Critics are condemning the government of Brazil's President Luis Inacio da Silva for failing to invest in safety measures at airports after the nation's deadliest jetliner crash.
None of the 186 people on board survived after the Airbus 320 jet went down at Brazil's Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo on a short, rain-slicked runway.
Three TAM workers on the ground also died and another 11 were hospitalized.
Critics said Silva's government should have fixed Brazil's air traffic problems after 154 people were killed in the September collision of a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 with a small jet over the Amazon rainforest.
"It's been 10 months since the last worst air accident in Brazilian history and now we've had an accident worse than that," David Fleischer, a political scientist at the University of Brasilia, told The Associated Press. "If you look at what's happened since September, the answer is nothing."
Another political commentator, Lucia Hippolito, called it a "tragedy foretold."
"The government has done nothing because of administrative inefficiency and simple incompetence," Hippolito said.
Observers say Silva has been unable to take authority of the civil aviation system from the military, which oversees Brazil's air traffic controllers.
Top positions at the national aviation agency have been filled by political appointees with little or no experience.
But Defense Minister Waldir Pires warned critics not to get carried away with accusations.
"It's a moment for caution, and until the results of the investigation are known, it's better to maintain sobriety and avoid quick judgments," Pires said.
The crash may have political ramifications as one of the dead included Rep. Julio Redecker, 51, a leader of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party and vocal critic of Silva's handling of the aviation crisis.
"President Lula needs to act and not speak. Or his term will be marked by the suffering and pain of so many Brazilians that could be still be alive," read a statement from Redecker's party.
Short runway
International air safety experts have long warned of the danger of just such an accident on the short runway at Sao Paulo's airport, especially in heavy rain. Only the day before, two other planes skidded off the runway's end.
The runway was recently resurfaced but not grooved, which would have provided the aircraft with better breaking ability in the rainy conditions. There were plans to regroove the surface by the end of this month.
"Pilots have been complaining for a number of years that the runway is short," aviation expert Tom Hinton told CTV Newsnet Wednesday.
"The investigation is going to focus on how well the breaking mechanisms in the aircraft were working... and it's going to focus on the length of the runway," Hinton said.
Landing on the 6,362-foot-long runway at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport is so challenging that pilots liken it to an aircraft carrier - if they don't touch down precisely within the tarmac's first 1,000 feet, they're warned to pull up and circle around again.
In February, a federal court banned takeoffs and landings by large jets at the airport, citing safety concerns. That decision was later overruled by an appeals court, partly because of the economic impact of such a ban.
While the airport is surrounded by development and there is no room for the runway extensions recommended by air safety groups, experts have said the next best thing would be braking systems of soft cement beyond the runway.
These would allow the wheels to sink in and slow the jets to a safe stop.
The TAM airlines plane was en route from Porto Alegre, in the south of the country, when it slid off the runway, crossed a road during rush-hour traffic and crashed into a gas station, bursting into flames close to a nearby warehouse.
"Witnesses are telling extraordinary stories, which sadly recall the scenes at Sept. 11. There are people talking about victims who were in the buildings diving from third floor windows to try and escape the fire," said Tom Phillips, a reporter from the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper.
Authorities reported that the pilot was unable to land and tried to take off again.
Video footage of the landing shows TAM Flight 3054 from Porto Alegre coming in faster than other planes, said Sen. Deonstenes Torres, chief of a Senate commission investigating problems with Brazilian civil aviation.
"On parts of the runway that most planes took 11 seconds to traverse, this plane took three," Torres said.
But TAM Linhas Aereas SA chief executive Marco Antonio Bologna said it was too early to tell what went wrong.
"We have to wait for the results of the investigations to know the cause," he said. "It would be premature to make any assumptions about the runway."
With files from The Associated Press
