By IANS
Sao Paulo : Investigators have found that the plane crash this month in Sao Paulo that killed some 200 people was the result of human error, Brazil's weekly news magazine said.
According to Veja, the investigation revealed that one of the levers that control the TAM airlines jet's turbines was in the wrong position, which meant that while one of the turbines was helping the plane slow to a halt, the other one was making it to continue accelerating, the Spanish news agency EFE said.
The pilot's confusion, according to the magazine, was due to the fact that when one of the thrust reversers is not working – as was the case with the TAM Airbus 320 – the levers of the turbine have to be placed in a different position than normal.
The investigation has ruled out that the plane skidded on the wet runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas Airport July 17 as media reports had speculated.
Authorities have been criticized for allowing planes to land on the runway even though it had recently been resurfaced and still lacked the grooves that allow water to run off and give the tires better grip.
The magazine cited an accident in the Philippines in 1998, in which an aircraft of the same model – also with a deactivated reverse thruster – left the runway during an attempted landing because the levers were in the wrong position.
On that occasion, the pilot was able to bring the plane to a stop without any casualties.
But the TAM jet, after failing to land, came in very low over a busy Sao Paulo avenue, crashed into a warehouse and burst into flames, killing all 187 people on board and at least 13 people on the ground.
Despite Veja's report, the head of the investigation into the crash said there is not one sole cause of the country's worst-ever air disaster.
"The factors that play a role are varied, just one is not going to cause an accident," said the head of the air force's Centre for Investigation and Prevention of Air Accidents, General Jorge Kersul Filho.