The Google Earth image below shows the APPROXIMATE positions of the airfield cameras and of the point at which the aircraft left the paved surface of the airport. Surrounding that part of the taxiway is a wall about 15” high which the aircraft (according to news reports) struck before hitting the TAM cargo depot, about 100m across the road. The camera’s field of vision is just a shade wider to the left of the yellow line; the white line indicates a trajectory consistent with the end result. Please note, entirely conjectural on my part, to possibly explain the “flash”. Others have pointed out that it might have been a tyre burst or a compressor stall.
I don’t think it’s been mentioned here yet that part of the aircraft did graze a car on the road below.
