Report: Throttle error likely in Brazil air crash

[RamboLiberal]

Source: CNN/Reuters

A lever used to control engine speed was in the wrong position when a Brazilian plane crashed last month and likely was a major cause of the country's worst air accident, according to flight recorder transcripts published by a newspaper Wednesday.

An Airbus A320 operated by Brazilian carrier TAM Linhas Aereas barreled off the runway upon landing at Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo July 17, crashed into a cargo terminal and burst into flames. All 187 people aboard and at least 12 more on the ground were killed.

Data from the flight recorder suggests that the thrust lever for one of the turbines was in "accelerate" position, Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper reported.

The newspaper said a pilot error was likely but didn't rule out a failure of the aircraft's computer.

-----

(CVR)"Only one reverser," "slow down, slow down, slow down," and "I can't, I can't, I can't," the transcript reads.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/08/01/brazil.crash.cause.reut/index.html

[Kagemusha]

1. This is the one where they literally screamed murder re: slick airfield surface?

Sounds like, as with many disasters, it was a combination of factors...

[RamboLiberal]

2. More from the CVR - looks like they couldn't get spoilers deployed

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 Wednesday.

According to transcripts read before a congressional commission investigating air safety in Brazil, the pilots were unable to activate the spoilers -- aerodynamic brakes on the plane's wings -- as they sped down the short, rain-slicked runway.

"Only one reverser. Spoiler nothing," says pilot Henrique Stephanini Di Sacco, 53, giving the first indication that something is wrong.

"Look at that. Slow down, slow down," says co-pilot Kleyber Lima, 54. Di Sacco replies: "I can't. I can't. Oh my God! Oh my God!"

Lima's last words are: "Go! Go! Turn! Turn! Turn!"

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/08/01/brazil.crash.cause.ap/index.html

[Kagemusha]

3. Wouldn't flying too fast in itself cause the spoilers problems?

I'm just floating a thought. I'm no expert and I like to let the professional crash investigators do their job - it's a hard job, not one I envy. (And not hard job in the sense Bush speaks it. I mean the real thing.)

[RamboLiberal]

5. We need our DU Captains to jump in

Which I'm not. Is there a setting on the throttles that prevent spoilers from deploying so they can't be accidentally deployed? I thought I remember something like that, but I can't say for sure.

[RamboLiberal]

6. According to the this the computer could've overridden the crew's

attempts to deploy the spoilers.

Folha speculated that an incorrect throttle position could have fooled the plane's computer system into anticipating that the pilot was trying to take off again, automatically disabling the spoilers.

"There are signs that this happened," Brazilian aviation consultant Elias Gedeon said when asked about Folha's hypothesis. "But we can't say 100 percent this was the problem."

http://abcnews.go.com/International/WireStory?id=3436307&page=2

[youngdem]

4. Yeah. Looks like the runway had nothing to do with it

The runway would have had to have been a mile longer to stop without spoilers or reverse thrusters functioning properly.