Aircraft

Flightglobal.com has obtained this video clip which purports to show two aircraft – the second of which is the crashed TAM Airbus A320 – travelling along the main runway 35L at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas Airport.

It illustrates the high speed at which the ill-fated A320 was travelling as it approached the far end of the runway on 17 July.

There are reflections from the wet runway surface and the camera clearly shows the vertical fin of an aircraft parked at the terminal, which is located at the northwestern end of the runway; landing aircraft passing this point, some two-thirds of the way down the runway, would normally be decelerating and nearing taxiing speed in preparation for turn-off.

While the TAM A320’s absolute ground speed is difficult to estimate, it appears to be travelling three or four times faster than the other aircraft shown, at a velocity more in line with that expected from a jet accelerating to become airborne.

Flightglobal.com links

• VIDEO: Take-off from Congonhas Airport
• VIDEO & ANALYSIS: TAM A320 crash in Sao Paulo
• TAM A320 crashes in Sao Paolo

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