TAM- the world’s worst airline from Washington Post

I was reading something in the Washington Post, and I came across this article.  An American had a bad experience with TAM in Brazil. I flew TAM in March from Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo to Goiania in the center region of Brazil. On the way back, I flew TAM from Goiania to Guarlhos, Sao Paulo’s international airport. The flight on the way back was very delayed, with no announcements or any indication as to what was happening. I almost missed my international flight because of this. Anyhow, here are a few paragraphs from that article-

TAM Linhas Aereas is the worst airline in the world. I’ve been saying that since early April, when my boyfriend and I took a short vacation in Brazil and returned happy with our stay but traumatized by the air travel. So last week when a TAM Airbus 320 on an inbound domestic route skidded off the Sao Paulo airport runway, tried to take off again, and crashed into a cargo building owned by the same carrier, exploding on impact and incinerating nearly 200 people, I felt angrily (and okay, smugly) justified in my condemnation.

We flew TAM from New York to Sao Paulo and then to Manaus, back to Sao Paulo then to Rio de Janeiro, back to Sao Paulo again, then back to New York, all in the space of nine days. Every flight was delayed by hours or canceled.

The larger problems can be attributed to the constraints under which Brazil forces TAM to operate. Nearly every flight to a major Brazilian city from a major metropolitan area is compulsively routed through the largest city in the country. If you want to fly direct, it probably won’t be on a Brazilian carrier. As it happens, the largest city’s airport has the most infamously short runway. The runway at Sao Paulo is 6,362 feet long — 641 feet shorter than that of La Guardia and too short for the pilot of TAM Flight 3054 to land safely on a wet surface, which caused him to try to take off again, with catastrophic results.

This is normal procedure in Sao Paulo. Pilots are instructed to do it when the allotted stretch of runway won’t suffice. To add to the risk, the runway was repaved in June, which may have resulted in the already dangerously short stretch being dangerously slippery as well.

If you manage to make it safely onto or off the runway, you still have to contend with Brazilian air-traffic control, which is run by the Brazilian military, an increasingly disenfranchised institution that has resisted transition to civilian control — perhaps because in peacetime, it needs reasons to justify its existence. Air traffic infrastructure is woefully out of date; upgrading it, while ultimately necessary, is considered too expensive. The consequences of Brazil’s patchy radar system were particularly apparent in September when a Boeing 737 operated by another major Brazilian airline hit a private jet over part of the Amazon, with 154 casualties — an event that led air-traffic controllers to strike, saying they were being unfairly blamed. <<end quoted material

Source: Washington Post 

Bird getting sucked into an aircraft engine

This video shows a bird getting sucked during takeoff. This is rather common and very dangerous.

Translated from Carlos Aquino’s Blog

A320- Terrible accident, everyone dead|Video

An accident in 1988 with a similar aircraft as the TAM airliner that crashed yesterday in São Paulo, Brazil.

Air France Flight 296 was a chartered flight of a newly-delivered fly-by-wire Airbus A320 operated by Air France. On June 26, 1988, it was scheduled to fly over Mulhouse-Habsheim Airport (ICAO code LFGB) at a low speed with landing gear down at an altitude of 100 feet (30 m) as part of an air show, but crashed into a nearby forest. The accident was caused by Captain Asseline’s failure to maintain sufficient airspeed and altitude on a runway approach with obstacles ahead.

Translated from: Carlos Aquino’s Blog

TAM Flight 3054- Photo of the aircraft that crashed|PR-MBK A320-233

Here are some images of the aircraft that crashed, obviously before it crashed:

Brazilian athletes will wear black bands on their arms in a sign of respect for the victims of this accident.

Translated from- Carlos Aquino Blog

At least 200 killed in Brazil TAM flight 3054

A few hours ago, we learned that a TAM airlines flight had slid off the runway, across a road, and into a building in heavy rain at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport.

CNN says-

A TAM Airlines Airbus 320 carrying 176 people crashed while attempting to land in heavy rain at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas Airport, the airline said.

The Sao Paulo fire department said at least 200 people, including some on the ground, were dead at the scene.

There was no immediate word on survivors.

They also said that the runway had recently been paved and was open despite not being complete. The grooves that are designed to drain rainwater had not been cut. The Airbus 320 likely did not have sufficient distance to stop in the heavy rain.

This is Sao Paulo’s domestic airport, and I have landed there once in a Boeing 737 on dry pavement. I thought it was strange that it was so close to tall buildings and the runway was so short.