On July 17, 2007, Brazil endured the worst aviation accident within the nation’s historical past: the crash of a TAM Airways airplane, which left 199 individuals lifeless. The incident can be thought of the largest aviation tragedy in Latin America and is revisited within the Brazilian documentary collection A Tragedy Foretold, releasing on Netflix on April 23 amid a current uptick in considerations of aviation security within the U.S.
On the day of the tragic crash, the plane—an Airbus A320 operated by TAM—did not land correctly at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo. It overran the runway and collided with a TAM constructing and a fuel station on Washington Luís Avenue, inflicting an explosion.
When the TAM Airbus A320 tragedy occurred in 2007, Brazil was present process what grew to become often called the “aviation blackout”—a disaster within the nation’s civil aviation sector between 2006 and 2007, marked by large delays, flight cancellations, and airport chaos, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
The disaster was attributable to an absence of funding in airport infrastructure and air site visitors management—the results of years of finances cuts—and by low wages and poor working situations for air site visitors controllers. This led to strikes and work-to-rule protests (when strict adherence to procedures is used to decelerate operations), all whereas passenger numbers had been rising with out proportional growth of infrastructure.
The disaster worsened after the crash of Gol Flight 1907 on Sept. 29, 2006, which killed all passengers and crew onboard when it collided with one other plane en route from Manaus to Brasília. This incident heightened insecurity amongst aviation professionals. Some air site visitors controllers had been suspended for investigation over potential operational errors. With no backups obtainable, others needed to cowl for them, resulting in much more pressure. Controllers demanded higher working situations and the pressing hiring of extra personnel.
The worst accident in Brazil’s aviation historical past
At roughly 6:48 p.m. Brazil native time on July 17, 2007, the TAM Airbus A320—now working underneath the identify LATAM—was arriving from Salgado Filho Airport in Porto Alegre and tried to land at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo. The runway was moist and, as a consequence of current renovations, lacked the grooving that helps plane brake extra successfully. The touchdown maneuver was unsuccessful: the Airbus overran the runway and crashed right into a TAM cargo constructing positioned instantly throughout from the airport.
The airplane exploded, killing 199 individuals: 181 passengers, six crew members, and 12 people who had been on the bottom or within the constructing. The constructing was later demolished and became a memorial for the victims, that includes 199 factors of sunshine.
Within the documentary collection, victims’ households recall the day of the accident and the agonizing wait to determine the our bodies. Some households had been unable to bury their family members, as some victims’ our bodies had been utterly pulverized within the crash. Others had been discovered as a lot as 30 days after the accident.
The accident was investigated by three Brazilian companies. CENIPA, the Heart for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents, concluded {that a} mixture of human and operational errors precipitated the tragedy. In line with the report, throughout touchdown, the pilots positioned solely one of many engine thrust levers within the idle place, whereas the opposite remained in climb mode. This precipitated the plane’s system to interpret that they had been making an attempt to take off once more, not brake. A remaining phase of the cockpit voice recorder captured the pilots noting that solely one of many controls was functioning correctly.
Different contributing components included the shortage of an audible alert for throttle misconfiguration and flaws in crew coaching, which relied closely on on-line programs. Though he was skilled, the co-pilot had restricted hours flying A320 plane. Moreover, there was no regulation stopping landings at Congonhas with an inoperative thrust reverser—even on wet days.
CENIPA, as a preventive company, didn’t identify these accountable. Nevertheless, its report contributed to additional investigations by the Civil Police and Federal Police, which reached completely different conclusions on accountability.
Who was held accountable?
Initially, the Civil Police indicted 10 individuals, together with workers of Infraero (the airport authority), the Nationwide Civil Aviation Company (Anac), and TAM Airways. The State Public Prosecutor’s Workplace added another identify, bringing the whole to 11 people formally accused.
Nevertheless, the case didn’t proceed in state court docket. It was transferred to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Workplace, underneath the argument that it concerned a criminal offense towards aviation security, falling underneath federal jurisdiction. The Federal Police then took over the investigation and in the end indicted solely the 2 pilots: Kleyber Lima and Henrique Stefanini Di Sacco.
Even so, when the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Workplace formally introduced costs, prosecutor Rodrigo de Grandis selected to indict three different individuals as a substitute: TAM’s Director of Flight Security, Marco Aurélio dos Santos de Miranda e Castro; the corporate’s Vice President of Operations, Alberto Fajerman; and Anac director Denise Abreu.
In 2014, Fajerman was acquitted as a consequence of lack of proof. Denise Abreu and Marco Aurélio had been charged with intentional murder—arguing they allowed the plane to function in insufficient situations—however in 2015, all three defendants had been acquitted.
What modified after the tragedy?
CENIPA’s report issued 83 security suggestions, directed to the Worldwide Civil Aviation Group, Anac, Congonhas Airport, Airbus, and TAM. One main change was the set up of visible and audio warning techniques to alert pilots of doable throttle misconfigurations. On the time of the crash, Airbus had already developed the system however had not mandated its set up, as this might have required a expensive recall.
At Congonhas Airport, essentially the most notable change was the resurfacing of the runway, now with transverse grooving and a porous friction layer to enhance water drainage and cut back the danger of skidding. The usable size of the primary runway was diminished to 1,660 meters to permit for security zones. Relating to pilot coaching, the Nationwide Civil Aviation Company (Anac) established minimal coaching requirements particularly for braking system failures.
Though Brazil has recorded a rise in air accidents lately—particularly in 2024, which noticed 138 deaths in 40 deadly accidents and was thought of the deadliest 12 months for Brazilian aviation since 2014—these figures embrace varied kinds of plane, reminiscent of helicopters and ultralights, in accordance with information from the Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention System maintained by the Brazilian Air Power.
Within the case of standard business aviation—the class to which TAM Flight 3054 belonged—the primary deadly accident recorded for the reason that 2007 tragedy occurred in August 2024.
At the moment, Flight 2283, an ATR 72-500 operated by Voepass, crashed in Vinhedo, within the state of São Paulo, killing 62 individuals. Till then, Brazil had gone 17 years with out a deadly accident in common business aviation—a determine that reinforces the concept that lots of the security suggestions adopted after the TAM crash had an enduring impression.
