Footage Shows Brazil Plane Landing at Very High Speed

A video emerged today of a Brazilian Airbus A320 landing at very high speed at Sao Paulo's domestic airport on Tuesday evening, before crashing into buildings killing all 186 on board.

The plane slammed into a petrol station and a TAM Airlines building after narrowly clearing the airport's perimeter fence and rush-hour traffic on a surrounding road. Three people on the ground also died and another 11 were injured.

Air accident investigators said the video, broadcast on the website of the Spanish newspaper El Pais, suggested that the pilot of the TAM Airlines plane was trying to get it airborne again before the crash.

Jorge Kersul Filho, director of the air force's centre for investigation and prevention of air accidents, said the plane's flight recorders would be sent to the United States for analysis next week and finding the accident's cause could take as long as 10 months.

Mr Kersul said the video of the landing showed the plane was travelling at a very high speed, but it also suggested the pilot had enough room to stop.

"He jumped over the avenue, an indication that he tried to take off. Otherwise he would have gone nose-down at the end of the runway," Mr Kersul said.

One of the plane's crew had been heard shouting "turn, turn, turn," seconds before the plane smashed into the building.

The plane's pilot, Kleyber Aguiar Lima, and co-pilot, Henrique Stephanini di Sacco, both had more than 20 years of experience, TAM said.

The Brazilian government has come under fierce attack over the crash which is the worst in the country's history, and its second air disaster in a year.

Pilots have long likened the 1,939-metre runway at Congonhas airport to an aircraft carrier - pilots are warned that if they fail to touch down within the tarmac's first 300 metres, they should pull up and circle around for another try.

The ungrooved surface becomes even more treacherous when slick with rain.

Two other planes skidded off the same runway on Monday. In February a judge banned three types of large jets from the airport, Brazil's busiest, but that ruling was quickly overruled in an appeals court that said any safety concerns were outweighed by potentially severe economic ramifications. Airbus A320 models were not covered under the court's ban.

The airport has tried to improve the runway, recently resurfacing it to provide better braking in rainy conditions. But the new surface had not dried enough for the next step, cutting deep grooves into the tarmac.

Yesterday President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva ordered federal police to investigate whether there were any irregularities in the renovation project.

Critics have condemned his government for failing to fix Brazil's air traffic problems since last September, when 154 people were killed when a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 collided with a small jet and then plunged into the Amazon rainforest.

In Sao Paulo, relatives of the victims gathered to identify the bodies and were mostly avoiding the press.

Most of the 162 passengers and 24 crew on board were Brazilians, although an Argentine man and an Austrian citizen were among the victims, according to their countries' consulates. A Peruvian was also aboard, TAM said.