Airport official: Runway not to blame for crash

A top aviation official denied that a short, slippery runway was to blame for Brazil’s worst air disaster.

At least 189 people were killed when a jetliner overshot its landing at Sao Paulo’s Congonhas airport, collided with a building and burst into flames.

Armando Schneider Filho, director of engineering for the nation’s airport authority, Infraero, said on Wednesday that the runway at Congonhas airport meets international safety standards. “I can confirm that there was no possibility of skidding on this runway,” Schneider told a news conference. “Twenty minutes before the accident, Infraero performed a visual inspection of the runway and detected no problems.”

Many experts have flagged the runway at Congonhas airport as a likely key factor in Tuesday’s crash of an Airbus 320 operated by TAM Linhas Aereas SA.

None of the 186 people on board survived, TAM chief executive Marco Antonio Bologna said yesterday.

Three TAM workers on the ground also died, 11 more were taken to hospital and five were missing. Pilots have long likened Congonhas’ 6,362-foot runway to landing on an aircraft carrier – if they don’t touch down within the tarmac’s first 1,000 feet (300 metres), they’re warned to pull up and circle around for another try.