VOO TAM 3054: A Verdade Sobre os 26 Segundos Que Mataram 199

July 17, 2007. Congonhas Airport, southern São Paulo. It's raining on runway 35 left—a runway of only 1,940 meters, repaved 18 days earlier and still lacking grooving, the drainage grooves that prevent hydroplaning. At 6:48:26 PM, TAM flight 3054, an Airbus A320-233 registration PR-MBK coming from Porto Alegre with 187 people on board, touches down on the wet tarmac. In 26 seconds, it's all over. This documentary reconstructs, second by second, the chain of decisions that led to the biggest air accident in the history of Brazil and South America. It wasn't an engine that failed. It wasn't the sky that conspired. It was a throttle lever—a single lever, left in the wrong position—combined with a thrust reverser that had been deactivated for four days, a runway without grooving, an urban airport surrounded by avenues and buildings, and a country that had been ignoring the signs since the crash of Gol flight 1907 ten months earlier. Brazil in July 2007 was experiencing euphoria. Lula had just been sworn in for his second term. The Pan-American Games in Rio were in full swing, with the national team breaking medal records. Bonner and Fátima Bernardes were at the anchor desk of Jornal Nacional. The dollar was at R$ 1.86. The minimum wage was R$ 380. The iPhone had been launched in the United States 18 days earlier and had not yet reached the Brazilian market. WhatsApp did not exist. Orkut and MSN dominated. It was a country that imagined itself entering a cycle of prosperity—until the night a Globo news bulletin cut across standard definition programming and showed what nobody wanted to see. You will understand why the Airbus A320's autothrust doesn't physically move the throttles, unlike the Boeing—and why this design difference was decisive. You will understand what the "RETARD RETARD" warning that sounded two seconds before touchdown meant. You will understand why the spoilers didn't deploy, why the right thrust remained at 80% power while the left decelerated in reverse, and how the plane veered to the left, accelerated, and raced down the runway at 175 km/h until crossing Washington Luís Avenue and crashing into the TAM Express building and the adjacent Shell gas station. The fireball exceeded 1,000 degrees Celsius. The fuselage disintegrated in seconds. All 187 on board died. Another 12 on the ground died as well. Total: 199. The investigation was conducted by CENIPA, an agency of the Brazilian Air Force. Final Report A No. 67/CENIPA/2009 was published on October 27, 2009, with 83 safety recommendations. Eight days after the accident, on July 25, 2007, Airbus issued an operational bulletin altering the standard landing procedure with inoperative thrust reversers on all A320s worldwide. TAM 3054 changed a worldwide procedure. Today, on the site where the TAM Express building once stood, demolished on August 5, 2007, stands the July 17 Memorial, inaugurated on the fifth anniversary of the tragedy. Congonhas' runway 35L was renovated, gained groovings, and had its usable landing distance reduced to 1,660 meters. 199 people paid, in 26 seconds, the price of a chain of omissions that had been accumulating for much longer. In memory of the 199 victims. #TAM3054 #Congonhas #Aviation #AirDisaster #HistoryOfBrazil #VoiceOfTheCenturies #Documentary #Brazil2007 #PRMBK #AirbusA320 #Reconstruction #CENIPA #MemorialJuly17th #SãoPaulo #PortoAlegre