New York Times, "Focus of Brazil TAM Airlines Crash Shifts Away from Runway"

          Debate over the cause of Brazil's worst air crash shifted on Thursday from widespread claims of a faulty runway to potential pilot error or failure of the plane's braking systems. Soon after Tuesday's fiery accident at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, which killed all 186 people on board and more on the ground, many officials and aviation experts blamed the rain-soaked runway where the Airbus A320 skidded before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal.
          But Globo TV said the jet had been flying without one of its thrust reversers, which help slow the plane at landing. It reported the device was turned off after a malfunction last week and that the plane had difficulty braking on the same slippery runway one day before the crash. Still, an executive for the airline said technical norms allowed flying the jet even with two reversers shut. A reverser is temporarily deployed at the rear of a jet engine to divert its thrust forward and aid braking.
          A video of the botched final landing by TAM Linhas Aereas plane released by the national airport authority Infraero also seemed to cast doubt on whether the runway was at fault in Brazil's second major aviation disaster in less than a year. Infraero chief Jose Carlos Pereira said the runway was safe for aircraft the size of the A320 and that the recently repaved landing strip was not to blame. Nevertheless, he said air traffic in Congonhas would be cut by nearly 20 percent.

Learn more about the TAM Airlines July 2007 runway crash and the rights of families of victims of the crash.