Original subtitles

NARRATOR: Every flight begins and ends here,

a strip of asphalt scorched by jet engines and marred with rubber.

(TIRES SCREECHING)

But not all runways are created equal.

One of the world's most notorious is

runway 35-L at Congonhas Airport in Brazil.

It could surprise you at any moment.

NARRATOR: In July 2007, TAM Airlines Flight 3054 becomes its latest victim.

Decelerate! Decelerate!

It can't! It can't!

(LOUD CRASH)

NARRATOR: The runway claims 199 lives.

It would be carefully scrutinized, its history reviewed.

Investigators desperately need to know why runway 35-L

is so dangerous...

35-L. 35-L.

NARRATOR: Before more lives are lost.

MAN (OVER RADIO): Mayday, mayday!

(THEME MUSIC PLAYING)

NARRATOR: Heavy rains pound Brazil's largest city.

São Paulo sees this kind of deluge regularly during the winter rains.

The downpour snarls traffic to and from Congonhas Airport.

800 kilometers away, TAM Airlines Flight 3054 is

on route from the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre.

The Airbus A320 is headed for São Paulo 90 minutes away.

For the 181 passengers onboard,

it's a routine domestic flight.

But there's been an unexpected development for

Captain Henrique Stephanini Di Sacco.

He and his first officer Kleyber Lima have just learned

that the heavy rain has temporarily shut

down runway 35-L, the main runway at their destination.

Did they say when it would reopen?

No.

Let's prepare an alternate just in case.

HENRIQUE: (ON PA) Ladies and gentlemen

it looks like due to the weather

we may not be able to land at Congonhas as planned.

I will keep you advised as I get more information.

NARRATOR: Congonhas Airport is one of the busiest in the world.

Planes take off and land here every 90 seconds

carrying a steady stream of people and cargo into the country's economic hub.

But Congonhas is also notorious among pilots.

The airport lies in the heart of the city, crowded on all

sides by apartment buildings, offices and roadways.

Runway 35-L is less than 2,000 meters long, short for large jets.

Even worse, it's built on a hilltop with a sharp drop off on all sides.

The risk the airport poses,

due to its construction, due to its geography,

it does not allow for simple mistakes.

NARRATOR: Captain Carlos Camacho is the flight safety director

of the Brazilian Pilot's Union.

As you approach the runway your adrenalin

is really pumping.

For us pilots it's like landing on an aircraft carrier.

NARRATOR: It makes Congonhas one of the most

treacherous airports in the world.

In fact, a Pantanal Airlines commuter plane spun out

of control while landing just the day before.

And a few months ago, disaster was narrowly averted

when a Boeing 737 came skidding to a stop,

just inches before the steep embankment at the end of runway 35-L.

When pilots begin landing at Congonhas,

they're more worried than when operating

at any other national airport.

NARRATOR: Flight 3054 is at cruising altitude south of São Paulo

when the crew gets news that runway 35-L is back in operation.

ATC: (OVER RADIO) 3054 35L is the active runway.

NARRATOR: There's no need to divert.

HENRIQUE: Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.

I have some good news for you.

The runway at Congonhas has reopened.

We'll arrive as scheduled shortly before 7:00 p.m.

(CLAPPING)

NARRATOR: The relief of the passengers is not shared by the pilot.

Stephanini has an additional challenge on this flight.

Remember, we only have one reverser.

Yes. Only the left.

NARRATOR: He will have to land at one of the world's most challenging airports

with less than the usual amount of stopping power.

One of the Airbus's two thrust reversers isn't working.

The devices are designed to slow

the aircraft on landing by reversing engine thrust.

If I was the pilot that day I would be extremely concerned

knowing that one of my reversers wasn't functioning.

ATC: TAM 3054, 35-L clear to land.

NARRATOR: Stephanini will be landing on the infamous runway 35-L.

ATC: (OVER RADIO) The runway is wet and it's slippery.

The wind is 3-3-0 at 8 knots.

The crew was informed of poor braking conditions on the runway.

NARRATOR: The Airbus is on final approach.

Even though the autopilot could get the plane to the runway,

the Captain decides to take over the controls himself.

Land green. Manual flight.

NARRATOR: He wants to bring the plane

in as close to the runway threshold as possible.

He needs every inch of runway he can get.

HENRIQUE: 35-L. 35-L.

The concern was that after touching down,

the pilots needed to be sure that they would

be able to stop their plane before the end of the runway.

NARRATOR: The passengers only know that they'll soon be landing.

VOICE: (OVER COMPUTER) 300.

300.

NARRATOR: Now they are only 300 feet above the city.

The Airbus is lined up with the center of the runway.

KLEYBER: Middle.

HENRIQUE: The runway conditions.

VOICE: (OVER COMPUTER) 200.

200.

100.100.

- One dot now? - Okay.

NARRATOR: The plane's wheels will touch the Congonhas tarmac in seconds.

VOICE: (OVER COMPUTER) 20. Retard.

As the plane touches down their worries about

landing are only just beginning.

NARRATOR: Captain Stephanini applies reverse thrust to

the A320's only working reverser.

The pilot would have to activate the reverser on

the engine that had a working

reverser as fast as possible to initiate deceleration.

NARRATOR: But the plane is not slowing down.

Reverse number one only.

NARRATOR: At this rate, it will use up the entire

1945 meters of runway in less than 30 seconds.

Ah.

Decelerate!

It can't!

The pilots operated the footbrakes with the pedals,

pressing on them for a long time.

- Look at this. - NARRATOR: Now...

Look at this.

NARRATOR: The aircraft mysteriously pulls to the left.

Turn, turn!

NARRATOR: It's almost as if it has a mind of its own.

(SCREAMING)

My God. My God.

(SCREAMING)

(LOUD CRASH)

NARRATOR: Flight 3054 has slammed into a TAM Airlines

building and an adjacent gas station.

Nearly 200 firefighters descend on the scene.

They face a raging fuel fire burning at almost 1000 degrees Celsius.

The devastation horrifies Dr. Douglas Ferrari.

The explosion spread fire throughout the entire area.

There was a fire in the gas station killing the people

who were filling up their tanks,

burning the whole structure, turning it unrecognizable.

NARRATOR: He had hoped to treat survivors.

But now he fears there might not be any.

We had three, four cars on fire.

In one of these cars I saw a mother with her child.

Dead.

NARRATOR: The entire plane is engulfed in flames.

There's little hope for anyone inside.

But now there is a new danger.

Huge quantities of fuel in the storage tanks beneath

the gas station could blow up at any moment.

The aircraft broke its wings on impact and

spilled fuel throughout the entire area.

There was a risk of the gas station exploding.

NARRATOR: Rescuers hope they can save people in the TAM Airlines building.

But with the fire raging out of control, they will have to act fast.

We tried to rescue the people from inside the building.

I was anxious to help them.

NARRATOR: Dr. Ferrari makes a grim find inside the TAM Airlines offices.

DOUGLAS: The airplane wing blocked the way.

It prevented people from escaping.

I was behind the firefighter accompanying me

while he moved bodies to the sidewalk.

It was a horrible feeling.

NARRATOR: But they do locate some office workers in another

part of the building and rush them to safety.

On the right side of the building where

there was no obstruction there was time for people to get out.

About 10 or 20 people made it.

NARRATOR: No one in the aircraft has survived.

199 people are dead including a dozen people

in the gas station and the TAM building.

It's the worst aviation accident in South American history.

The black boxes will not last long in the heat.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Colonel Fernando Camargo is an accident investigator

with CENIPA, the country's aviation safety agency.

In modern aircraft the recorders are the,

the core of any investigation.

So when we arrived at the crash site and we saw that strong fire,

we got really concerned about the integrity of the data.

NARRATOR: He knows the intense heat could already be damaging

the plane's data and voice recorders.

Valuable evidence that could help explain the crash may already be lost.

Colonel Camargo and his team know that just the day before

another plane slid off runway 35-L.

We knew that we would have to run a complete investigation on the runway.

NARRATOR: If a rain-slicked runway caused this crash,

disaster could strike again soon.

The pressure is on to figure out exactly what happened to Flight 3054.

I knew that there was a video from the surveillance system.

That's the time of the accident. That must be it.

NARRATOR: The airport surveillance system captured

the doomed Airbus speeding down the runway.

This video could solve a lot of issues.

Let's see it again please.

FERNANDO: But the crash was outside the range of the cameras.

Can we look at this from a different angle?

NARRATOR: Even without the crash on tape, the video could hold important clues.

Do you have tape of other A320s landing?

Okay go ahead and play it now.

We compared these timeframes from one aircraft to another.

Nine seconds.

A regular landing, the aircraft would take, uh,

something about nine seconds to pass over this camera.

Okay now the crash plane please.

And the accident aircraft took three seconds.

Three seconds.

That puzzled us a little bit.

Why was the crash plane going three times faster

than the regular A320 landing?

NARRATOR: Four hours after the accident,

firefighters are still battling the intense blaze.

The fire was a strong fire with a lot of

fuel to keep it burning.

NARRATOR: Camargo is desperate to gain access to

the tail section which contains the two black boxes.

They concentrated the fight in the rear of the aircraft.

NARRATOR: Finally, firefighters beat back

the flames enough to get at the recorders.

But it may be too late.

They can be submitted to fire 'til a certain temperature.

After that there's no guarantee that the data will be preserved.

NARRATOR: The recorders will be sent to Washington to be examined

at the National Transportation Safety Board.

Now, investigators can focus on the infamous runway 35-L.

They examine the surface for clues that might explain

why flight 3054 went so badly out of control.

We walked through the runway, uh, searching for evidence,

the marks of the aircraft, the point where it veered

off the runway.

It's still wet.

NARRATOR: The water is pooling, creating puddles.

That shouldn't happen on a modern runway.

When this water gets in contact with the landing gear, the tires,

it can generate what we call hydroplaning,

and this is a problem because a pilot will

have little or no control of his aircraft.

NARRATOR: Camargo and his team wonder why water is pooling on the runway.

They study files from the government agency that runs Congonhas Airport.

They learn that runway 35-L had been completely resurfaced

just one month before the accident.

In 2007, the runway at Congonhas underwent repairs.

It had been offering a very low level of traction.

There were many reports of skids.

NARRATOR: For years, pilots had been complaining about the slippery conditions.

They knew that the pavement need to be reconstructed

because the surface allowed the water to accumulate.

HENRIQUE: 35-L. 35-L.

NARRATOR: The runway had been resurfaced.

That should have solved the water problem.

It reopened just weeks before the crash.

The new surface seemed to be a major improvement.

The airport operated for about a month in dry weather with no problems.

NARRATOR: But then, three days before the crash...

(LIGHTNING AND THUNDER)

...heavy rains began.

And with the rain,

older problems that were supposed to be solved came back.

On the night of the accident the biggest problem was still the water.

Aircraft were still reporting difficulties braking.

ATC: (OVER RADIO) The runway's wet, and it's slippery.

In theory, there was no more depressions

on the runway to accumulate water.

So what could cause water to accumulate?

NARRATOR: He discovers that the repair work lacked

a critical safety feature.

FERNANDO: Grooving to be done at a later date.

No wonder it was wet.

NARRATOR: Special grooves that carry away rainwater.

Without them, rain would collect in puddles.

The repairs still lacked the necessary upgrade.

It was very difficult to interrupt the operation of

the main runway in order to install the grooves.

NARRATOR: Evidence is mounting that a compromised surface on

runway 35-L played a key role in Brazil's worst airline accident.

Colonel Camargo is concerned that Brazil's notorious rains

may bring more runway disasters.

Soon after the accident we recommended

the suspension of the operations of regular aircraft in rainy conditions.

NARRATOR: The airport authority complies,

shutting down runway 35-L until answers are found.

But the main runway at one of the world's busiest airports

can't stay closed for long.

They must find out what caused this accident

as soon as possible.

Their focus turns to the A320's thrust reversers.

The plane's maintenance records reveal why only one of them was working.

Four days before the crash, mechanics deactivated

the right engine's thrust reverser for routine maintenance.

(MUMBLING)

But the aircraft had then flown without incident for four days.

No action required?

NARRATOR: Not only had the plane landed repeatedly with one thrust reverser,

it had even landed safely on runway 35-L.

FERNANDO: This plane landed on the same runway,

on the same runway, that day, with the same problems,

had only one thrust reverser, just one thrust reverser.

No issues whatsoever.

NARRATOR: So why had this landing gone so wrong?

(LOUD CRASH)

NARRATOR: Colonel Fernando Camargo travels to Washington, D.C.

Technicians at the National Transportation Safety Board

will help him try to recover data stored in

flight 3054's badly burned flight recorders.

First, they look for a temperature sensitive chip that could provide a clue

as to how bad the heat damage might be.

There is an indicator that turns

the color if it was exposed to

a temperature above that one that it was manufactured to support.

NARRATOR: Even though the boxes are designed to survive a fierce

fire of up to 1,000 degrees Celsius,

the chip's appearance is worrying news.

These boards were submitted to a fire that exceeded its limitation.

NARRATOR: They test the circuit board to see if any of the memory survived.

Without the data, the investigation into flight 3054

would be effectively crippled.

Colonel Camargo may never know why 199 people died

at Brazil's busiest airport.

But the circuit board test provides some hope.

Okay, we got something.

Fortunately, everything works okay.

We could recover 100% of the data.

Here we go.

NARRATOR: The information paints a picture of the plane's performance.

The speed is fine.

NARRATOR: In the critical seconds before the crash.

They came down fine.

Brakes were engaged.

The brakes were engaged.

NARRATOR: The data confirms that the foot brakes were working

properly and that the A320 did not skid or slide.

Here. Here.

NARRATOR: Then, Camargo discovers that the plane's two engines were inexplicably

- operating against each other. - Engine one.

NARRATOR: The plane's left engine was in reverse to help slow the aircraft down.

But the right engine, the one with the disabled thrust reverser...

- It's powering up. - ...was doing the opposite.

For takeoff. It's supposed to be idling.

NARRATOR: Instead of winding down, it was accelerating to climb power.

- Decelerate! - It can't!

NARRATOR: With one engine at full power, the pilots didn't

have a chance to stop their aircraft in time.

This aircraft was braking.

- Oh, my God. - Look at this. Look at this.

But it would take around one more kilometer for it to stop.

NARRATOR: The lopsided thrust pushed the plane to the left.

KLEYBER: Turn!

The right engine really was increasing thrust.

There was, uh, no means available for the pilot to

avoid the aircraft to veer off to the left.

Could be this.

So engine two was thrusting when it should have been idling.

That would explain the veer off to the left, right?

So what does this mean?

NARRATOR: Now Colonel Camargo needs to figure out why

the right engine was at full power when it should have been in reverse.

At that time we could establish, roughly,

two main lines of investigation.

One, mechanical failure.

And the other one,

pilot error.

NARRATOR: Colonel Camargo brings in human factors investigators

Lieutenant Colonel Marcia Fajer and First Lieutenant Vanessa Dias.

The pilot is Henrique Stephanini Di Sacco, age 53, from São Paulo.

13,654 flight hours.

The pilot who was in command was a very experienced pilot,

he knew the aircraft very well.

His First Officer was Agular Kleyber Lima, age 54, from Porto Velho.

14,760 flight hours.

He had enough training to do a good job including in an emergency situation.

NARRATOR: Their job is to determine if the crew somehow

made an error that could have caused one engine to

stay at full power.

Machines are straightforward because they work in predictable ways.

Humans are infinitely more complex in the way they think and act.

It's much harder to analyze their behavior in an accident.

You know but I just, I can't believe that this

pilot would make that kind of mistake.

Okay.

NARRATOR: The human factors team must now conduct a psychological study

of the crew to understand how they might have committed a fatal misstep.

We attempted to reconstruct

the individual history of each crew member and their experience.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking.

I have some good news for you.

And try to create a picture that could help us

explain what happened in the cockpit.

NARRATOR: Colonel Camargo still believes

a mechanical failure is more likely.

He now turns his attention to the complicated mechanics that

link the thrust levers to the engines.

He must determine if a failure there led to the mysterious power surge.

We began studying this thrust system,

each and every component of the system from

the lever to the engine.

We've been through it. We know it's not the FADEC.

NARRATOR: There's nothing wrong with the engines.

That leaves only one component that could have caused the problem.

The mechanism that links the throttles to the engines,

a device called an artificial feel unit or AFU.

Investigators wonder if that device failed,

leaving the engines at full power even though

the pilots set the lever to idle.

But such a failure is highly unlikely.

FERNANDO: It's really a remote possibility,

400 billion hours of flight for us to have

one occurrence of that.

NARRATOR: Still, he needs to rule out the AFU as a possible cause of the crash.

But he's not sure the unit can even be found amongst the wreckage.

Computers, all the avionics,

everything was, was gone.

NARRATOR: Luckily, one of the few pieces to have survived

the fire is the piece investigators now need.

The AFU.

It's sent to a specialized laboratory that can

scan the metal for microscopic markings.

Look.

It got melted in such a way that you can work with it.

So we could check something.

NARRATOR: The 3D scanner allows them to look for nicks or

scratches that would indicate the unit failed.

FERNANDO: I'm looking for any,

any unusual marks in this area.

If we could find out any mark,

any evidence of the position of this gear we could go after

the lever and, uh, find out the real position of the thrust lever.

NARRATOR: But they can find no evidence that the AFU malfunctioned.

Okay pack it up. Let's go home.

We found nothing.

No mark, no evidence.

NARRATOR: Colonel Camargo concludes mechanical failure was

not to blame for the improper power setting on the right engine.

He has to assume, that for some reason,

the crew left the right engine lever at full power

after the Airbus landed.

KLEYBER: Turn! Turn!

(SCREAMING)

HENRIQUE: My God. My God.

HENRIQUE: (OVER CVR) Turn. Turn. Turn. Turn!

NARRATOR: Back in São Paulo,

the human factors team turns to

the cockpit voice recorder, or CVR.

HENRIQUE: (OVER CVR) I have some good news for you, runway looks...

NARRATOR: They need to understand the pilots' state of mind as they

approached São Paulo the night of the crash.

The CVR enables us to get an idea of

the interaction between crew members.

NARRATOR: They learn that Captain Stephanini was

quite concerned about the runway conditions.

HENRIQUE: Ask them about the rain,

runway conditions, if the runway's slippery.

TAM on final approach.

Two miles away.

Could you confirm conditions?

ATC: (OVER RADIO) It's wet and it's slippery 3054.

Wet and slippery.

The pilot is already tense.

And then he finds out that runway conditions are

worse than usual, slippery and rainy.

The tension can affect the pilot's perception, his concentration.

35-L, 35-L.

NARRATOR: It now appears that Stephanini's anxiety

about 35-L and not the runway itself was the main cause of this crash.

Camargo now focuses on the crew's actions.

I think it's ready sir.

Thank you.

NARRATOR: He needs to understand how the power levers

were handled before the crash.

Using data from the flight recorder,

investigators focus first on the landing just prior

to the one at Congonhas.

We discover that the same pilot, the captain,

was the one operating the aircraft in

the previous land and in Congonhas.

First, how did they land in Porto Alegre?

Okay.

Both levers full forward during approach.

NARRATOR: They learn that during the previous landing in Porto Alegre,

Captain Stephanini pulled back both thrust levers,

(BEEPING)

(TIRES SCREECHING)

exactly the right procedure for landing with only one reverser.

And now both levers to reverse.

At the time of the accident, the correct procedure

was for the pilot to take both throttles to idle

and both throttles to reverse as if you had

no problem with the reversers.

NARRATOR: They've established that Captain Stephanini

carried out the correct procedure for landing

with one thrust reverser on the day of the crash.

No reverser number two.

Auto brakes on.

And the speed is dropping.

It puzzled me because of the fact that

a captain knew the procedure.

He performed the correct procedure

hours before in the previous landing.

NARRATOR: So what did he do differently

two and a half hours later in São Paulo?

Okay, now Congonhas.

MAN: Left lever to idle.

NARRATOR: The data shows that Captain Stephanini's handling

- of the thrust levers. - MAN: Then reverse.

NARRATOR: Was very different on his landing in São Paulo.

VOICE: (OVER COMPUTER) 20. Retard. Retard.

NARRATOR: Instead of throttling back both levers,

he only put the left engine in idle,

leaving the right one at full power.

Then, once the aircraft had touched down,

he activated only the left reverser,

again leaving the right engine at full.

FERNANDO: That is quite different.

I don't get it.

How could a guy that knew the aircraft,

that knew the correct procedure, that, uh,

executed a correct procedure,

how could he do something different?

NARRATOR: It doesn't seem to make sense.

We could really use your help on this.

NARRATOR: Until Camargo enlists the help of another pilot.

It's only then that he discovers an important detail

that could explain what the captain did.

It turns out there was an older, outdated procedure for landing

an A320 with a single thrust reverser.

Could you demonstrate it for me please?

NARRATOR: It starts out the same.

But then there's an important difference.

The former procedure, uh,

was taking both levers to idle

and then just the lever corresponding

to the engine with the reverser operating normally

that would be taken to reverse position.

NARRATOR: But that is not what Captain Stephanini did.

He left the right engine at full power instead of bringing it to idle.

If he was attempting the old procedure,

he got it wrong.

Investigators learn that Captain Stephanini would

not have been the first pilot to make that mistake.

There had been several accidents around the world.

The cause was identical:

pilots mishandling the procedure for landing with a disabled reverser,

inadvertently leaving one thrust lever at full power.

That old procedure led pilots to error.

NARRATOR: Airbus finally modified the procedure to

reduce the risk of precisely that error.

The manufacturer changed the procedure and determined that both

levers would come down together to the idle position,

and then right after touching the ground both would

come down to the reverser position.

NARRATOR: Captain Stephanini was familiar with both the old and

the new procedure for landing with a disabled reverser.

It now seems on flight 3054 he may have tried to use the old one.

The question for investigators, is why?

NARRATOR: Investigators still can't understand why the crew of flight 3054

left an engine at full power after touching down.

Did they get it wrong?

NARRATOR: But after interviewing other pilots,

they do understand why using the older procedure

would have made sense that rainy day at Congonhas.

It would bring the plane to a stop much more quickly than the new one.

That could explain why the captain would go for

a former procedure that he knew that

was more efficient than the current one.

NARRATOR: Investigators theorize that in reaction to

deteriorating conditions at Congonhas...

HENRIQUE: Wet runway.

One reverser.

I'm gonna buy us some runway and use the old procedure.

NARRATOR: He was trying to ensure that he'd have as much

distance as possible to stop on the notorious runway 35-L.

But he made a costly error.

Under those circumstances.

Remember, we only have one reverser.

One reverser. Manual flight. Wet.

One reverser. One reverser. Manual flight.

It is completely understandable that he had

tried a former procedure and,

under such a pressure, made a mistake.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Vanessa Dias recreates

the final moments of the flight in a simulator.

Okay engine one to idle.

Engine two stays at climb.

NARRATOR: She notices that in a dark cockpit it would have been

difficult to see the position of the thrust levers.

VOICE: (OVER COMPUTER) 20.

Retard. Retard.

Engine one to reverse. Don't touch number two.

Brakes.

(ALARMS BEEPING)

Okay so.

In the simulator, we were able to program in every known factor,

the chronology of events, whether it was cloudy or raining,

the wet surface, the slippery surface,

the position of the levers.

We also went off the runway and had an accident in the simulator.

NARRATOR: Lieutenant Dias believes she now understands

why TAM Airlines flight 3054 ended in tragedy.

Captain Stephanini had done everything he could to ensure the A320 would touch

down on runway 35-L with as much room ahead of him as possible.

Land green.

Manual flight.

NARRATOR: But the prospect of landing on the treacherous runway

had so unnerved him that he bungled a simple procedure.

It's possible that tension might block a crucial motor response.

It can affect the pilots ability to react.

NARRATOR: There was no alarm to warn them that one engine was

speeding up while the other was in reverse.

First Officer Lima tried to figure out what was going wrong.

Decelerate!

NARRATOR: But in a dark cockpit...

It can't!

NARRATOR: Overwhelmed by a landing going badly,

he didn't notice the abnormal thrust lever settings.

Decelerate! Decelerate!

HENRIQUE: It can't!

The pilots were unable to understand what was happening to their aircraft.

Ah! Look at this!

NARRATOR: A runway with a dangerous reputation...

so unnerved a crew, that they made a mistake.

KLEYBER: Turn! Turn!

NARRATOR: That ended up killing 199 people.

Oh, my God! Oh, my God!

(SCREAMING)

(LOUD CRASH)

NARRATOR: Since the crash of flight 3054,

the runways at Congonhas have been grooved and are regularly inspected.

New rules are in place dictating wet weather landing procedures.

In, uh, rainy weather you need to have all of your reversers operating.

NARRATOR: But despite these efforts to improve safety at Congonhas,

many pilots doubt it's any better.

Congonhas is not safer today.

It continues to be a dangerous airport.

Only a total ban on operations in wet or rainy conditions

would improve the safety of this airport.

NARRATOR: What's clear is that even today,

35-L is a runway that cannot shake its deadly reputation.

HENRIQUE: 35-L. 35-L.