An Airbus A320 operated by Brazilian carrier TAM crashed on landing in Sao Paulo, killing nearly 200 people, including all 176 passengers and some people on the ground as the aircraft skidded off the runway onto a busy road.

When the aircraft slid onto the road it slammed into a building and a gas station for cars causing an explosion.

Flightglobal's own safety expert, David Learmount, gives his take on what happened.

 

Meanwhile, the International Federation if Airline Pilots Association said in a statement that this "tragic accident demonstrates the need for runway end safety areas to be established at airports with airline operations."

It argues that an "arrester bed", which could take the form of crushable concrete or gravel, be installed to provide more safety to a 300m safety area.

Flightglobal has obtained a video which shows a flight taking-off from Congonhas airport. As the aircraft takes-off the fuel station on the main road is visible.

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The crash

This video comes courtesy of Brazilian media company Globo.

The film shows the moment the TAM A320 skidded of Runway L35 at Congonhas Airport, and moments later the flash of an explosion can been seen to light up the night's sky. 


   

 

 

The second video compares two aircraft landing at Congonhas on Runway L35. The first aircraft lands successfully. The second aircraft is the TAM A320 in question and, in comparison to the first aircraft, is travelling at a significantly higher speed.Video 2

Video footage courtesy of G1.globo.com

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