Corpac sobre accidente en Jorge Chávez: “En esa comunicación no se autoriza el ingreso a la pista”

A recently released audio recording reveals prior coordination between firefighters and the control tower at Jorge Chávez International Airport moments before the collision between a rescue unit and a Latam Airlines plane, which resulted in the deaths of Nicolás Santa Gadea, Ángel Torres, and Manuel Villanueva Alarcón. The recording, broadcast by the program 'Cuarto Poder,' features a dialogue between the general supervisor of the airport firefighters, Abraham Vega, and air traffic controller Reynaldo Bravo, prior to the start of a rescue exercise on the runway. In the recording, Vega requests authorization to remove cones and enter the runway, and Bravo confirms this permission. The air traffic controller "confirms the exercise" and responds with "affirms." STATEMENT However, Jaime Contreras, representative of the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (CORPAC), admitted to the program 'Buenos Días Perú' that the removal of the cones is confirmed in the audio recording. However, access to the runway was not authorized. “It is true that the communication authorized the removal of cones and an approach to within 90 meters of the runway. This is a standard procedure known to everyone; it defines the boundary between the maneuvering area and the adjacent area. However, that communication did not authorize entry onto the runway,” stated the head of the Air Traffic Services Area at Corpac. “An hour prior, we coordinated with Mr. Peña from LAP and Mr. Rodríguez from Corpac regarding the area where the exercise would take place. Specifically, we discussed taxiways Romeo and Lima, so they could access the runway, but from the end of the runway, not on the runway itself,” he explained.