Malfunctioning equipment on at least a dozen recent flights by US passenger jets made it impossible for pilots to know how fast they were flying, investigators have discovered.

Naomi Campbell has flown to Brazil to raise awareness of a potentially deadly disease carried by mosquitoes, her spokeswoman said today.

The pilots of doomed TAM Airlines Flight 3054 screamed “slow down!” and “turn, turn, turn!” seconds before their Airbus A320 skidded off the runway in Sao Paulo and slammed into a building last month, flight recorder transcripts revealed today.

A TAM jet pulled out of an attempted landing today at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, and federal prosecutors sought a court order to shut the entire airport - Brazil’s busiest – until the investigation into this week’s crash that killed at least 189 people is completed.

The pilot of an airliner that burst into flames after trying to land on a short, rain-slicked runway apparently tried to take off again, barely clearing rush-hour traffic on a major highway. The death toll rose today to 189 and could climb higher.