Almost 200 Feared Dead in Sao Paulo Plane Crash
Nearly 200 people are feared dead after a plane skidded off a rain-slicked runway at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil, crossed a highway, slammed into a gas station and burst into flames Tuesday night, The Associated Press reports.
The Sao Paulo airport, which is in the middle of the city, has been criticized for years for having a runway that's too short. The Congonhas runway is 6,365 feet, compared with a 7,003-foot runway at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Pilots sometimes call it the "aircraft carrier." Not exactly reassuring.
Congonhas also has a reputation for being slippery. On Monday, two smaller planes slipped off the runway in rainy weather, although no one was hurt. In 1996, in a similar accident, a plane skidded off the runway and down a street before exploding into a fireball, killing nearly 100.
But here's the real kick in the head. In February, a Brazilian federal court banned takeoffs and landings of three types of large jets at the airport because of safety concerns. But an appeals court overruled that decision, ruling that it would have severe economic ramifications and there were not enough safety concerns to warrant such a move.
It doesn't appear that the plane that crashed Tuesday was one of the types that had been briefly banned. However, it makes you wonder what kind of safety improvements might have been made if the ban had been left in place despite the economic considerations.
10:19 AM ET | 07-18-2007 | permalink
