be raised as to why the judge's decision was overturned.

The incident also comes less than a year after Brazil's worst aviation disaster yet, in which 154 people were killed when a commercial airliner collided in mid-air with an executive jet.

That event prompted Brazilian air traffic controllers to work-to-rule in protest at the treatment of some of their colleagues - a protest which has periodically caused chaos in the air traffic control system, and massive delays at airports across the country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6903888.stm

Two accidents in less than one year! They better right that ship and fast.Brazil is one country that i would like to visit though.I hope they figure it out soon.

I don't think I want to fly anywhere that the Air Traffic Controllers are working under protest or aren't happy. That's another accident waiting to happen.

I have a superstition about these plane crashes, they always happen in 3's. No shit, I'm not kidding. just think about it, its really true. Now I can't fly till the next one goes down. And I'm not joking. Read back about 10 years on google about plane crashes. The same thing happen 2 years ago with the 1st crash in Canada on August 3rd.

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"You can only keep a secret between two people if the other one is dead." Ben Franklin

An interesting piece of information was published in Inside Costa Rica this morning. If the article is accurate it indicates the airplane landed on a short wet runway that did not have grooves cut into the concrete to help prevent hydroplaning and had an inoperable thrust reverser. No wonder it could not stop.

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Pura Vida
Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four
essential food groups:
alcohol, caffeine, sugar and fat.
Alex Levine

ID,
That seems to be accurate. The runway has been a problem for a long time now. It's short and they did not install the grooves for better draining. The consensus among expeerts seems to be that this accident was just a matter of time. And I just read on CNN.com that the right thrust reverser was malfunctioning 4 days before the crash. So what you think they did? Fix it? Nah, they just disabled it. According to Brazilian aviation regulations, they can still fly the plane while the problem is being "investigated". They have up to 10 days to inspect it, that's unbelieveable. It's hard to believe that TAM killed almost 200 people by flying a malfunctioning plane. I guess we know what the priority is in Brazil. $$$$$$ (Note to self: never fly TAM)

Shit like this scares the shit out of me.


...Brazil's Globo TV reported earlier Thursday that an unidentified problem in the Airbus-320's right thrust reverser emerged four days before the crash and was under investigation by authorities.

TAM, the airline, told Globo TV that Airbus maintenance rules approved by Brazilian aviation officials say the type of problem found must be inspected within 10 days and that the planes can fly in the interim.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/ ... index.html